Role of World Food Programme in Egypt
Gian Pietro Bordignon, the director of WFP in Egypt, spoke to Daily News Egypt about the organisation’s objectives and activities in the country.
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/04/16/role-of-world-food-programme-in-egypt
Cairo Climate Talks : Climate change hits nation’s poor the hardest
Approximately 60 percent of Egyptians live in informal and unregistered housing without proper sewage and drainage facilities. This population — which represents the majority of the nation — is at the highest risk to suffer from the adverse effects of global warming.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/cairo-climate-talks-climate-change-hits-nation-s-poor-hardest
The G8 and Land Grabs in Africa
The G8, several African governments and transnational corporations such as Cargill came together in 2012 to form the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”. Cooperation framework, an agreement that forms part of the New Alliance, binds the African governments involved to reform land laws to facilitate foreign investment. As part of the agreement, foreign companies promise to invest heavily in agricultural expansion and development. At the beginning of this year, the government of Cote D’ivoire leased the grain trader Louis Dreyfus 100,000-200,000 hectares of land for rice production. These steps are the G8’s response to the global food crisis. However, these dealings force thousands of local communities and farmers off their land; undermine local food markets and lead to the destruction of livelihoods and the deepening of food insecurity. There are no policy obligations in the New Alliance to ensure the protection of peasants’ and farmers’ human rights or land rights. Instead, the group suggests voluntary guidelines for governments to monitor private investment. The UK presidency of the G8 meeting in June 2013 is citing food security as its top priority and will encourage transparency in foreign land deals. However, the guidelines will not be made compulsory and corporations will only be required to reveal basic information surrounding land acquisitions.
Le Prince Charles en Jordanie, Oman et Qatar...tout un programme
In Qatar, the prince, who is a keen environmentalist, will “see first hand how the country is tackling its food security challenges”, while the couple’s engagements in Oman will cover “military personnel, health and education issues”.
Empty words won’t fill hungry stomachs - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/01/201312614571857504.html
Empty words won’t fill hungry stomachs
There is good reason to be sceptical about the new initiatives coming out of Davos targeting smallholder farmers.
Last Modified: 26 Jan 2013 15:07
With the launch of the “Enough Food for Everyone IF” campaign, global food security is once again high on the public agenda. The UK campaign hopes to mobilise massive public support leading up to the scheduled meeting of the G8 in Enniskillen in June this year, trying to replicate the considerable success of the Make Poverty History movement in 2005. One of the key pillars of the IF Campaign is land, and drawing attention to the plight of poor farmers who are being forced to relinquish their property in what has been described as a neo-colonial “land grab”.
Davos Man and his defects - Schumpeter- The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21570684-global-leadership-industry-needs-re-engineering-davos-man-and-hi
A survey by Edelman, a public-relations firm, finds that only 18% of people trust business leaders to tell the truth. For political leaders, the figure is 13%.
Denial, panic and doubt in Davos
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2013/jan/23/davos-2013-denial-panic-doubt
GM Maize in Mexico: An Irreversible Path
The Mexican government is about to approve the large-scale release of genetically modified maize for commercial production. Agribusiness giants Monsanto, DuPont, Dow and others have requested the government to plant 2.4 million hectares of genetically engineered maize. This decision would have an irreversible impact on Mexican maize, and is a threat to food security in Mexico and globally. It will be impossible to maintain maize diversity when large corporations privatize and control the maize seed market. The Mexican Unión de Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad (UCCS), GRAIN and other international organizations have put together a report urging the Mexican government to change track and protect the diversity of maize.
GRAIN
November 23, 2012
Read or download the report here :
http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/GRAIN_Mexico.pdf
Where The Rain Falls | Can Understanding Rain Enable Change?
A Study on Rain Fall, Hunger and Human Mobility
Through our research of hundreds of families across eight different countries, we aspire to better understand the complexities of rainfall patterns and their effects on food security and human mobility. Our goal: to communicate knowledge, lower risk and advise on food security and migration options to improve the lives of vulnerable people and communities in developing countries around the world.
y’a un truc qui me chiffonne
Building on the results of the research and with support from the AXA Group, community-based adaptation projects will be designed and implemented in Thailand, Peru, India and Tanzania to test “best-bet” interventions identified in collaboration with communities. The activities are intended to make an immediate contribution toward reducing the vulnerability of these communities to worsening agro-climatic risks.
Axa n’est pas à proprement parler un modèle de vertu en matière d’investissement dans les matières premières agricoles et l’accaparement de terres
The Leslie Brodie Report Launched Journalistic Inquiry Into Events Surrounding Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Tony Haymet, CleanTECH, Donna Lucas, Marty Africa
Amid conflicting reports and unanswered questions, The Leslie Brodie Report has launched a journalistic inquiry into events surrounding San Diego-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography (“SIO”), and directors Tony Haymet, Donna Lucas, and Marty Africa.
