Government plans to meet the first of the UN millennium development goals by halving poverty and hunger by 2015 were unveiled today.
Conor Lenihan
Announcing the Hunger Task Force, which will include between 12 and 15 national and international aid experts today, Minister of State for Irish aid and human rights Conor Lenihan also named former minister for agriculture Joe Walsh as chairman of the group.
The task force, which was called for in last year's Government white paper on Irish aid, will report at the end of the year.
Mr Lenihan said statistics showed that 800 million people, including 300 million children, are persistently malnourished with issues such as conflict, climate change and HIV/Aids among the major contributors to the global problem.
He said: "Hunger causes poverty and is a consequence of poverty. It is a major barrier to economic growth, with an estimated 10 per cent of a county's potential GDP lost as a result of low productivity caused by hunger and malnutrition."
Mr Walsh said he would approach the millennium development goal "in the context of Ireland's own history of famine and our experiences in agriculture and development co-operation.
"The Task Force will examine international best practice in the area of food security and how Ireland's energies, expertise and increased Irish aid resources can best contribute to international efforts to reduce hunger," he said.
The eight millennium development goals, agreed by 147 heads of state during the UN Millenium Summit in September 2000, are to be achieved by 2015 and aim to respond to the world's main development challenges.
These include:
- the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger
- the achievement of universal primary education
- the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women
- the reduction of child mortality
- the improvement of maternal health
- the combating of HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
- the ensuring of environmental sustainability
- the development of a Global Partnership for Development