This past April, President Barack Obama recommended Pittsburgh as the location for next week's G-20 summit meeting. With many villages, towns, cities, regions and nations across the globe facing unprecedented economic strife, the president wanted to highlight a city whose recent past is an example of how to rebuild an economy from the ground up. While much about Pittsburgh's latest renaissance has focused on rivers, technology and green buildings, our region is at the forefront of another one of the key agenda items for the summit -- food security.

Food security is a term that encompasses these vital issues: the consistent availability of food, access to nutritious food, access to safe food and access to food that has not been tainted by a lack of sanitation. Each of these issues poses complex problems linked to economic conditions, environmental practices and global trade.

All around the world, even in wealthy nations, food security is often elusive. "Food deserts" -- large, isolated areas where access to healthy sources of food is limited -- exist in rural and urban areas, in developed and less-developed countries, near skyscrapers or watering holes. In modern cities like Pittsburgh, some neighborhoods have no mainstream grocery stores, or they are distant and hard to reach. Residents often subsist on fast food or processed foods from convenience stores.

Recent research has demonstrated a link between food deserts and diet-related health problems. Residents of food-desert neighborhoods have a diabetes-related death rate that is more than twice than that of residents of neighborhoods with reasonable access to nutritious food.

Earlier this year in London, G-20 leaders recognized the link between the economic crisis and food security. When they gather in Pittsburgh next week to continue talking about the state of the global economy, they will address measures to ensure acceptable levels of access to safe, nutritious food. They also should take time to study several innovative local organizations that address food security in different ways and that could serve as models for others.

Nonprofit organizations such as the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and its network of nearly 380 local pantries and soup kitchens directly provide nutritious food to those who suffer from hunger or are at risk of becoming hungry. The food bank distributed more than 2 million pounds of food in March 2008, its record for a single month, and it has been serving an average of 2,000 new households each month since August 2008.

In response to the economic downturn, the food bank has collected and distributed more food and increased its marketing efforts to spread the "help is available" message to new audiences -- particularly those who find themselves needing food assistance for the first time. This food distribution network is complemented by the work of other local nonprofits, such as Just Harvest and the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center, which advocate for food security in local neighborhoods and facilitate access to government assistance programs.

The Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture targets local farmers and consumers to improve the economic viability, environmental soundness and social responsibility of food and farming systems from "farm to fork." The association's primary means of supporting sustainable agriculture is its "Buy Fresh Buy Local" program. Together with its national partner, the FoodRoutes Network, it helps support more than 400 small farmers in Western Pennsylvania.

This collaborative effort seeks to bridge the gap between consumers seeking fresh, local food and the producers who can supply it. Working with the Pennsylvania association will be University of Pittsburgh undergraduate business students who will identify food deserts within our community and help design entrepreneurial ventures that the association can pursue to address them. Other local nonprofits, such as Grow Pittsburgh and GTECH Strategies, also support sustainable agriculture locally.

Our region can boast of its large number of farmers markets, which provide local farmers with concentrated distribution networks to sell their produce. According to ratings from the Sierra Club, Pittsburgh has more farmers markets and community gardens per capita than any other major city. These farmers markets provide locally grown produce to communities at affordable prices, especially through a government voucher program for seniors.

Yet another example of a local solution to food security is the East End Food Cooperative, an innovative member-owned organic food market which has 8,000 subscribers who support local farms.

Make no mistake, the prevalence of food deserts and persistent inequality in access to healthy food is a critical global issue. Food security is not a privilege, but a basic human right for all people.

As members of the G-20, the media and other guests gather in our city, we encourage them to keep food security on the agenda and to borrow freely from the innovations of Pittsburgh organizations working creatively and collaboratively to address the problem here.