The combination of food and economic crises has pushed the number of food-insecure or hungry people worldwide to historic levels—more than 1 billion people are undernourished, according to estimates by the United Nations (U.N.) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In addition, the U.N. Secretary General reports that the proportion of hungry people in the world rose in 2008 as a result of global food and economic crises. First among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2000 is the reduction by half in the proportion of the world's hungry by 2015. The vast majority of the world's undernourished live in developing countries, FAO reports. In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger; in sub-Saharan Africa 265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53 million; in the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and in developed countries 15 million, according to FAO's 2009 hunger report. Even before the 2007-2008 food price crisis and the current global recession, the number of undernourished people in the world had been increasing slowly but steadily for the past decade, reports FAO. The number of chronically hungry people in the world declined in the 1980s and early 1990s, a decline that FAO attributes largely to increased investment in agriculture following the global food crisis of the early 1970s. But between 1995-1997 and 2004-2006, as official development assistance (ODA) devoted to agriculture declined substantially, FAO calculates that the number of hungry people increased in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. Gains in hunger reduction were later reversed in this region as well, FAO says, as a result of the food and economic crises. The U.N. Secretary General's MDG report finds that the recent food and economic crises have also reversed the declining trend in the proportion of people who are undernourished. According to U.N. estimates, the proportion of hungry people in the world dropped from about 20% in the early 1990s to about 16% in the middle of the following decade. But current estimates show that the proportion of hungry people rose a percentage point in 2008. As a result, the U.N. Secretary General suggests, progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals of reducing hunger, alleviating poverty, and improving health for the world's poor has slowed or even reversed. FAO points to two factors that make the current situation particularly devastating for poor households in developing countries. First, the crisis is affecting large parts of the world simultaneously, reducing the scope for such mechanisms as currency devaluation, borrowing, or increased use of ODA or migrant remittances to alleviate the plight of the poor. Second, the global recession comes on top of a food crisis that has already strained coping strategies of the poor, hitting those most vulnerable to food insecurity when they are down. FAO says that, faced with high domestic food prices and reduced incomes and employment—and having already sold off assets, reduced food consumption, and cut spending on essential items such as health care and education—poor families risk falling deeper into poverty and food insecurity. The U.S. Global Food Security Initiative has been progressively rolled out by the Administration since its earliest days. President Obama signaled early that alleviating global hunger is a top priority of his Administration. In his inaugural address, the President declared, "to the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds." On January 23, 2009, the State Department released a fact sheet that provided initial information on the U.S. food security initiative. Over the past 10 months, with the Secretary of State taking the lead, the Administration has been discussing issues and commitments related to global hunger and food security. In June 2009, the State Department released another fact sheet stating that the Administration's approach to global food security would focus comprehensively on agriculture development. President Obama made strong commitments to agricultural development and food security at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, in July 2009, and later reconfirmed these commitments at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh in September 2009. At the G8 Summit, "building on a broader U.S. initiative," the G8 leaders announced the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security, to "free mankind from hunger and poverty." The Global Partnership was endorsed by the G8, 28 other countries attending the summit, 10 international organizations, and a number of public-private organizations, such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The summit leaders and other countries and institutions in attendance established a goal of mobilizing $20 billion over three years to finance the initiative. The summit food security declaration commits the G8 and other participants at the summit to five principles for a food security initiative: support for comprehensive strategies, investment through country-owned plans, stronger coordination among donors, leveraging effective multilateral institutions, and sustained commitments. The focus of the initiative, according to the G8 declaration, should be on promoting sustainable production, productivity, and rural economic growth. The declaration stated that these objectives should be pursued in conjunction with social protection mechanisms, such as safety nets and social policies for the most vulnerable, and that emergency assistance such as food aid should remain an important means through which national authorities can provide help to people facing acute hunger. The G8 leaders pledged to provide sustainable, predictable, flexible funding to enhance world production capacity and to reverse the trend of decreasing ODA for agriculture. According to the L'Aquila declaration, the initiative should support the implementation of country and regional agricultural strategies and plans through country-led coordination processes, consistent with the Accra Agenda for Action and leveraging the Comprehensive Framework for Action of the U.N. High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, the G8 agreed that the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) is to be the vehicle for ensuring that resources are targeted to a country's plans and priorities. The G20 Summit, held in September 2009 in Pittsburgh, endorsed the L'Aquila food security initiative and in addition called for the establishment of a World Bank Food Security Trust Fund to finance medium- and long-term investments that boost agricultural productivity and market access in low-income countries. At the G20 Summit, the Administration announced progress in launching the Global Partnership. Countries that did not attend the G8 Summit—Belgium, Finland, Norway, and Switzerland—have pledged to support the Global Partnership and to commit $2 billion to the effort, making a new total of $22 billion. The United States also has begun working with private philanthropists and other private sector actors to determine how best to coordinate food security efforts. The U.S. food security initiative was discussed during a trip made by Secretary of State Clinton (accompanied by Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack) to Kenya, Angola, and Liberia in August 2009, at the Clinton Global Initiative, and at a food security event that the Secretary co-hosted with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September 2009. At the World Summit on Food Security convened by FAO in Rome, November 16-18, 2009, 60 heads of state and government and 191 ministers from 182 countries and the European Union endorsed the Global Partnership and its five principles. The summit declaration renewed the commitment of the international community to meet the MDG (and previous food summit goals) to reduce the proportion and number of hungry people in the world by half by 2015. At the summit, FAO reported that, based on its estimates, to feed a world population expected to surpass 9 billion in 2050, agricultural output would have to increase by 70% between now and then. The fullest expression of the U.S. food security initiative is the Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative Consultation Document , issued by the Department of State on September 28, 2009. The Consultation Document endorses and elaborates on the principles endorsed by the G8 in L'Aquila. The Consultation Document lists as goals of the U.S. food security initiative "to sustainably reduce chronic hunger, raise the incomes of the rural poor, and reduce the number of children suffering from under-nutrition." While the document declares that the United States will maintain its strong commitment to providing emergency and humanitarian food assistance to meet urgent needs and mitigate unexpected disasters, it also states explicitly that "humanitarian assistance should be matched by equally strong investments in agricultural development and nutrition to address the underlying causes of hunger." The strategy and implementation plan are being developed through a consultative process within the U.S. government and with the global community, including other countries, international institutions, foundations, civil society organizations, the private sector and farmers. The Administration's food security initiative, as outlined in the Consultation Document, expands on the five principles in the G8 L'Aquila declaration and is summarized here. This component of the strategy focuses on three primary areas: (1) advancing market-led growth for the agriculture value chain; (2) reducing under-nutrition; and (3) leveraging humanitarian assistance and social safety net programs. This part of the strategy provides the most detailed information about the types of specific "on the ground" activities within the priority areas that the initiative will engage in: I mproving sustainable crop productivity by improving access to and efficient use of inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, water, technologies, extension, and financial services; and improving natural resource management to ensure sustainable gains and minimize negative environmental impacts.