涩里番 Conference on Global Food Security
November 2010
Read the speech given at the Public Lecture by the The Honourable Beverly J. Oda, Minister of International Cooperation
Radio Interviews with conference participants
Dr. David Nabarro interview on
Dr. David Nabarro interview on Radio Canada International
Barbara Burlingame interview on Radio Canada International
Victoria Quinn on Radio Canada International
Panel discussion with Bart Schultz, Sam Asiedu and Sam Gameda on Radio Canada International
Eugene Terry interview on Radio Canada International
Dyno Keatinge on Radio Canada International
Grace Marquis on Radio Canada International
Global Food Security Conference articles
In
Nutrition vital factor in solving hunger issues
UN praises Canada's foreign aid commitment
Hunger goals realistic?
FAO takes heat for alleged biotech bias
Crisis looms in Arctic: expert
Articles of interest
Solving the food crisis - On an ocean planet
Turning to the sea
Will the oceans help feed humanity?
October 2010
Reports published by United Nations System High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis
Comprehensive Framework for Action
Road Map for Scaling Up Nutrition
These reports are also available on the site, October 19
Co-ordinator of UN high-level task force to open 涩里番 Food Security Conference
涩里番 news media advisory, October 18
Co-ordinator of UN high-level task force to open 涩里番 Food Security Conference
Dr. David Nabarro, Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations and co-ordinator of the Secretary-General鈥檚 High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, will deliver the keynote address at the opening evening of the Third 涩里番 Conference on Global Food Security on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 5 p.m., at Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield St. in Montreal.
Read 涩里番 press release, October, 14
Food shock: Market volatility a bigger threat than grain shortage
The global food crisis that has been looming for years has arrived: Only it鈥檚 not the one we鈥檝e been expecting. Fears about the food supply have been high since prices spiked with oil in 2008. When a third of the Russian wheat crop fell to drought this summer and the country slammed its borders to exports, a new panic was triggered: Wheat prices soared 50 per cent, pushing up other cereals. Food riots broke out in Mozambique. The United Nations convened an emergency meeting of experts. Just this week, drought-stricken Ukraine announced export quotas on wheat pegged to last through December.
The Globe and Mail, October 7
September 2010
U.N.: World hunger down but still 'unacceptable'
(CNN) -- The good news is that improving economies in developing nations is allowing more people to eat better, but the United Nations estimates that nearly 1 billion people will still face chronic hunger this year.
The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme estimated that 925 million people, almost three times the population of the United States, will go hungry. That's down from 1.023 billion people in 2009 and the first decrease in 15 years.
Higher Yields Are Farming's Answer
by Dennis T. Avery, Director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues
Is the Green Movement finally ready to face the global need to triple crop yields over the next 40 years鈥攁nd drop its dedication to land-selfish organic farming? Maybe yes, and none too soon. The planet鈥檚 wild biodiversity is at stake.
I recently spoke about the benefits of high-yield agriculture to environmental prizewinners at an international DuPont meeting. This isn鈥檛 news. I鈥檝e been praising high-yield farming for decades for feeding more people better diets from less land 鈥� and thus saving room on the planet for wildlife. I estimate 7 million square miles of wildlife habitat have been spared. This is equal to the land area of South America!
This time, however, I was joined on the program by Dr. Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund-US, who echoed most of my praise for high-yield farming. Dr. Clay and I agreed that the world would need more than twice as much food per year by 2050, due partly to the last surge in human population growth, and even more due to the world鈥檚 rising wealth. We agreed that with 37 percent of the world鈥檚 land area already in farming, there was no salvation in doubling the earth鈥檚 plowed land area. He absolutely agreed with me that the future of world agriculture had to be higher yields, which organic farming has never delivered.
We both noted the latest information on high-yield benefits: a Stanford University study that says the soil carbon that would have been lost if the additional 7 million square miles had been plowed would have equaled one-third of all the world鈥檚 industrial emissions since 1850!
So whether you鈥檙e worried about feeding hungry people, saving biodiversity or preventing man-made global warming, the farming answer is always the same 鈥� higher yields per acre. And farming is mankind鈥檚 biggest impact on the natural world, by far.
I suggested to Dr. Clay that this should mean some re-evaluation of the 鈥渢oxicity鈥� rap that agricultural pesticides have gotten among our urban consumers. Far more worrisome is the lurking presents of dangerous bacteria in our food. Consumers should demand electronic pasteurization to protect against such threats as salmonella in our eggs, hamburger and fresh produce. The electronic pasteurization kills virtually all bacteria, including the food spoilage bacteria, so fresh foods taste fresher.
