Caritas: Food Crisis Is Urgent for G-8, G-20

ROME, JUNE 24, 2010 ( Zenit.org ).- The international Caritas aid agency says world leaders meeting this weekend in Canada must focus on the rising food crisis.

In a statement released Wednesday, Caritas affirmed the urgency of the food crisis, and urged the Group of Eight and Group of 20 representatives to tackle the problem when they meet this Friday through Sunday.

"Decades of misguided economic and agricultural policies have finally become too much for farmers and people around the world to withstand," the Caritas statement affirmed. "A record 1 billion people are now chronically hungry. One in every seven does not have the food needed for basic life."

The aid organization asserted that the G-8 and G-20 countries, with their developed and emerging economies, "must reverse global food policies by supporting small-scale, sustainable agriculture in developing countries, over industrial agriculture."

"We need more aid, better spent. And we need to see effective action on climate change," affirmed Michael Casey, Caritas Canada’s executive director.

Food security is expected to be further impacted by climate change.

Caritas called on rich countries to commit an additional U.S. $195 billion in public financing per year by 2020 to support poor countries in their adaptation to climate change and to develop sustainably.