Enough Food for Everyone IF

Do you remember ‘Make Poverty History’?  It was to be the campaign to eradicate world poverty for good.  Well, there has been considerable progress since 2000, but there still remains a lot to do.  It’s a scandal that around the world 870 million people still go to bed hungry every night, and 2 million children die every year from malnutrition.

So over 150 organisations, including Christian Aid and MRDF, have joined together to attack the problems on several fronts.  Their aim is to lobby governments to make radical changes in trade and aid.  The world has the capacity to produce enough food to feed all its people, but there are no simple solutions.

The campaign website tells us that if we all act together, we can make world leaders change the future by tackling four big IFs:

· TAX – IF we stop big companies dodging taxes in poor countries (it doesn’t just happen here in UK!)

· AID – IF we make the right investments to stop people dying from hunger, and help the poorest people feed themselves

· LAND – IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land, and use crops to feed people, not fuel cars

· TRANSPARENCY – IF we force governments and big corporations to be honest and open about their actions that stop people getting enough food

There is more information on all these issues from Christian Aid or MRDF, or on the campaign website, www.enoughfoodif.org.

The campaign has already clocked up one success, by putting pressure on George Osborne to keep the pledge to spend 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid.  The next step is to lobby the government and other world leaders as they meet for the G8 summit hosted by the UK in Belfast on June 15th.

You can get involved by signing up to the campaign, by lobbying your MP, by wearing an IF wristband (obtainable from the website shop, from the church Traidcraft stall or from Oxfam), even by joining one of the marches arranged to coincide with the G8 summit.  Think what you can do now, to show your support for a world free from hunger.  Remember, there’s potentially enough food for everyone IF.   

Liz Holmes