The need for tripled world crop yields must be taken into account when federal regulators and judges act to support or block new technology, such as biotechnology. If not overturned, the federal judge who recently ruled against biotech sugar beets is going down a dangerous path with consequences far beyond sugar beets. Without biotech, we may not have the tools to feed the people and save wildlife habitat from the plow.
We should increase our investments in agricultural research, thanking Bill Gates and Warren Buffet along the way for their massive planned investments in research for 鈥渁 second Green Revolution.鈥� The land-grant agricultural colleges and their Council for Agricultural Science and Technology have been swimming upstream on high-yield research in recent decades. Both the American Farm Bureau Federation and Dr. Clay鈥檚 World Wildlife Fund/US are partners in a broader alliance (the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture) with food manufacturers, such as General Mills and Kellogg鈥檚; the Fertilizer Institute; Croplife (pesticides); plus enlightened environmental groups: Conservation International, the National Association of Conservation Districts, NRCS/USDA, The Nature Conservancy and the World Resources Institute.
This is a promising alliance between the idealists and the pragmatists who respond directly to the concerns about food shortage, biodiversity, climate, and ultimate sustainability.
Sierra Vista Herald, September 6
Water management and malnutrition crucial issues at 涩里番 food conference
International experts gather to address pressing threats to food security
From catastrophic floods in Pakistan that have left millions homeless and hungry to the aftermath of Haiti鈥檚 devastating earthquake, relief efforts are under way in many parts of the world where disasters have brought food crises along with destruction. In Africa鈥檚 Sahel region, severe drought has been followed by floods that are now threatening the food security of millions of people among the world鈥檚 poorest. More than half of Niger鈥檚 population 鈥� some 7 million people 鈥� as well as millions more in neighbouring Chad, Mali and Mauritania face hunger and malnutrition. Worldwide, more than 1 billion people go hungry every single day.
Read 涩里番 press release, September 2
Fears grow over global food supply
Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday; Raises fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08; UN called an emergency meeting on food riots in Mozambique left seven dead
CNN
August 2010
Wheat turmoil hits home on the Prairies
UN plays down concerns of food crisis, says wheat supply will cover shortfall
The Globe and Mail, August 4
Russia Bans Grain Exports After Drought Shrivels Crop
Russia banned all exports of grain on Thursday after millions of acres of wheat withered in a severe drought, a portentous decision at a time when crop failures caused by heat and flooding span the northern hemisphere.
June 2010
Dublin Dialogue meeting on the CFA [Comprehensive Framework for Action]: Co-Chairs鈥� summary
In the process of updating the CFA, a dialogue meeting was convened to provide an opportunity to exchange views on the changes required to better reflect the current context of food and nutrition insecurity. Concern Worldwide, High-Level Task Force and the Government of Ireland co-hosted a two days meeting in Dublin.
UN Food Security, June 29
Emerging economies 'to enjoy food production boom'
Brazil's vast agriculture industry is forecast to boom over the next decade
The emerging economies of Brazil, India, China and Russia will enjoy an agricultural boom over the next decade as production stalls in Western Europe, a report says. Agricultural output in the Bric nations will grow three times as fast as in the major developed countries, the joint United Nations-OECD study said. Livestock and crop prices will stay above long-term averages, it added. And rising incomes and urbanisation in developing states will drive growth.
May 2010
The global crisis that no one is talking about
Two giant crises are profoundly shaking our world. One is highlighted almost hourly in the international media, the other is often lost from sight. I am talking here about the global economic recession and the expanding tide of world hunger.
Download the document
Reference Documents
The State of Food Security in the World. Economic crisis - impacts and lessons learned
FAO 2009
Download The State of Food Security in the World
Water for Food. Water for Life. A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (Summary Book)
International Water Management Institute. Ed. By D. Molden. 2007.
Download Water for Food. Water for Life.
Coping with water scarcity: a challenge of the twenty 鈥� first century
World Water Day 2007. UN Water and FAO
Download Coping with water scarcity
Impact of climate change and bioenergy on nutrition
International Food Policies Research Institute. IFPRI- FAO 2008
Download Impact of climate change [...]
Measuring Household Food Insecurity: Why it鈥檚 so important and yet so difficult to do
P. Webb, J. Coates, E. A. Frongillo, B. Lorge Rogers, A. Swindale, and P. Bilinsky. 2006.
J. Nutr. 136: 1404S -1408S.
