Food security

The race for the world's farmland

The accelerated practice of land grabbing—where countries or corporations buy up agricultural land, usually in poor countries—is one of the most troubling responses we've seen to the sharp rise in food prices in late 2007 and early 2008.

Hunger and the human rights solution

As we step into a new decade, imagine we have an eraser to wipe away the tired yet relentless drive to further liberalize trade at nearly every corner—and instead, take a fresh look at what policies could help the over one billion people around the world without enough food to eat. How could

Agricultural Land Acquisitions: Implications for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1.2 billion people worldwide live with hunger. This is an increase of more than 100 million people since 2006, and represents a major setback in efforts to halve (and ultimately to eradicate) hunger in the world, an objective that governments committed to in 2000 with the adoption of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

US on the wrong track

Long, long meeting this afternoon (Dec. 10) on sectoral language for agriculture. First of all, there is confusion as to what the text will end up being—part of a comprehensive Copenhagen agreement? A separate COP decision? Something else still? Everything seems pretty much up in the air on this topic as different countries hold very different views on this matter.

World food summit: rhetoric or action?

Today at the World Summit on Food Security, there was plenty of lofty rhetoric. United Nation's Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon told delegates that "food is a basic right" and "ou