‘Despite real advances in different countries, such as the People’s Republic of China, India, South Africa, and several Latin American and Caribbean countries, there has been little progress overall in reducing the number of victims of hunger and malnutrition around the world. The number of people suffering from hunger has increased every year since 1996, reaching an estimated 854 million people despite government commitments to halve hunger at the 2000 Millennium Summit and at the 2002 Worl more...

'The paper aims to identify potential impacts of anticipated changes in climate on food safety and their control at all stages of the food chain. The purpose is to raise awareness of the issue and to facilitate international cooperation in better understanding the changing food safety situation and in developing and implementing strategies to address them. While this paper takes a broad look at a number of food safety issues and considers possible implications of climate change – it does not p more...

‘High food prices are not only causing a humanitarian crisis, but also putting at risk the development potential of millions of people. Global agriculture markets are undergoing structural changes, and the next three to four years will pose great challenges for achieving an affordable and accessible food supply for the world’s most vulnerable. Soaring food and fuel prices are creating a “perfect storm” for the world’s most vulnerable. The consequence is that the bottom billion could be more...

‘Rising prices have a way of shining a bright light on any sector, no matter how
overlooked previously. The rapid run-up in food prices is no exception. Food may be an essential good, but when food prices spent decades moving downward, the food sector held little interest for policymakers and investors. Now, with the doubling and tripling of the prices of some food grains in the past two years, the world has snapped to attention. Faced with rising food insecurity, social unrest, and accelerat more...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945.

The objectives of World Food Day are to:
* encourage attention to agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental efforts to this end;
* encourage economic and technical cooperation among developing countries;
* encourage the participation of rural people, partic more...

Global Action for Children advocates for the world’s most vulnerable children, those most susceptible to disease, poverty, hunger; those least likely to have access to education and healthcare; those who may have lost one or both parents to the AIDS epidemic. It is these highly vulnerable children who are exponentially affected by rising food prices. Josette Sheeran, World Food Programme Executive Director, noted in April 2008 that 'What we are seeing now is affecting more people on every cont more...

'As global leaders gather in New York to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the world is in the grip of a food crisis which threatens to derail progress towards all of the goals. The cost of staple foods has risen by an average of 80% in two years. As a result 100 million more people have joined the ranks of the hungry, and a further 750 million are newly at risk of chronic hunger. ActionAid calculates that as many as 1.7 billion people, or a quarter of the world’ more...

The growing volumes of international trade and lowering of the tariff barriers have
triggered a continuing debate on the impact of trade and trade liberalization on poverty. On
one hand, there are scholars who argue, that trade provides opportunities by expanding
markets, infusing new technologies and improving productivity, which leads to overall
growth. Further, higher trade benefits low-skilled labor-intensive production, hence
increasing demand and wages of low-skilled workers in develo more...

There are many complex features underlying the global economic crisis pertaining to financial markets, the decline in production, the collapse of State institutions and the rapid development of a profit-driven war economy. What is rarely mentioned in this analysis is how this global economic restructuring forcibly impinges on three fundamental necessities of life: food, water and fuel.

The provision of food, water and fuel is a precondition of civilized society: they are necessary factors fo more...

Rising food and energy prices, water scarcity, climate change and increasing migrations could fuel growing instability and violence around the world over the next decade, a report by a global think tank said Tuesday. But despite its grim forecast, the 2008 State of the Future report by the Millennium Project -- a global research undertaking -- insists that 'advances in science, technology, education, economics and management seem capable of making the world work far better than it does today.'
more...