The Global Food Crisis

Description

The global food crisis is a stark reminder of the fragility of the global food system. The Global Food Crisis: Governance Challenges and Opportunities captures the debate about how to go forward and examines the implications of the crisis for food security in the world’s poorest countries, both for the global environment and for the global rules and institutions that govern food and agriculture.

In this volume, policy-makers and scholars assess the causes and consequences of the most recent food price volatility and examine the associated governance challenges and opportunities, including short-term emergency responses, the ecological dimensions of the crisis, and the longer-term goal of building sustainable global food systems. The recommendations include vastly increasing public investment in small-farm agriculture; reforming global food aid and food research institutions; establishing fairer international agricultural trade rules; promoting sustainable agricultural methods; placing agriculture higher on the post-Kyoto climate change agenda; revamping biofuel policies; and enhancing international agricultural policy-making.

Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation

Sujets

• Development studies
• International relations
• Globalization
• Sustainable development

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554581986
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

Studies in International Governance is a research and policy analysis series from the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Wilfrid Lau- rier University Press. Titles in the series provide timely consideration of emerg- ing trends and current challenges in the broad field of international governance. Representing diverse perspectives on important global issues, the series will be of interest to students and academics while serving also as a reference tool for policy-makers and experts engaged in policy discussion. To reach the great- est possible audience and ultimately shape the policy dialogue, each volume will be made available both in print through WLU Press and, twelve months after publication, free online under the Creative Commons License.

THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS Governance Challenges and Opportunities 

Jennifer Clapp and Marc J. Cohen, editors

Wilfrid Laurier University Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through its Book Publishing Industry Development Program for its publishing activities. Wilfrid Laurier Univer- sity Press acknowledges the financial support of the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The Center for International Governance Innovation gratefully acknowledges support for its work pro- gram from the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

The global food crisis : governance challenges and opportunities / edited by Jennifer Clapp and Marc J. Cohen.

(Studies in international governance series) Co-published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued also in electronic format. ISBN 978-1-55458-192-4 1. Food prices—Developing countries. 2. Food supply—Developing countries. 3. Food relief— International cooperation. 4. Crops and climate—Developing countries. 5. Sustainable agriculture. 6. Agricultural systems. I. Clapp, Jennifer, 1963– II. Cohen, Marc J., 1952– III. Centre for Interna- tional Governance Innovation IV. Series: Studies in international governance HD9000.5.G5826 2009 338.1'91724 C2009-903706-8 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication The global food crisis [electronic resource] : governance challenges and opportunities / edited by Jennifer Clapp and Marc J. Cohen.

(Studies in international governance series) Co-published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Includes bibliographical references and index. Electronic edited collection in PDF, ePub, and XML formats. Issued also in print format. ISBN 978-1-55458-198-6 1. Food prices—Developing countries. 2. Food supply—Developing countries. 3. Food relief— International cooperation. 4. Crops and climate—Developing countries. 5. Sustainable agriculture. 6. Agricultural systems. I. Clapp, Jennifer, 1963– II. Cohen, Marc J., 1952– III. Centre for Interna- tional Governance Innovation IV. Series: Studies in international governance HD9000.5.G5826 2009a 338.1'91724 Cover design by David Drummond. Text design by Catharine Bonas-Taylor. © 2009 The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Wilfrid Laurier University Press

For permission to reprint the articles “Impact of Climate Change and Bioenergy on Nutrition,” by Marc Cohen, Cristina Tirado, Noora-Lisa Aberman (IFPRI), and Brian Thompson (FAO), and “A Stronger Glob- al Architecture for Food and Agriculture: Some Lessons from FAO’s History and Recent Evaluation,” by Daniel J. Gustafson and John Markie, the publishers acknowledge the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Good Policy Research Institute. Both articles are copyright IFRPI and FAO, 2008.

This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using biogas energy.

