Source material and useful links for Food Security briefings

20/4/2021: A new study concludes that food systems contribute 25% to 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions, taking account of the growing of food, its distribution, its consumption and its disposal. Experts say that reform is needed to make food systems function within the Earth’s planetary boundaries.

Source: Mongabay

Scale of acute hunger in the DRC alarms UN food agencies

6/4/2021: A recent survey by UN food agencies has enabled analysis of the vast majority of the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the first time. The number of people affected by high acute food insecurity is estimated at 27.3 million or one in three people. Conflict remains the key cause of hunger in the country.

Source: World Food Programme

Seed monopolies: Who controls the world's food supply?

8/4/2021: International laws protecting bioengineered crops have enabled four corporations — Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina and Limagrain — to control more than 50% of the world's seeds. These laws inhibit traditional farming practices in poorer countries while the loss of biodiversity runs counter to climate adaptation and global food security.

Source: DW

Jose Graziano da Silva on the path to zero hunger

6/4/2021: In 2014, as Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, José Graziano da Silva formalized support for agroecology as an alternative development model to the kinds of chemical-intensive agriculture associated with the Green Revolution. These competing visions are now on full display in advance of the UN Food Systems Summit, scheduled for October.

Source: Inter Press Service

Global food and farming set for “corporate tidal wave”

30/3/2021: The UN Food Systems Summit in September could open the way for agribusiness giants to accelerate environmental breakdown and jeopardize global food security, according to a new report by IPES-Food and ETC Group. The report recommends that sustainable food systems could be built over the next 25 years through cuts in farming subsidies and a crackdown on junk food.

Source: IPES-Food

Michael Fakhri: the new UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food

24/3/2021: The newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food offers incisive ideas on local markets, international trade reform and conflict - in the context of solving world hunger.

Source: New Internationalist

Acute hunger set to soar in over 20 countries

23/3/2021: A combination of conflict, Covid-19 and climate shocks has left 34 million people grappling with emergency levels of acute hunger across the world, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme, The agencies have called for US$ 5.5 billion to swiftly scale up actions and avert famine.

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

Yemen heads towards worst famine world has seen in decades

19/2/2021: This is the verdict of the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Across Yemen, there are 5 million people who are just one step away from famine, as the conflict moves closer to civilian areas.

Source: Inter Press Service

The role of crop innovation for climate adaptation in Africa

17/2/2021: Leaders from the CGIAR partnership argue that investment in resilient agri-food systems, includuing genetic innovations for maize varieties, is essential to withstand climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s most chronically undernourished region.

Source: Inter Press Service

Hunger deaths aren’t simply about famine or no famine

3/2/2021: The “f-word” has been on the tongues of leading humanitarians lately, with particular concerns about potential famine in South Sudan and Yemen. But a declaration of famine – or the lack thereof – doesn’t tell the whole story.

Source: The New Humanitarian

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