By Dan Satherley
Oxfam is to launch a new campaign on June 1, aimed at fixing the world's "broken" food system.
Called GROW, it will bring together such issues as climate change, the controversy surrounding biofuels, ill-advised aid donations and the "monstrous injustice" of climate change.
Oxfam hopes it will get people talking about the issues surrounding food and the growing gap between the world's haves and have-nots.
"People are hungry because their land has been stolen, people are hungry because of climate change, people are hungry because their plants have been patented," says Oxfam campaigns director John Stansfield.
Speaking at the Festival for the Planet in Auckland on the weekend, Mr Stansfield said climate change is one of the biggest problems the world had ever faced – especially for poor, vulnerable island nations.
"The developing nations of the Pacific did not cause climate change," he told the packed Auckland Town Hall.
"None of the enormous profits that have been generated from the burning of fossil fuels have washed up on their shores, and yet our Pacific neighbours are the first to be affected by climate change."
Problems small Pacific nations face as a result of climate change include not just rising sea levels, but unstable weather conditions, making harvests unreliable.
Rev Suamalie Naisali of the Reformed Christian Church of Tuvalu drove the point home, telling the crowd his entire nation is at risk.
Tuvalu, a tiny archipelago nation north of New Zealand, is only 4m above sea level at its highest point.
"My people have been threatened by climate change and been forced to relocate and displaced," says Rev Naisali.
"And for what? For security and survival."
He told the crowd he would like to coin a new word, "envirogrant", a portmanteau of "environmental immigrant".
"We are not refugees, because we are not qualified under the US convention and protocols of refugees from the environment, but we are immigrants that made better choices for us and for our children," says Rev Naisali.
As the world's climate warms, local weather patterns experience growing instability, making it more difficult to predict conditions in advance.
"Some of the big crop failures recently have been directly attributable to fluctuations in climate that weren't predicted," Mr Stansfield told 3 News.
Instability in the food supply causes prices to rise and fall erratically, worsening the problem for the world's poorer nations.
"Price fluctuations have excited the market, who crashed the other toys they had, so there's a great deal now of speculation on food crops," says Mr Stansfield.
The growing popularity of cleaner-burning and renewable biofuels is also a threat, as more and more crops are being used for fuel instead of food.
"It certainly is contributing to the problem, and where it's predominantly contributing is that there are massive, ill-targeted subsidies into biofuels," says Mr Stansfield.
"In the US, 40 percent of all corn is now going straight to the petrol tank. Now what's that's done is create a very cast-iron link between food and oil, so if the price of oil goes up, kiss your cornies goodbye.
"There is a place for biofuel, but we have to be aware there is risk that it could cause hunger."
Reinvesting in agriculture in developing nations, instead of giving food directly, would help alleviate the problem.
"People are hungry because rich nations have dumped food in their countries and crushed their own existing food industries," says Mr Stansfield.
"The proportion of the world's aid money that goes into agriculture is absolutely tiny."
The relationships between climate change, the food business and the politics of aid are complex, but Mr Stansfield says the bigger picture is actually quite simple.
"If you take one step back, you say hang on, it's much more basic than this," says Mr Stansfield.
"There's a group of people over in one part and they're all fat and obese, they've got heart disease, they've got far too much food.
"And a group of people over here, they're all skinny, they've got malnutrition, and they're the ones actually producing the food.
"And in the middle is this mountain of food going to waste, rotting and being thrown away, and a billion people in the world go to bed hungry every night when there is enough food.
"The system of governance of food is broken."
Oxfam hopes the campaign will put pressure on the Government to take climate change seriously.
"Clearly the Government isn't doing enough. Clearly it hasn't taken climate change leadership in the nation, so what we really need is the nation to lead the Government.
"We are not leading like we should, and we are certainly not standing up as we should with our brothers and sisters in the Pacific.
"We must all stand with the people of the Pacific against this completely avoidable evil."
Tuvalu's Rev Naisali says Oxfam's fears are genuine.
"I tell you, the impact of climate change on food, water security, our way of life, our culture, our community, the overall health of our people and the ecological system that we depend on now has been threatened.
"If a tsunami comes to Tuvalu, 10 feet above sea level, it will demolish a nation, our people, our culture, our language, and that's why I am here."
Other speakers at the Festival for the Planet included ex-MP Nandor Tanzcos, NASA climatologist James Hansen and ex-NIWA head Jim Salinger, with performances from King Kapisi and Emma Paki.
3 News
source: newshub archive
