Washington, D.C., April 2, 2009-Three weeks ago President Obama warned that neither the American economy nor its global counterparts' can recover without more aggressive efforts by all wealthy nations.
Certainly, the world's financial powers must work together to revitalize their individual economies, but to stop there may be a bit short-sighted. While developed nations certainly have taken substantial economic hits, the current financial crisis has devastated the world's poorest countries, particularly their food markets.
Over the past year, prices for basic food commodities like corn and rice have skyrocketed and fluctuated wildly. Last spring, high prices sparked riots in cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In developing countries, many families spend as much as 75 percent of their incomes on food. When prices for basic staples rise, few of their governments provide assistance. Many people simply don't eat. Since 2007, some 75 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry, pushing the global population of those without enough healthy food to a crisis point of nearly one billion.
This food crisis - inextricably linked to the financial crisis - is destroying the very foundation of national economies: their people. This devastation has fatal ramifications that will be felt, not for years, but for generations - and not in one corner of the globe, or even across the developing world, but worldwide.
People take desperate measures when they and their families are hungry and unintended consequences occur. Violence, participation in armed groups, the spread of AIDS, family breakdown, substandard education and myriad other problems - with economic and security ramifications for the U.S. - find hunger at their roots.
Recently, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with President Obama to convey the message that focusing exclusively on the domestic economy, while enticing in the short-term will continue to damage the economies of the world's poorest nations as they try to sell their products in a global market.
Mr. da Silva is right. In our own country, farm subsidies have for too long created an imbalance that floods the markets of many developing countries with imported food that can be sold for much less than local products. Local farmers are unable to compete and governments become dangerously dependent on the U.S. for basic food supplies, rather than investing in their own people.
The financial crisis we face is truly global in nature. And the solution to it must satisfy not just the wealthy and powerful, but the entire globe.
In the U.S., Congress already has made laudable efforts to ensure that the United States contributes sufficiently to solving the hunger crisis. Bipartisan legislation in the Senate calls for a scale-up in foreign agriculture and nutrition assistance by $2.5 billion over the next five years. A bipartisan effort in the House calls for an impressive $9 billion over five years - and some structural reform that could make our assistance programs more efficient.
During his campaign, President Obama pledged to double the United States' investment in foreign assistance to $50 billion per year. But he needs to keep that promise while addressing the needs of Americans hit hardest by the economic crisis.
Even small steps are helpful. By committing an additional $1 billion per year over the next five years to address global hunger, President Obama could cover 20 percent of that promise - a "down payment" of sorts.
However, as with many economic issues, while the U.S. can and should lead in this effort, we cannot address world hunger - and its economic roots - alone.
This week, President Obama will join leaders from 20 world economic powers to discuss how best to address the global financial crisis. Announcing his intent to make that 20 percent "down payment" would set an admirable example. Calling on his peers to follow suit is even better.
Referencing U.S. economic allies, President Obama said: "They're rooting for our success, we got to make sure we're rooting for theirs." That statement is even truer for our allies and trade partners in the developing world.
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Joseph Mettimano is the Vice President of Advocacy at World Vision, United States. Working in some 100 countries, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Larry Dinger (L), Charge dÂ’Affaires of the Yangon-based US embassy, hands over rice to a beneficiary at the World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution camp in Gaw Tu Wai Chaung, Labutta ...
