WUNRN
Multiple Language Translations for
Charter.
Up to 750,000 people face death from hunger in East Africa. Millions more are at risk across the region in the worst food crisis of the 21st century. They will have to bear a legacy of poverty, suffering, and the loss of their livelihoods. Urgent action is needed right now.
But the truth is that this crisis was predicted – and preventable: we already have the knowledge to stop this kind of tragedy from unfolding; we know the steps that must be taken to prevent suffering on this scale.
Women, men, and children dying of hunger is not acceptable. We all have a responsibility to prevent this from ever happening again.
1. Fix the flaws of the international emergency system
Early warning systems are already in place across East Africa. There were early indications that this crisis was growing but the warnings went largely unheeded – just as in so many previous disasters. Large-scale action to prevent the worst of these crises did not come in time. The delay in waiting for a disaster to unfold before acting costs both lives and money. It is wrong to see a crisis coming and do nothing to prevent it. The system, including national governments, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and funds like the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), must be flexible enough to respond to changing situations with the right interventions at the right time.
There is no single solution, but together these commitments – when enacted – will improve the system to break the cycle of crisis.
2. Supporting local food production
Decades of under-investment in small scale food producers and ineffective management of natural resources, have contributed significantly to the crisis in East Africa, with livestock farmers particularly hard hit. Globally, long-term investment in agriculture and adapting to the risks of climate-related disasters has been inadequate to support the poorest in feeding themselves and contributing more to national economies. Putting adaptation to climate change and the reduction of disaster risk at the heart of development approaches must be a top priority. Failure to act is costing lives every day as people struggle to deal with shocks such as the changing climate and rocketing food prices. This has to change.
3. Services and protection for the poorest
Millions of people around the world are living on the edge of survival, always close to disaster. We can help those people move back from the brink with two changes: social safety nets, and fairer investment. Safety nets can protect millions of people from the worst of the crisis: they stabilise families’ income throughout the year so they are not forced to sell what little they have to feed themselves. Fairer investment is simply respecting the right that everyone has to essential services such as health care and education. Whether it is between regions or between women and men, injustice and inequality is a matter of life and death.
4. Food everyone can afford
Spiralling food prices have contributed to tipping some areas of East Africa towards disaster. We cannot stop acute food crises unless everyone can access food at a price they can afford. The number of people without enough to eat is increasing. Food price spikes are also a major part of the problem. We have waited too long to fulfil the simple right of every person to affordable food.
5. Reducing armed violence and conflict
It is impossible to end mass death by starvation without reducing the violence that is one of its principal causes. The world has not only tolerated the fact that hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children live without help or protection during times of conflict. It has done too little to address the vicious mix of poverty, poor governance and violence that sustain conflicts. This must be replaced by urgent action to protect and assist people now – and to tackle the fundamental cycle of violence and poverty.
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