Haymet, 56, is “the tenth director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Haymet also serves as UC San Diego’s vice chancellor for marine sciences and dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences, and is a professor of oceanography at Scripps. He joined Scripps in 2006,” according to SIO. (Image: courtesy)
According to incomplete and misleading infomation issued by the University of California “Scripps Director Tony Haymet is taking a sabbatical and will continue his research program, accept an excellence award as Visiting Professor of the Petersen Foundation in Kiel, Germany, (http://www.geomar.de/en) and chair the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Council (http://www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-oceans-2012-0). The World Economic Forum, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
The Leslie Brodie Report has managed to confirm that Hayment is taking a sabbatical from October 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.
The Leslie Brodie Report also managed to confirm that Haymet is presently employed at Los Angeles-based Phillips & Associates — a financial planning and fundraising counsel for not-for-profit institutions and organizations.
According to Phillips & Associates, “Tony’ principal responsibilities focus on our firm’s assignment in the development of a new non-profit organization at the Port of Los Angeles.”
The Leslie Brodie Report also managed to confirm that Hayment is also employed at Pegasus Capital Advisors — a private equity fund manager that has been providing creative capital and strategic solutions to companies across a variety of industries.
It was not immidietly clear what, if any, are Haymet’s plans as far as CleanTECH — a private, non-profit member organization he launched in 2007.
Please continue @:
http://lesliebrodie.posterous.com/tag/donnalucas
Powerful Synergies: Gender Equality, Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability « Post2015.org – what comes after the MDGs?
http://post2015.org/2012/10/09/powerful-synergies-gender-equality-economic-development-and-environmental-
In a world hungry for biofuels, food security must come first | Olivier De Schutter | Global development | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/oct/17/world-hungry-biofuels-food-security
Growing crops for food and fuel together can work but farmers and policymakers must prioritise hungry people and think local
Designing Food Systems to Protect Nature and Get Rid of Hunger
By Vandana Shiva
Al Jazeera
September 9, 2012
Industrial production of food has created a severe ecological and social crisis, and in order to ensure the supply of healthy food, we must move towards agro-ecological and sustainable systems of food production. Vandana Shiva’s article points out that the agrarian crisis, the food crisis and the nutrition and health crisis are intimately connected and need to be addressed together. Industrial agriculture, sold as the “Green Revolution” to developing countries, is a chemical intensive, capital intensive, fossil fuel intensive system that destroys biodiversity. The most effective strategy to address hunger and malnutrition is through biodiverse organic farming that enriches the soil and provides more nutritious food.
Industrialisation of agriculture creates hunger and malnutrition, destroying the food web to which we all belong.
Hunger and malnutrition is manmade. It is in the design of the industrial chemical model of agriculture. And just as hunger has been created by design, producing healthy and nutritious food for all can be designed through food democracy.
#agriculture #faim #famine #alimentation #vandana-shiva #nutrition
The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : GM crops are no way forward
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3812825.ece?homepage=true
Food security is not about production alone; it is also about bio-safety, and access to food for the poorest
We are predominantly an agricultural economy, with the agricultural sector providing employment and subsistence to almost 70 per cent of the workforce. There have been some remarkable contributions from the agriculture sector to food grain production in the last six decades, when from a meagre 50 million tonnes in the 1950s, the country has been able to produce a record 241 million tonnes in 2010-2011. Despite these achievements, the condition of the farming community is pitiable considering that 70 per cent of our farmers are small and marginal, and there is a complete absence of pro-farmer/pro-agriculture policies which has led us to an environment of very severe agrarian distress.
Alimentation Agriculture Faim
Du grain pour la bouffe, pas pour le carburant
By Colin A. Carter and Henry I. Miller
New York Times
July 30, 2012
Given the current drought in 32 US states, this article calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to lower the renewable- fuel standard by 20 percent and divert corn from ethanol production back into the food chain. While corn is indeed a renewable resource, the current ethanol policy rests on false assumptions pushed by the ethanol lobby about how ethanol lowers the price of gasoline and reduces global carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing the renewable-fuel standard would offset nearly half of the expected crop loss and ease the drastic impacts that the drought would otherwise have on inflation, food security and political instability in many parts of the world.
Biofuels and Hunger, Two Sides of the Same Coin
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217-hunger/51711-biofuels-and-hunger-two-sides-of-the-same-coin.html
In the meantime, the social effects of the growing demand for biofuels are aggravating. For instance, a large percentage of Guatemala’s indigenous population is facing a new hunger crisis because of land grabbing, forced evictions and water diversion to create large-scale monoculture plantations of palm oil trees and sugar cane for biofuel.
