Global Food Crisis: Oxfam's response
Oxfam is factoring higher food prices into our humanitarian and campaigning work.
What we are doing
In our humanitarian responses we are already employing a broad range of tools adapted to local conditions. These include food distributions, cash or voucher handouts, buying food locally in times of drought, and other work aimed at reducing people's vulnerability to market fluctuations.
We are doing a lot of work on reducing people's risk to disaster and helping them prepare for natural events that may be inevitable. This includes working with governments to put social protection programmes in place.
We are also campaigning on civilians' rights to protection and basic services in humanitarian crises. This includes holding governments and the international community to account to ensure that people have access to food, water, and basic services, even during conflicts.
Our campaigning and advocacy work on climate change, agriculture, and trade rules takes high food prices into account and includes recommendations aimed at preventing further negative impact. For example, we are urging caution on the expansion of biofuels mandates, asking governments to invest more in agriculture, and calling for more money to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
We will continue to monitor closely what is happening in food markets and the impact it is having on poor people. We will work with others, including our partners on the ground, academics, governments, and other non-governmental organisations, to devise the best responses to the challenges posed by the evolving situation.
