Today, the European Commission published its first Communication on the impact of EU biofuels policy on food security and land rights in developing countries. The publication of this report coincides with the launch of a public debate on Europe's 2030 energy and climate framework. In reaction, Marc-Olivier Herman, Oxfam's EU policy advisor, said: "The European Commission is sticking its head in the sand....

A serious food security crisis is developing in the Gao region of northern Mali due to a shortage of cereals on the market, rocketing food prices and restricted access, warned international aid agency Oxfam today. In a recent survey conducted between January and February 2013 in the circle of Bourem, an area in the Gao region where Oxfam carries out programmes, the agency found that up to 80 per cent of adults have reduced their...

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The European Commission has watered down draft legislation on biofuels as a result of pressure from the biofuels lobby warned Oxfam today.  The draft legislation published today marks a climb down from the proposal leaked a month ago. Biofuels producers will not be held accountable or forced to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions biofuels cause through the displacement of agriculture on to forested land and carbon sinks (known as...

Responding to the IMF and World Bank opening remarks in Tokyo, Oxfam spokesperson Elizabeth Stuart said: IMF - Christine Lagarde Courageous and cooperative action:   "It's imperative that the poorest countries are not overlooked at this meeting. Europe's crisis needs to be fixed because the fallout is seriously threatening developing countries. Oxfam's research shows a Eurozone breakup...

Rising food prices and increased frequency of humanitarian crises may entrench hunger long term The international aid agency, Oxfam, has warned that efforts to bring an end to global hunger are in danger of "flat-lining" in the longer term, with rising food prices and an increasing number of weather-related crises threatening to entrench hunger across the world.  Oxfam's warning follows today's...

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The World Bank and IMF must step up their support for developing countries who are struggling with spiking food prices along with the fallout from Europe's fiscal crisis, international agency Oxfam said ahead of the annual meeting of the institutions in Tokyo this week. World food prices are now close to their 2008-2009 peak and the economic downturn in Europe and the US is hurting poor country revenues. Worse still, food price...

A new survey of people across 40 regions of Somalia by international agency Oxfam has found that water and food shortages are at critical levels and likely to deteriorate in parts of the country over the coming months, risking a prolonged humanitarian crisis well into next year. While results show a return to famine is unlikely, the situation in the south of Somalia - particularly in Gedo, Lower Juba and Bakool regions - remains critical...

World Bank must freeze investments to protect poor people from land grabs. Land eight times the size of the UK was sold off globally in the last decade, enough to grow food for a billion people says international development agency Oxfam. This is the equivalent to the number of people who go hungry in the world today. In its new report, Our Land, Our Lives, Oxfam warns that more than...