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During the G8 feast in L'Aquila more than 1,000 children in poor countries will die of hunger. Ending hunger needs to top the G8 menu.read more

Here are some of our favorite photos from the Oxfam/UCODEP Big Head stunts during the 2009 G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy.
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Climate change is already hitting poor people the hardest, despite them emitting the least amount of carbon and therefore being the least responsible.read more

Canada in 2010 is a date with fate. When the G8 leaders meet in Muskoka next June they come face to face with a long list of commitments – on aid, on Africa, on health and education, water and sanitation, on women and children, on AIDS, on climate change and now, on support for small farmers.

Just to show it's not over 'til it's over - and underline the power of targeted advocacy - the final communiqué on food security from the G8 leaders caught everyone by surprise by boosting the pledge for support to agriculture to US$20 billion.

It’s past 3 pm on the final day of the Summit and I’ve just started realizing that it’s over… after almost 2 years of working, sweating, worrying about the G8 there’s nothing more I can do to squeeze out positive results out of this summit for the world’s poor. What I see instead is yet another series of big announcements, good intentions and no action. The only concrete results have that the G8 now recommends to keep global warming below the ceiling of 2° degrees Celsius and that there seems to be new money on food and agriculture.

Day Two and the focus shifts from the G8 (which in the end met as a group for only several hours) to an ever larger group of world leaders - including all the big producers of green house gases, north and south. Climate change has received more attention in l'Aquila than at any previous summit. And with Obama in the White House the logjam that has blocked even the most modest progress has been broken. 

For weeks the rumors have floated that President Obama wanted to make a major announcement at the G8 on the issue of hunger. His staff said that he wanted to focus on aid to small farmers to help them grow their way out of poverty and feed themselves. It's exciting and very welcome in the light of the news that world faces a sad milestone in 2009: This year more than 1 billion people will face hunger.