Enough food for everyone IF

Beartrice Quayee transplants rice in River Gee county, Liberia.

Tonight, one in eight people will go to bed hungry.

It’s a scandal and it has to end.

2013 offers our leaders a golden opportunity to begin to end hunger once and for all and together, we can make IF happen.

In Northern Ireland we need your MPs to pressure the Chancellor to take action and in the Republic of Ireland, the Taoiseach can help ensure everyone has enough food to live.

This is the first step in making 2013 the beginning of the end for the global hunger crisis. But only IF we act together and make our leaders tackle four big Ifs:

IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land and we grow crops to feed people not fuel cars.
IF governments and big companies are honest and open about some of the things that stop people getting enough food.
IF we give enough aid to stop children dying from hunger and help the poorest families get enough food.
IF we stop big companies dodging taxes in poor countries.

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Dear Taoiseach,

2013 presents Ireland with a golden opportunity to tackle global hunger and ensure there is enough food in the world for everyone.  
 
As a supporter of the ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ campaign, I call on you and the Irish Government, as Chair of the Council of the European Union, and as a participant in the G8 Summit this June to:

1. MEET EXISTING AID PROMISES AND INCREASE INVESTMENT IN SMALL-SCALE AGRICULTURE AND MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION

The Irish Government should demonstrate leadership during its EU Presidency by recommitting to spend 0.7% of GNI on overseas aid from 2015, facilitating significant progress by EU countries towards filling the agriculture funding gap and ensuring the €5 billion needed to fund direct nutrition interventions is raised.

Climate change mitigation is critical to ensure enough food for everyone in the future, and the Irish Government must again show leadership by enacting strong domestic climate change legislation and intensifying EU efforts to raise climate finance from new and innovative sources. Climate finance must not be taken from existing aid budgets.

2. ENSURE FAIR AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF LAND SO IT CONTRIBUTES TO FOOD SECURITY

Too many large-scale land acquisitions are resulting in ‘land grabs’, with local people losing land and access to resources on which they depend to be able to grow or buy enough food to eat.

To address this, the Irish Presidency should help improve the governance, transparency and accountability of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries by promoting the implementation of the globally-agreed Voluntary Guidelines and by pushing the World Bank to take a leadership role in preventing land acquisitions negatively impacting on communities and the environment.

The Irish Presidency should also take steps towards abolishing the EU’s distorting biofuel mandate, which represents one of the most significant drivers of food prices increases.

3. ENABLE POOR COUNTRIES TO RAISE REVENUE TO INVEST IN TACKLING HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY

Taxes are the most important source of finance for developing country governments but unscrupulous businesses and individuals are currently using tax havens to avoid paying the taxes due. Ireland should use the opportunities provided by the EU Presidency to push the G20 to adopt all recommendations provided in 2011 by the OECD, UN, World Bank and IMF to support the development of more effective tax systems.

Ireland should also ensure that the European Anti Money Laundering Directive is as progressive as possible and seek to use the EU’s economic and political influence to challenge the insidious secrecy of tax havens.

4. IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY OF GOVERNMENTS AND BUSINESSES

Improved transparency is needed in different parts of the food system to help drive changes which are important to ensure everyone is able to access enough, nutritious food to eat.

Ireland should promote this by pushing for agreement on improved transparency in land deals and also increased fiscal transparency by developing country governments so that citizens can hold their governments to account for the money they spend.

Ireland should contribute to the ability of investors, civil society and other stakeholders to hold companies to account for their actions and use the Open Government Partnership to push for global agreement on publishing full information on government revenues and expenditures. Reporting requirements for Irish companies and strong European legislation on corporate reporting should also be strengthened.

Sincerely,

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