Aid agency Oxfam has said the credibility of finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations is on the line as soaring food prices and climate change threaten to worsen poverty.
Oxfam said that based on its calculations, the top priority for the G8 ministers who are meeting in Japan should be to fill a shortfall of €20bn in overseas aid.
The aid group says failure to do so would cost 5m lives.
A UN summit last week vowed to take urgent action over the global food crisis, following a doubling in food prices in three years that has sparked unrest in many countries.
The ministers from the G8 grouping of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and Russia are meeting today and tomorrow as surging inflation due to high food and crude oil costs threatens the global economy.
Oxfam released a report setting an agenda for rich nations on how to tackle the food crisis, climate change and poverty. Its author Max Lawson said the finance ministers had to propose ambitious aid increases.
'With an economic recession looming, they must not make the poor pay the price by reneging on their aid promises,' he said in a statement.
G8 leaders should ensure that recent aid pledged to help the poor with high food prices comes on top of existing commitments, Oxfam said.
It added that money promised to help poor communities cope with the effects of global warming often came from existing aid budgets.
Oxfam urged a freezing of biofuel targets to stop farmland being diverted away from food production, more aid spending from Japan, France and Germany and urgent action to cut the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
