With more than one billion people malnourished globally, this event reminds us that increasing global food security is as vital as it is challenging.

Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

This year's theme is 'Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis'. The theme highlights that with so much attention focused on the global economic crisis, it is critical that we don't lose sight of the other great crisis facing the world's poor - the global food crisis.

Even before the recession, millions of the world's poorest people were being pushed deeper into poverty as a result of rising food prices.

The economic downturn threatens to worsen this situation and undo progress already made towards achieving the millennium development goals.

Three months ago, 40 Leaders and heads of international organizations, including the Prime Minister of Australia, met in L'Aquila, Italy, and made an historic commitment to mobilize US$20 billion in resources to improve food security over the next three years. These commitments were reaffirmed at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh last month.

The Australian Government believes that in the face of the global economic crisis maintaining aid spending is critical. In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government announced that it will provide almost half a billion dollars over four years to increase food security in the Asia-Pacific region and in Africa.

Australia's funding will support rural development programs, social protection programs that cushion the impact of high food prices on the poor, and increased investments in agricultural productivity through research and development.

In East Timor for example, Australia is supporting improvements to long-term food security through the Seeds of Life program which promotes the use of improved crop varieties and technologies to boost agricultural production.

In Bangladesh, we are supporting improved livelihood opportunities for the rural poor. Through this program we will help build individual economic and social resilience, increase entrepreneurial activity amongst the poor, and strengthen Bangladesh's social protection system.

We will also work to enhance trade, regional market integration and private sector participation in food production across Africa through partnerships under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Food security

What is it?

Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

The global food crisis

While global food prices have fallen from their peaks of mid-2008, they remain considerably higher today than they were in the 1990s and early 2000s. This trend of higher food prices is forecast by the United Nations and World Bank as likely to continue for at least the next 10 years. The spike in prices is largely attributable to the failure of global food production to keep pace with growing demand. Population growth, per capita income growth and changing diets, climatic variability, limitations on arable land and water, distorted global food trade, biofuel feedstock demand and falling investment in agriculture in developing countries-especially in agricultural research-are critical factors in this trend.

The compounding effect of higher food and fuel prices together with the global recession has had a dramatic impact on the developing world. Hunger is set to reach an historic high in 2009, with the United Nations estimating one sixth of humanity, or over one billion people in developing countries, having inadequate access to food. This is an increase of almost 150 million in just four years. There are also grave fears that this crisis in food security could reverse the valuable gains made in overcoming poverty in the last decade and stifle progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Australia's response

The Australian Government is very concerned about the impact that ongoing food insecurity and price volatility is having on the poor in developing countries. To play its part in addressing this, on 12 May 2009, it announced a four-year, A$464 million global food security initiative. The initiative aims to assist countries in Asia (estimated A$182 million), Pacific (est. A$66 million) and Africa (A$100 million) affected by the global food crisis. It also reflects the government's commitment to increase support for Africa, with this additional A$100 million committed to food security across the continent. The initiative focuses on:

1. lifting agricultural productivity

2. improving rural livelihoods

3. building community resilience.

For more information, please see attached.