President Obama meeting Pope Benedict XVI after
a satisfying conclusion to the G8 summit.
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
The World Food Program, a United Nations aid organization, last week reported from the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. It said the body’s $20bn pledge in agricultural aid to the world’s poorest nations was “greeted with great happiness.” The current economic crisis has effectively darkened the skies over an already gloomy African landscape, with the United Nations predicting that 103 million more people will go hungry because of the global recession, pushing the total to well over one billion. African representatives at the fringes of the annual summit of the world’s richest nations, though appreciative of the pledge, were still wary of the G8’s commitment. This is, in part, due to the G8’s failure, as reported by the BBC, to live up to its 2005 promise of doubling world aid. South African President Jacob Zuma was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying “We can’t say it’s enough, but at least it begins to do very concrete things.” The Nigerian Agriculture Minister Abba Ruma said that “[while the gesture is] very commendable in view of the current global recession…[aid needs to be] disbursed expeditiously. It is only then [that] we will know that the G8 is living up to its commitment…” In a continent that has become a net importer of agricultural products, such aid, and the belief that it will be delivered, may guarantee the survival of those who can’t afford food and are bereft of optimism. Ironically, organizations attempting to revive Africa’s export economies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have only managed to increase its dependence on foreign aid. Oxfam reports that their mismanagement of African agriculture has left “farmers more food insecure, and governments reliant on unpredictable aid flows.”
The G8 pledge is significant in that it gives African nations the opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty. As noted in the group’s food security initiative, published on the AllAfrica website, the $20bn will be dispersed in a “coordinated, comprehensive strategy focused on sustainable agriculture development, while keeping a strong commitment to ensure adequate emergency food aid assistance.” Sustainable agricultural development will be promoted through various measures, including improving access to education and training, increasing the availability of seeds, strengthening business institutions, and building the necessary infrastructure for agriculture to become a viable source of both food and income. Speaking to the BBC, Kanaya Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, said he was pleased with the G8’s focus on agricultural development. "It is time for us to switch, because food security is not just food aid…it is the ability of people to produce food locally and for them to be able to have access to local markets.” President Obama echoed this sentiment in his address to the G8: Using his poorer relatives in rural Kenya as an example, he emphasized the urgency of the situation, while reiterating his belief in Africa’s potential, and responsibility, to feed itself.
Yet, neither African nations nor Obama were responsible for the stalemate on climate change, another key issue at the G8 summit. Developing nations such as China and India stubbornly resisted a pledge to halve the world’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as reported by Reuters. They did, however, agree that temperature rises should be capped at 2 degrees Celsius, says the BBC, which would keep the Earth’s climate system from becoming what the UN calls “dangerously unstable.”
If the situation isn’t “dangerous” at the moment, then it’s certainly precarious. The BBC reports on how droughts in Eastern Africa are occurring every one or two years, when they once plagued the continent every several. The AllAfrica website has carried several stories on prolonged droughts this year, and on measures adopted to tackle the escalating crisis. Apparently, an increase in the availability of drought-resistant seeds to small-scale farmers is little consolation; they only yield “an additional 25 percent more grain under moderate drought conditions, compared to the best African seed currently available,” says Vanessa Cook, an agricultural specialist interviewed by America.gov. And with carbon emission rates showing little sign of slowing down, the severity of droughts, floods, and other destabilized natural phenomena can only be expected to intensify.
Many will be hoping that the G8 and other major polluters can reach a compromise before the UN climate change conference this December; if not for the sake of agriculture in Africa, then at least to safeguard their own windblown economies from the whims of a global climate system. Climate change is set to rain down terror with little regard for creed or nationality, and members of the G8 will soon have to divert their resources to help themselves. We Africans, meanwhile, should be thankful for their assistance while we have it, and even more, for being given an opportunity to help ourselves. Thank heavens for that, as we were starting to rely on their aid like we do on god’s goodness.
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