Leaving no one behind: Empowering Africa’s Rural Women for Zero Hunger and Shared Prosperity

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2018) | This brochure presents the key findings and recommendations of the study entitled “the Regional Outlook on Gender and Agri-food Systems,” which was jointly conducted by the FAO and the African Union Commission. The brochure describes gender gaps in (i) access to and control over productive resources and opportunities, (ii) influence and collective capacity, and (iii) agricultural policies, investment and rural context. Additional analysis on progress and good practices across countries in Africa informed the brochure further to provide recommendations and next steps to move from commitments to collective actions.

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2020 Global Report on Food Crisis

Food Security Information Network (2020) | The fourth annual GRFC is the result of a joint, consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity situations around the world by 16 partner organizations. The Report finds that, at 135 million, the number of people in Crisis or worse in 2019 was the highest in the past four years. This increase also reflected the inclusion of additional countries and areas within some countries. When comparing the 50 countries that were in both the 2019 and the 2020 reports, the population in Crisis or worse rose from 112 to 123 million. This reflected worsening acute […]

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The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2019) | This report presents the first global assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA). It complements other global assessments prepared under the auspices of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which have focused on the state of genetic resources within particular sectors of food and agriculture. SoW-BFA addresses the sustainable use, development and conservation of BFA worldwide. BFA is taken to include the diversity of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels that sustain structures, functions and processes in and around production systems […]

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Global Environment Outlook 6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

United Nations Environment Programme (2019) | This report calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement. The report takes a comprehensive look at food security and environment.  

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Environmental Rule of Law: First Global Report

United Nations Environment Program (2019) | The first ever global assessment of environmental rule of law finds weak enforcement to be a global trend that is exacerbating environmental threats, despite prolific growth in environmental laws and agencies worldwide over the last four decades. In it, environmental rule of law is described as critical to human health and welfare, including food security.

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The Ukraine war exposes how global food markets can’t feed the hungry

two hands hold wheat grains

BY HILAL ELVER Originally published in Middle East Eye (Apr 5, 2022) Countries in the Middle East and North Africa region will be particularly impacted by wheat shortages. A month has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and we are only beginning to truly understand what this lawless attack means for the world order. Alongside the refugee crisis and potential gas shortages, the most dire global spillover consequence is the disruption of global food systems, with devastating impacts in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where millions are already facing starvation. Even before the war, humanitarian agencies were scrambling to […]

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It is Time for the United States to Learn About the Right to Food.

Hilal Elver, Michael T. Roberts, Diana R.H. Winters, and Melissa Shapiro | last updated Nov. 22, 2021. On US Election Day 2021, the state of Maine voted in favor of a constitutional “right to food”—a historic development for a country that has long refused to recognize the human right to food. Will the US finally acknowledge that this right actually exists? Maine is officially the first US state to recognize a right to food. On Election Day this year, more than 60% of voters agreed that Maine should amend the state constitution “to declare that all individuals have a natural, […]

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The Global Food System Isn’t Working

BY HILAL ELVER Originally published in Project Syndicate Special Edition Magazine Spring 2021: “Back to Health: Making Up for Lost Time” (Jul 13, 2021) The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fragility and inequity of globalized industrial food systems. Transforming them will require leaders to prioritize the vulnerable over the powerful, enhance resilience, establish transparent value chains, and provide everyone with affordable access to the foods needed for a healthy diet. SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – The year 2020 was unforgettable for all of us, and tragic for many. No one had imagined that a lethal virus originating in horseshoe bats could […]

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