Printed in Canada

Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher’s atten- tion will be corrected in future printings.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777

CONTENTS 

List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii List of Tables and Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Foreword,Per Pinstrup-Andersenxi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii List of Acronyms and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Introduction 1. The Food Crisis and Global Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Clapp and Marc J. Cohen

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Part 1: The Causal Factors behind the Food Crisis 2. The Blame Game: Understanding Structural Causes of the Food Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Anuradha Mittal 3. The 1974 and 2008 Food Price Crises: Déjà Vu? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Sue Horton 4. Responding to Food Price Volatility and Vulnerability: Considering the Global Economic Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Jennifer Clapp 5. US Biofuels Policy and the Global Food Price Crisis: A Survey of the Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Kimberly Ann Elliott

Part 2: Immediate Governance Challenges and Proposals: Food Aid, Trade Measures, and International Grain Reserves 6. Responding to the 2008 “Food Crisis”: Lessons from the Evolution of the Food Aid Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Raymond F. Hopkins

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Contents

7. Preparing for an Uncertain Global Food Supply: A New Food Assistance Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 C. Stuart Clark 8. From Food Handouts to Integrated Food Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Frederic Mousseau 9. The Uses of Crisis: Progress on Implementing US Local/Regional Procurement of Food Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Gawain Kripke

Part 3: Longer-Term Ecological Concerns and Governance Responses 10. The Impact of Climate Change on Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Cristina Tirado, Marc J. Cohen, Noora-Lisa Aberman, and Brian Thompson 11. Fossil Energy and the Biophysical Roots of the Food Crisis . . . . . . . 145 Tony Weis 12. Setting the Global Dinner Table: Exploring the Limits of the Marketization of Food Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Noah Zerbe

Part 4: Strategies to Promote Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture: The Way Ahead 13. A Stronger Global Architecture for Food and Agriculture: Some Lessons from FAO’s History and Recent Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Daniel J. Gustafson and John Markie 14. Improving the Effectiveness of US Assistance in Transforming the Food Security Outlook in Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Emmy Simmons and Julie Howard 15. Urban Agriculture and Changing Food Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Mark Redwood 16. Reorienting Local and Global Food Systems: Institutional Challenges and Policy Options from the UN Agricultural Assessment . . . . . . . . . 217 Marcia Ishii-Eiteman 17. The Governance Challenges of Improving Global Food Security . . . 237 Alex McCalla Notes on Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Figure 1.1 FAO Food Price Index, 2005–2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Figure 1.2 Proportion of Undernourished People in the Developing World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Figure 1.3 Number of Undernourished People in the Developing World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Figure 2.1 Total World Grain and Oilseeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 3.1 Monthly Wheat Price Index, 1973 to 1974 and 2006 to 2007, in US$ and European Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Figure 3.2 Monthly Rice Price Index, 1973 to 1974 and 2006 to 2007, in US$ and European Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Figure 3.3 End-Year Wheat Stocks, and Stock-to-Consumption Ratio, Wheat (Worldwide), 1970–71 to 2007–08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Figure 3.4 World Cereal/Food Aid, Compared to Wheat Price, 1970–2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Figure 4.1 World Cereal Stocks-to-Utilization Ratio and Cereal Price Index, 1990–2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Figure 4.2 Agricultural Trade Balance of Least Developed Countries, 1961–2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Figure 5.1 World Grain Stocks to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Figure 5.2 Corn Markets and Ethanol Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Figure 5.3 Acreage Planted by Commodity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Figure 5.4 Gasoline Prices and Ethanol Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Figure 6.1 Food Aid Flows, 1999–2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Figure 6.2 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Requirements and Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Figure 7.1 Minimum Food Aid Tonnage Commitments under Various Food Aid Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Figure 17.1 World Cereal Production, 1999–2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Figure 17.2 World Cereal Stocks, 2000–2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

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List of Illustrations

Figure 17.3 Agricultural Productivity Growth for Rice, Maize, and Wheat, 1963–2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Figure 17.4 Food Subsidies in Selected MENA Countries, 2007 (Share of GDP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Figure 17.5 Food Subsidies in Selected MENA Countries, 2007 (Share of Government Expenditure) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Table 2.1 Table 3.1

Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 15.1

Table 15.2

Table 15.3

Table 17.1 Table 17.2

Box 2.1 Box 5.1 Box 16.1 Box 16.2 Box 16.3 Box 16.4

LIST OF TABLES AND BOXES 

Tables Exponential Trend Growth Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Percentage Change in Selected Crop Prices if Biofuel Demand Were Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 An Illustration of Factors in the Food Price Crisis . . . . . . . 63 Sources of Daily Calories in Developing Countries, 2002 . 66 Cumulative Percentage Changes in Real Rice Prices, 2003–2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Percentage of Income Spent on Food by Low-Income Residents in Selected Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Selected Data on the Contribution of Urban Agriculture to the Availability of Urban Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Cereal Balances in Selected MENA Countries, 2005 . . . . . 245 Experience with Global Reserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Boxes The Experience of Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Is Sugar Ethanol Different? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 The UN Agricultural Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 IAASTD Key Finding on Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Multi-functionality of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Agroecology and Sustainable Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

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