In one such case in March last year, Guatemalan police and soldiers evicted more than 3000 indigenous people from their homes in Guatemala’s Polochic valley to make room for a large-scale plantation. Banned from their land, these 700 families are now facing severe malnutrition and high child mortality as a consequence of diarrhoea or fever.
Herman believes the problem will get even worse as in the years to come, as traditional players have become increasingly interested in biofuels as well. “Shell and BP invested heavily in Brazilian sugar cane last year,” he stressed. “They want to remain leaders in the fuel sector and they are lobbying in Brussels as well.”
Land Ownership and Hunger
http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger.html
Unfair distribution and lack of access to land are key explanations for poverty and hunger. In many parts of the world, it is the rich elites, not poor rural people, who own the land. And even if they do, inequality in wealth and power relations makes the rural poor more vulnerable to losing their rights. The struggle for land reform, which would shift the balance of power in favor of marginalized landless farmers, has been going on for many decades. However the food and financial crises contribute to worsening the trend towards land concentration, in which governments, agro-industrial corporations and private investors buy up fertile land in poor countries, depriving small farmers of their ability to grow their own food.
Give Women the Seeds and They Can Feed the World - IPS ipsnews.net
Give Women the Seeds and They Can Feed the World
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105234
If women farmers were given more tools and resources, the number of hungry people in the world could be slashed by 100 to 150 million.
This was the message conveyed by Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday to empower rural women for food security and nutrition.
In October, the Committee on World Food Security will meet at WFP headquarters in Rome, followed by the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) next year, both opportunities to increase the role of rural women in alleviating poverty and hunger.
UN Women and the Coca-Cola company also announced a new partnership this week to break down the barriers faced by women entrepreneurs through programmes on the ground that provide access to skills training and financial services.
Africa for sale
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/19280
The Horn of Africa has been in the headlines for months now as famine and starvation spread across the drought-ravaged region. Yet this troubled province is simultaneously seeing a dramatic transfer of arable lands to foreign investors intent on exporting staples and biofuels.
The New Green Revolution: How Twenty-First-Century Science Can Feed the World
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217-hunger/50666-the-new-green-revolution-how-twenty-first-century-science-can-fe
In this article, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter analyzes the current food crisis and concludes that agroecology-the application of ecological science to the study, design, and management of sustainable agriculture –holds great promise to meet the challenges of global food insecurity. Strategies to combat hunger must recognize the impact of climate change, scarcity of natural resources, and the unsustainable nature of current methods of food production. Advocates of agroecology include the World Bank, FAO, UNEP, IASSTD, and the largest transnational peasant movement, La Via Campensina.
Land and People: The depeasantization of Lebanon: an authoritative article by Albert Dagher
http://landandpeople.blogspot.com/2011/09/depeasantization-of-lebanon.html
The thesis is of course simple and absolutely correct and he demonstrates it ably: Lebanon’s agricultural (and food security) potential is unmet, simply because successive governments adopted an ultra liberal doctrine that benefited the rich who flourish under a rent economy. Ecology and climate have little to do with that. Farming is in decline because of politics and policies, and not because of environmental constraints.
http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/20396
http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/20513
Rising biomass demand could drive land grabs : report | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/30/us-biomass-iied-idUSTRE77T3L220110830
ainsi donc les crédits #carbone pourraient contribuer à accroître les prix de base de l’#alimentation
“All eyes are turned to food and biofuels, but tree plantations for biomass energy may soon become an important driver in the global land rush,” said Lorenzo Cotula, a senior researcher at IIED and co-author of the report.
Investing in biomass plantations could become more attractive in the coming years as fossil fuel prices rise and the cost of biomass production falls as new production methods develop, the report said.
Biomass plantations may also be able to generate additional revenue streams, such as by selling carbon credits.
Accaparement des terres à l’envers... Les Russes offrent des terres aux paysans d’Asie du Sud-Est s’ils n’en ont pas assez !
Russia Offers Agricultural Land for Southeast Asian Farmers to Grow Crops
In an effort to foster trade and boost exports, Russia is looking to sell about 24 million hectares of arable land, below-market price, to Asian countries seeking to invest in foreign farmland for food security purposes. Currently, a reported 409 million acres of farmland are unused in Russia. The Russian government plans to acquire more land for lending, by annulling ownership rights to land that has not been cultivated for three years. Russia’s focus on Southeast Asia is part of a wider effort to build stronger ties with the fastest growing region in the world.
#agriculture #faim #alimentation #asie #russie #cride alimentaire
Cet article est intéressant mais il pose tout de même quelques questions.
