Blog Post

G20 Lends Support to International Emergency Food Reserve System

On Friday November 4, G20 leaders issued a Cannes Summit Final Declaration , wrapping up the 2011 G20 Summit. Among the issues addressed at this year's summit was the challenge posed by food price volatility and its impact on global food security, as well as the need to create an international emergency humanitarian food reserve system. In this final statement, G20 leaders welcomed the plan of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) to set up a regional emergency food reserve system as a pilot program.

IFPRI research has played an integral role in recommendations to the G20 regarding food price volatility, humanitarian reserves, and improved transparency and information-sharing in global agricultural markets. The Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System provides a visual representation of historical periods of excessive global price volatility from 2000-present, as well as a daily volatility status. This status can alert policymakers when world markets are experiencing a period of excessive food price volatility; this information can then be used to determine appropriate country-level food security responses, such as the release of physical food stocks from an emergency humanitarian food reserve such as that of ECOWAS.