Famine in Somalia: Realities of a Broken Food System

With ongoing drought and food shortages across East Africa, the United Nations has declared a famine in parts of Somalia.  The UN claims that "10 million people are on the verge of starvation" and Oxfam America reports that millions in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia also struggle as thousands of refugees pour into refugee camps.  This crisis has been the culmination of multiple factors.  The lack of rainfall, for instance, has sliced harvests in half across Somalia and caused mass livestock losses for many communities already living in poverty.  

Immediate humanitarian aid is needed to alleviate starvation and rising displacement across Eastern Africa.  Yet, Oxfam America also emphasizes the need for a long term vision in dealing with the famine.  Small farmers like those living in the drought-stricken areas of Somalia, for example, need support to develop sustainable farming economies in times of climate change.  Stable and robust crop yields mean security for millions that rely on sustenance farming to support themselves and their family.  Success for small farmers can mean a global stabilization of food prices and fewer conflicts in competition over resources and markets.  


This famine demonstrates that we have reached a place of no return; it is time to address our broken food system.  Let's not support more of the same policies that continue to leave 1 in 7 people chronically hungry and unable to feed their children.  Let's ensure that everyone has the opportunity to grow food justly and a seat at the table in our future. 

Photo Source:  BBC News

Join us July 13th at our montly meeting!!!

July is here already - summer is half over and we still want to do so much more.  Please join us at our monthly meeting on July 13th at Barnes and Noble Cafe, DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL.  6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. 

This weekend we are tabling at the Dave Matthews Event!  8/7 we have a table scheduled for the Glenwood Sunday Market - We are firming up plans for Arlington Heights - and let's not forget our trip to the farm!  So come and bring all of your great ideas because we want to hear them all.

We will also be discussing how biofuels play a big part of the new Oxfam Grow campaign and how we can get involved with communication to our Senators and Representatives.

See you Wednesday the 13th. 

Chicago Tribune Editorial Endorses Oxfam Biofuels Position

The Chicago Tribune recently published an editorial, Gotta Eat, that agreed with Oxfam's negative stance on biofuels:

Even if Obama gets through this dangerous summer without a crisis, he can't keep running the same risks. The Oxfam International development agency recently predicted that global food prices will more than double within 20 years, citing everything from climate change to flat-lining yields. Breathless reports designed to sound an alarm naturally invite skepticism, but the biofuel part of Oxfam's analysis rings true.

The U.S. needs a comprehensive energy policy that ends our reliance on food for fuel. We need it now, and we will need it all the more in the future.

New York Times Blog Mentions Oxfam Report On Food Prices

At the New York Times' Green blog, Justin Gillis posted an article, World Food Supply: What's To Be Done?, that mentions Oxfam's recent report on food prices:

Oxfam, the global relief group, recently published an analysis of the food situation and the risks in coming decades. The themes echo many of my own findings and those of the Beddington report, but the Oxfam report has a sharper tone on certain issues, particularly relating to the behavior of corporations, investors and governments in rich countries. Raymond C. Offenheiser, head of Oxfam’s American branch, was recently on the radio talking about these issues. One of the major conclusions of the Oxfam report is that food prices could easily double from today’s high levels by 2030, with climate change likely to be responsible for a major part of that increase. 

As I reported in my article, the governments of the developed world have acknowledged a need to invest anew in global agricultural development, but have been slow to fulfill the $22 billion of pledges they made on this issue in 2009 in L’Aquila, Italy. Numerous advocacy groups are attempting to track the status of the pledges. The latest accounting on this issue by the Group of 8 governments themselves was made public a few weeks ago in a document called the Deauville Accountability Report. 

However, the watchdog groups have attacked that document, saying that it obfuscates the slow pace of spending by the governments. A group called ActionAid has published a detailed analysis, coming to the conclusion that, two years into a three-year set of pledges, the governments have actually spent only 22 percent of the pledged amount. Oxfam also discusses the status of the pledges in one section of a broader report.