Launch of the World Disasters Report 2011: focus on hunger and nutrition

The livelihoods of an estimated 12 million people are currently under threat in the Horn of Africa and nearly 4 million people in Somalia alone are in need of life-saving assistance. Although the world produces more than enough food to feed everyone, in 2011 almost 1 billion people will go hungry. This is not only felt in headline-making famines, but also in the alarming levels of malnutrition among the world’s poorest. The causes of hunger and malnutrition, both acute and chronic, are complex, involving global food markets, agricultural production, environmental degradation, poor infrastructure and governance, and poverty. When responding to hunger and malnutrition, the humanitarian system has tended to focus on providing food aid to address immediate acute hunger, rather than support livelihoods in order to promote self-sufficiency and to build resilience in the longer term. The challenge is how to ensure the humanitarian system – agencies, governments and donors – can better respond to early warning signs and address food insecurity before lives and livelihoods are severely threatened. This Humanitarian Policy Group (ODI) event in partnership with the British Red Cross, is the UK launch of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) annual World Disasters Report (WDR). This year the report focuses on global issues of hunger and malnutrition and examines the causes and effects of the global food crisis and sets out how the humanitarian system can better respond to both chronic and acute food insecurity. Chair: David Peppiatt – International Director, British Red Cross will introduce the key findings of the report. Speakers: Fred Pearce – Journalist and an author of the World Disasters Report 2011, will discuss issues of chronic and acute food crises focusing in particular on the relationship between agricultural production and food insecurity in Africa. Simon Levine – Research Fellow, Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), will discuss how the report’s findings relate to the current crisis in the Horn and some of the systemic and practical challenges to addressing chronic food security. Mary Atkinson – Economic Security Advisor, British Red Cross, will provide reflections on the challenges of addressing chronic food insecurity, focussing in particular on the Red Cross experience in Africa. To register to attend or to sign up to watch the video stream please visit the ODI website