Agriculture & Food Security
The G20’s Food Security Agenda: Making Positive Change or Passing the Buck?
When it comes to food security and agriculture, the G20 seems to be all too willing to take the credit while passing the buck. It wants to set the agenda on world food security. But it has been reluctant to require the G20 governments themselves to coordinate regulatory changes to address high and rising food prices or put the kind of money needed into agricultural investment in the world’s poorest countries.
Undernutrition and Overnutrition: Who is Feeding Whom?
We live in a world today where one billion people – that is one in every seven people on the planet – are undernourished. At the same time, more than one billion people are overweight, including some 300 million people who are obese. Both undernutrition and overnutrition are forms of malnutrition, and both harm human health and impose enormous costs on society.
Window Still Open For International Community to Help 'Fix' Haiti
In the fifth episode of season two, CIGI Distinguished Fellow and Chair of Global Governance, Jorge Heine, discusses issues and themes raised by his latest co-edited book, 'Fixing Haiti.' Heine outlines the massive challenges facing the Caribbean nation, but also suggests where international assistance could be invested to make a positive difference in the short- and long-term.
CIGI'11 Development/Food Security Session
The third session of the CIGI'11 conference focused on development and food security.
G20 Ignores Food Security
CIGI Chair in Global Environmental Governance Jennfier Clapp and Timothy Wise, director of the Research and Policy program at the Global Development and Environment Institute, discuss food security at the G20.
Prescriptions for the G20: The Cannes Summit and Beyond
The recent “Occupy” demonstrations are indicative of a growing mistrust in the ability of governments and the G20 to respond to today’s problems. Questions are being raised about the effectiveness and credibility of the G20 as a global governance institution amid the growing uncertainty about the world economy. This collection of commentaries by CIGI experts offers policy analysis and prescriptions in advance of the Cannes G20 Summit on November 3-4, 2011, addressing some of the most critical issues facing the G20 — securing economic recovery and growth, global imbalances, food security, employment, anti-corruption, international trade, and the G20 process itself.
Sir David King on Science and International Governance
In this week's Inside the Issues, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Sir David King, talks with Inside the Issues about science and how it interacts with global political forces.
CIGI'11 — An Unfinished House: Filling the Gaps in Global Governance
The background paper for the CIGI conference “An Unfinished House: Filling the Gaps in International Governance” provides a useful collection of facts and observations about the universe of global governance arrangements. It offers a preliminary description of the critical gaps and inadequacies — to assist in thinking about the principal dilemmas and research priorities.
Taking Action to Ensure Food Security: The Responsibilities of G20 Leaders
The number of hungry people on the planet is close to one billion. This is one reason why France has put food price volatility and food security prominently on the G20 agenda. Through their policies and coordinating efforts, G20 governments can do more to stop wild price swings and rising hunger than either of the Rome-based UN food agencies, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization. These agencies have neither the authority nor the resources to respond adequately to the root causes of the global food crisis.
What's needed for East Africa beyond immediate food aid?
The United Nations (UN) recently announced that the ongoing crisis in parts of Somalia is a famine, as East Africa experiences what experts believe to be the worst drought in roughly 60 years. This humanitarian emergency has not only called into question the world’s preparedness for dealing with such a crisis, but it has also lead to a mass appeal for donations. This week, we talk to CIGI Chair in Global Environmental Governance and global food systems expert, Jennifer Clapp, about why this situation is occurring and how the international community should respond.
Food aid talks: What’s on the table?
Jennifer Clapp argues that in light of the declaration of famine in southern Somalia, the renegotiation of the Food Aid Convention (FAC) could not come soon enough.
The G20 Agricultural Action Plan: Changing the Course of Capitalism?
Nicolas Sarkozy made no secret of his aim to use France’s presidency of the G20 as a platform to address food price volatility with tough measures, including regulating speculation on agricultural commodity futures markets.
How to Add Value to the G20 Agriculture Ministers' Meeting
The G20 agriculture ministers will gather together for their first-ever meeting next week in Paris (June 22-23) to discuss potential measures for the G20 governments to endorse regarding food price volatility. Many are skeptical about what the G20 can accomplish in this area.
Cost of eating spikes for the Arab world
Wheat prices soaring by 17 percent is an especially worrying sign for countries where it is a staple of the diet. CIGI Senior Fellow Bessma Momani provides context on the situation faced by those at the bottom of the economic food chain in the wider Arab world.
Future Paradigms in Global Development
In episode 18, Secretary General of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies Mukesh Kapila, talks about the next generation of international development - one that will go beyond "feeding and watering" those in need and move away from donor-driven official development assistance projects.
Beyond 2015: Perspectives on the future of development discussed at CIGI
Does the world’s population need to liberate itself from the “tyranny” of global goals in order to progress in international development? This question and others were debated at "Beyond 2015 – Development Goals for the World," where leading experts addressed the future of aid after the Millennium Development Goals expire.
Full event video: "Beyond 2015 - Development Goals for the World"
Conceptualized over a decade ago, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are quickly approaching their target date, and will be met with significantly uneven success. An important question, therefore, arises within global governance: How will the global community approach international development after 2015?
Canada ‘in position to be listened to’ in secretive world food-aid talks
For the first time in more than a decade, an elite group of the world’s richest nations will begin redrawing the historic international agreement that governs food-aid commitments to developing countries. With Canada serving as chair of the talks, Jennifer Clapp, CIGI Chair in Environmental Governance, sounds a cautionary note on the push to place a dollar value cap on food-aid commitments.
Global Governance and Climate Catastrophe
In episode four, CIGI Chair of Global Systems Thomas Homer-Dixon discusses the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, and how new technologies and international governance can help find solutions.
CIGI'10 Prepatory Document for Participants
In this prepatory document for CIGI'10 participants, conference co-chair Jason Blackstock outlines the primary goals for CIGI ’10. First, to explore the potential for action at all levels of government and society — from the bottom up, through multilateral clubs, to the global negotiations — to create tangible progress towards the “Core Elements of Global Action” we know are needed. Second, to produce specific recommendations for targeted actors and forums on how action across these levels can be mobilized and coordinated to maximize net progress.