Addressing world hunger at this year's G20

November 3 and 4, 2011, mark this year’s G20 summit—an annual gathering of 20 heads of government to discuss world issues and economic matters. On this year’s agenda is strengthening financial regulation and reforming the International Monetary Fund, among other issues. The European financial crisis also poses a significant problem.

However, other groups are calling for different issues to be addressed. The groups that suffer the most during a financial crisis are the poorest countries, says the activist organization Oxfam, so world hunger should be a top concern for the summit. Rising food prices are affecting the world’s already-struggling demographics, and according to Oxfam, the current financial crisis has rendered 64 million people living in poverty.

G20 participants will be reviewing proposals to act on world hunger; however, whether the G20 leaders will take the advice of the proposals has yet to be seen. An even greater question is how to combat world hunger effectively, while taking environmental issues and human rights into consideration. One option is organics: several groups have argued that organic agriculture can play a role in solving world hunger and global food distribution problems.

Of course, the efforts of individual activists and volunteers also play a powerful role in politics, both at home, as well as abroad.