From July 7th to 9th, 2008, the 34th G8 Summit was held at Toyako in Japan.  Many global issues, including MDGs and the sharp rise in food prices, were discussed there.  In conclusion, they issued the “G8 Leaders Statement on Global Food Security.”  They committed over US$ 10 billion to support food aid, nutrition interventions, social protection activities and measures to increase agricultural output in affected countries.  Food security also requires a robust world market and trade system for food and agriculture.  They asked for the removal of trade regulations, and at the same time, they also called for countries with sufficient food stocks to make available a part of their surplus for countries in need, in times of significantly increasing prices.   They started to explore options on a coordinated approach to stock management, including discussions on the pros and cons of building a virtual internationally coordinated reserve system for humanitarian purposes.  In addition to this, they tasked a G8 Experts Group to monitor the implementation of their commitments and to contribute toward the actualization of a global partnership.

In July 2009, at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy, they issued the “L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security”.  Countries represented at L’Aquila committed to mobilizing $20 billion over three years for global food security.

The World Summit on Food Security was held in Rome, Italy between November 16th and 18th, 2009.  At the Summit, based on the situation of the 2008 sharp rise in grain prices and increase of the undernourished population, which exceeded 1 billion in 2009, delegates discussed building an effective food security system for eradicating hunger.  The main points of the “Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security”, which was adopted in the Summit, are listed below:

1. To reinforce all our efforts to meet by 2015 the targets ofMillennium Development Goal 1 and the World Food Summits. We commit to take action towards sustainably eradicating hunger at the earliest possible date.

2. To feed a world population expected to surpass 9 billion in 2050, it is estimated that agricultural output will have to increase by 70 percent between now and then.

3.   To reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture, food securityand rural development in developing countries, and promote new investment to increasesustainable agricultural production and productivity, reduce poverty and work towards achieving food security and access to food for all.

4. To strive for a comprehensive twin-track approach to food security that consists of: 1) direct action to immediately tackle hunger for the most vulnerable and 2) mediumandlong-term sustainable agricultural, food security, nutrition and rural development programmes to eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty, including through the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

5. To fully implement the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which, as the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together, is a central component of our efforts to further advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition.