During the G20 summit, held in India, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the UK will host a global food security summit to galvanize action to tackle hunger and malnutrition.
The UK will gather governments, international organisations, scientists, NGOs and the private sector on 20 November for a reset moment on the global food security crisis.
Speaking at the G20, the Prime Minister said that leading experts will come together to tackle the causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, including through cutting edge UK funded science and technology, at the summit in London.
Climate change, conflict, the long-term impacts of Covid-19 and the effects on global food supply of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are the main drivers of current food insecurity.
Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) last month, a UN plan to ensure food and fertilizers could leave Ukrainian ports, has reduced global grain supply at a critical time for vulnerable people around the world and contributed to further market volatility – when prices rise, the poorest pay.
The UK-hosted summit will on new approaches to tackle preventable deaths of children, building a climate-resilient and sustainable food system, supporting early action to prevent and reduce the impact of humanitarian crises, using science and technology to boost food security in hardest-hit countries.
In addition, the Prime Minister has announced the UK’s biggest single financial contribution to helping the world’s most vulnerable people adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change.
The UK will contribute £1.62 billion ($2 billion) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which was established by 194 countries following the Copenhagen Accord at COP15. The GCF is the largest global fund dedicated to supporting developing countries to reduce global emissions and helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
This pledge represents a 12.7% increase on the UK’s previous contribution to the GCF for the period of 2020-2023, which was itself a doubling of our initial funding to establish the fund in 2014.
At the G20 Summit the Prime Minister has called on leaders to work together ahead of the COP28 Summit this December to both reduce their countries’ own carbon emissions and support vulnerable economies to deal with the consequences of climate change.
Addressing G20 leaders, the Prime Minister said:
“The UK is stepping up and delivering on our climate commitments, both by decarbonising our own economy and supporting the world’s most vulnerable to deal with the impact of climate change.
This is the kind of leadership that the world rightly expects from G20 countries. And this government will continue to lead by example in making the UK, and the world, more prosperous and secure.”
The UK has led international efforts to help developing countries tackle climate change, including by pledging to spend £11.6 billion on international climate finance between 2021 and 2026.
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