At the G8 meeting in Italy, world leaders pledged $12 billion for a “food security initiative” for the world’s poorest countries. The total committed falls $3 billion short of the $15 billion promised by President Obama.

Patrick Watt of World Vision: “We welcome that in principle, but I think there are a lot of unanswered questions about how much of that’s new money, how much of it is going to be loaned through the World Bank and other institutions, and how much of it is actually going to be going to tackle hunger in the poorest countries.”

Ariane Arpa of Oxfam called on the G8 nations to do more to address world hunger.

Ariane Arpa: “The eight richest countries in the world have the responsibility to address the problem of hunger in an integral way, in all its aspects, from climate change, from development aid, investment in agriculture, and give a solution that is sustainable and that is fair to all people in the world.”