This paper focuses on policy and institutional reform issues centered on the links between chronic and transitory crises. The first paper of the paper provides an overview of trends and future challenges. The second considers effectiveness of the “humanitarian system” in addressing food insecurity and whether the current institution set-up is fit for service. The third part examines links between “chronic” and “transitory” food insecurity, and whether current approaches to prevention more...

The world food situation is rapidly changing as a result of numerous factors. The most critical is the unprecedented increase in the price of food. Together with diminishing food stocks and difficulties accessing food by some communities, these conditions have led to a complex set of challenges – humanitarian, socio-economic, developmental, political and security-related.

Most urgent are the immediate hunger needs of millions of people. Over the longer term, agriculture and trade practices more...

In much of his writings on poverty, famines, and malnutrition, Amartya Sen argues that Democracy is the best way to avoid famines partly because of its ability to use a free press, and that the Indian experience since independence confirms this. His argument is partly empirical, but also relies on some a priori assumptions about human motivation. In his “Democracy as a Universal Value” he claims:
Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government more...

Delegates attending the United Nations climate talks in Accra on 21th - 27th August will focus on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries (REDD) but environmental campaigners are warning against the inclusion of forests in carbon markets. Friends of the Earth International warns that the inclusion of forests in carbon markets enables developed countries to avoid real carbon emissions reductions at home.
Further, any proposal that increases the value of forests may trigger more...

'The rapid rise in global food and energy prices has created political and economic stress all over South Asia with serious strategic implications for India, Pakistan, and the region at large. The energy crisis is the most immediate. With oil hovering around $120 a barrel, developing nations with high energy demands like India and Pakistan are particularly vulnerable. The food crisis, on the other hand, is more systemic. While rising energy costs have exacerbated inflation and commodity prices, more...

This paper examines the factors behind the rapid increase in internationally traded food prices since 2002 and estimates the contribution of various factors such as the increased production of biofuels from food grains and oilseeds, the weak dollar, and the increase in food production costs due to higher energy prices. It concludes that the most important factor was the large increase in biofuels production in the U.S. and the EU.

‘For the first time since 1973, the world is being hit by a combination of record oil and food prices. Such record oil and food prices are a destabilizing element for the global economy because of their potentially severe growth, inflation and distributional effects. In terms of their impact on income distribution, inflation and poverty, high food prices are of greater and more immediate concern than high fuel prices. However, the challenge of crafting appropriate policy responses to the food more...

'Jordan is a chronically water-scarce country, and less than five per cent of the land is arable. For farmers, little or no rainfall means severely reduced cultivation and production – and increased hunger and poverty. Those who find other ways to supplement their incomes generally earn very little. To address these challenges, an IFAD-supported project provided farmers with technical and financial assistance to promote soil and water conservation and boost agricultural production. It also hel more...

'Contract farming is conventionally thought of as a form of industrial organization that helps to overcome high monitoring, supervision, and environmental mitigation costs incurred from ensuring a reliable and uniform-quality supply (from the standpoint of integrators) and high capital and small-scale input and service purchase costs (from the standpoint of individual farmers). But contract farming is also a private sector vertical coordination response to the changing demand for certifying the more...

'Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.'