1/ En effet, si ces terres ne sont actuellement pas cultivées, quelles sont les raisons ? Main-d’oeuvre insuffisante ? Valeur agronomique limitée ?
2/ Qui cultivera ces terres ? Des ouvriers agricoles russes ou étrangers ? S’il faut importer ces derniers, cela ne risque-t-il pas de poser certains problèmes entre communautés voire un certain séparatisme sur le long terme (comme certains le laisse entendre avec les régions situées près du fleuve Amour) ?
3/ Si c’est la valeur agronomique qui est faible, quelles sont les solutions qui seront apportées et seront-elles rentables ?
4/ Enfin, question essentielle pour le géographe-cartographe : où sont situées ces terres ?
The Cause Of Riots And The Price of Food - Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27083/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-08-15
But what’s interesting about this analysis is that Lagi and co say that high food prices don’t necessarily trigger riots themselves, they simply create the conditions in which social unrest can flourish. “These observations are consistent with a hypothesis that high global food prices are a precipitating condition for social unrest,” say Lagi and co.
In other words, high food prices lead to a kind of tipping point when almost anything can trigger a riot, like a lighted match in a dry forest.
This is important to bear in mind, because rising food prices have historically been the trigger for political revolutions. The three
revolutions that made the modern world, in France, Russia, and China, all had their immediate origins in food shortages, fear of hunger, and disputes about food pricing.
The panic about bread that swept France in 1789, and the inability of the government to guarantee supplies, destroyed the ancien regime. Louis XVI was contemptuously called “le boulanger,” the baker. Wartime inflation destroyed stability in the Russian empire in 1917, as farmers, worried about the declining value of their money, hoarded their output and let the cities starve. The Bolsheviks came to power on a promise of bread (and peace). China, too, was paralyzed by inflation after the Second World War, leaving it vulnerable to food panics.
Food prices are usually not limited in their effects to one country alone. Simultaneous revolutions swept Europe in 1848, in the aftermath of crop failures whose most notorious manifestation was the Irish famine. Price rises have been a major trigger of the discontent this year in the Middle East and North Africa. Though the Egyptian and Tunisian economies were expanding quite satisfactorily, people had to pay much more for food.
http://truthout.org/food-revolution/1307287234
le 5 juin 2011
BBC News - Nitrogen pollution ’costs EU up to £280bn a year’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13025304
Nitrogen pollution from farms, vehicles, industry and waste treatment is costing the EU up to £280bn (320bn euros) a year
Rami Zurayk note l’intérêt des américains pour la « sécurité alimentaire » des États du #Golfe_arabe :
http://landandpeople.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-and-arab-food-security-tool.html
Il se base sur le #cablegate suivant :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/235574
"A NEW TREND : THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SECURITY
–-------------------------------------------
16. (SBU) FOOD SECURITY EQUALS NATIONAL SECURITY
–- (SBU) Gulf countries can produce no more than 10-15 percent of their own food needs, and therefore regard food security as a national security issue. To that end, Qatar has established a National Food Security Program (NFSP) under the direction of the Crown Prince.
–- (SBU) The NFSP is tasked with developing a food security strategy for Qatar, and a strategy for leading the rest of the Arab world in developing new structures and partnerships for achieving food security for the entire region.
–- (C) We expect the NFSP and others seized with food security over the coming 36 months to diminish their interest in highly complicated and risky land purchases in developing countries and to shift toward establishing partnerships with producers in developed countries, such as the U.S. We expect to see growing interest in learning about sophisticated financial instruments that can be employed to smooth out prices and supply gaps, such as commodity futures and virtual stocking. We also expect Qatar to improve its stocking capabilities, both onshore and off."
Parmi ses remarques :
– le Qatar et les arabes vont cesser de chercher à investir dans d’autres pays pour assurer leur sécurité alimentaire, même dans des pays arabes comme le Soudan, et même lorsque le but était de promouvoir des scénarios gagnant-gagnant en faveur des pauvres ;
– il vaut mieux laisser cette stratégie aux multinationales qui exploitent la terre ;
– la sécurité alimentaire doit se baser sur les marchés, l’achat de nourriture auprès des « pays développés » tels que les États-Unis, et le développement d’instruments financiers ;
– les dernières crises alimentaire et financière ont pourtant montré que ces outils n’étaient pas fiables et pouvaient être manipulés ou bloqués : la Russie a cessé l’exportation de blé pendant la crise, et les É-U ont commencé à développer des biocarburants au lieu de vendre du maïs en 2007 ;
– le câble est clair : la #sécurité_alimentaire passe des « partenariats avec les producteurs dans les pays développés tels que les États-Unis » ; il conclut en français dans le texte : « Laissez-moi rire ».