Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has warned that the world is at risk of “sleepwalking” into a food crisis, as Iran’s three-month closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt key supply chains for energy and fertiliser. Speaking at the Global Partnerships Conference in London, co-hosted by the UK and South Africa, she said the global economy was “being held hostage”, with the Global South paying the biggest price.
Ms Cooper highlighted that the agricultural clock is ticking, with damage already being done to crop yields and food prices well into next year. She noted that the World Food Programme has warned that some 45 million people in the global south are at risk of being pushed into acute hunger this year. The foreign secretary also pointed to other “concurrent crises” including conflict, climate change, and communicable diseases, such as the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In her keynote address, Ms Cooper called for “bold new approaches” to international development, given the myriad of threats and cuts to foreign aid from the UK, US, and elsewhere. She outlined the UK’s new strategy of prioritising aid for fragile and conflict-affected countries, while building new investment partnerships with more stable developing nations. “We need to mobilise much wider investments and different forms of capital investment and support,” she said.
Key announcements at the conference include £1 billion of climate investments from the government-owned British International Investments, expected to unlock a further £3.5 billion in private capital. The UK also announced the formation of new “Communities of Expertise” – demand-led, interdisciplinary hubs to share expertise in areas such as climate, energy, education, health, finance, and governance.
However, the response to the UK’s position has been mixed. Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development committee, expressed concern that the ambition of the conference “far outstrips the reality of what can be achieved with a much-reduced budget”, following the cut in UK aid from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income. She argued that patient investment in preventing the root causes of poverty, conflict, inequality, and climate change should be the focus.
A senior official from an African embassy in London voiced scepticism about whether companies from the Global North will truly begin investing in his country, citing continued misplaced “risk perception” around investment opportunities. “There is a lot of talk here about moving from ideas towards implementation, but I am struggling to see that really happening,” he said.
