World Bank President Urges a New Deal to Fight Hunger
April 2nd, 2008 by SocProf and tagged Agriculture, Development, Economy, food, Global Governance, Globalization, Trade, World Bank
It’s about damn time . The bad news regarding food supplies have been out for months now. Better late than never though (via the BBC):
“The World Bank has called on the international community to co-ordinate its efforts in a “new deal” to fight global hunger and malnutrition. A move was needed because of soaring global food and energy prices, said the bank’s president, Robert Zoellick. Mr Zoellick said the top priority was to give the UN World Food Programme an extra $500m for emergency food aid. The World Bank estimates 33 countries face potential social unrest because of rising food and energy prices. As well as urging the US, the EU, Japan and other developed countries to provide the World Food Programme with extra funds for emergency aid, Mr Zoellick said the new deal required a shift towards a broader concept of food and nutrition assistance.”
So, what exactly is this New Deal? In addition to the immediate emergency funding, Zoellick proposes that emerging countries use 1% of their sovereign wealth funds to invest in Sub-Saharan Africa (what he calls a “one percent solution”). According to Zoellick, these funds hold $3 trillion in assets. One percent would liberate $30 billion to invest to promote development and trigger a new Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, he also proposes a more open trade system when it comes to agricultural goods, criticizing the unfairness and the protectionism of the United States in this matter. As such, he promotes an end to core countries’ agricultural subsidies that distort the market and strangle the agricultural sectors of poor countries. All these are remarkably progressive ideas.
Posted in Development, Economy, Free Trade, Global Governance, Globalization, Poverty, Social Inequalities, Social Stratification | No Comments »
