ECONIS Select – Meeting the Rising Global Demand for Food

07/2010

Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010

It is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy the rising global demand for food in a sustainable manner. A number of reasons contribute to the uncertainty in our ability to meet the food demand of an increasing world population: the average living standard of the population is rising, land use is shifting from agriculture to urban and industrial uses, the production of nonfood crops for bio-fuels is on the rise, investments in increasing agricultural productivity are growing slowly, water and arable land are increasingly becoming scarce and global warming is making it more difficult to produce food in various poor countries. Moreover, the food price crisis of 2008 added fuel to the fire and put food security on top of the policy agenda.

At the heart of the food security agenda lies water scarcity as irrigated agriculture accounts for 50 percent of the total crop production in the World. Many countries, especially in North-Africa, Near East and East Asia have already reached critical levels of water scarcity, which is expected to get worse with the forces mentioned above.

There are various ways of tackling the entangled problems of water scarcity and food security:

• How can existing water management policies (e.g., subsidies for water in many countries) be modified to give incentives for conservation?
• What is the role of “international land deals” in addressing the water and food security problems?
• Do we need an international institution to make sure these deals benefit both the investing and recipient countries?
• How can businesses contribute to better management of water resources, both through their involvement in new land deals and industrial production?
• How can the global trade system be made more reliable and predictable in order to provide a dependable market for food?
• How can international organizations, such as the CGIAR and the FAO, work with local governmentsto create ways to increase agricultural productivity in water stressed areas?
• What is the role of GM technology in making dryland and saline agriculture technologies feasible?
• Do large scale investments such as desalinization projects provide a solution to water scarcity, or do they divert attention from improving the existing institutional and political structures to better manage our existing water resources?

Literature selected from our database ECONIS:

• Article: Global water and food security: megatrends and emerging issues / Mark W. Rosegrant, Sarah A. Cline, and Rowena A. Valmonte-Santos
  In: Global change. - Berlin [u.a.]: Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-04614-8. - 2010, S. 17-47
  Subject heading: Water supply / Food security / Water policy / Irrigation / Agricultural sciences / World
• Article: Implications of global climatic change on water and food security / P. K. Aggarwal and A. K. Singh
  In: Global change. - Berlin [u.a.]: Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-04614-8. - 2010, S. 49-63
  Subject heading: Climate change / Water / Water supply / Food security / World
• Title: The politics of food: the global conflict between food security and food sovereignty / William D. Schanbacher
  Published: Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]: Praeger, c 2010
  Subject heading: Food security / Food aid / Globalization / Food market / International / International trade policy / Economic development / Poverty / Agriculture / Small farm / Economic ethics / World
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Climate change and food security: adapting agriculture to a warmer world / David Lobell; Marshall Burke (Eds.)
  Published: Dordrecht: Springer Netherland, 2010
  Subject heading: Climate change / Food security / Agriculture / Crop yield / World
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Revisiting the global food architecture: lessons from the 2008 food crisis / Luc Christiaensen
  Published: Helsinki: UNU-WIDER, 2009
  Subject heading: Agriculture / Biofuel / Food security / World / 2008
  Link:
  http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/working-papers/discussion-papers/2009/en_GB/dp2009-04/_files/82162024434499621/default/dp2009-04.pdf
• Article: International agricultural trade liberalisation and food security: risks associated with a fully liberalised global marketplace / Stefan Wagner
  In: Aussenwirtschaft. - Zürich: Rüegger, ISSN 0004-8216, ZDB-ID 6683. - Bd. 64.2009, 2, S. 139-165
  Subject heading: Trade liberalization / International agricultural trade / Food security / Export restrictions / Globalization / World
• Article: Water for agriculture: maintaining food security under growing scarcity / Mark W. Rosegrant, Claudia Ringler, and Tingju Zhu
  In: Annual review of environment and resources. - Palo Alto, Calif.: Annual Reviews Inc., ISSN 1543-5938, ZDB-ID 21311675. - Bd. 34.2009, S. 205-222
  Subject heading: Agriculture / Irrigation / Irrigation farming / Water supply / Water scarcity / Food security / World
• Title: The poorest and hungry: assessments, analyses, and actions / Internat. Food Policy Research Inst. Ed. by Joachim von Braun, Ruth Vargas Hill, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch
  Corporate body: International Food Policy Research Institute
  Published: Washington, DC, c 2009
  Subject heading : Poverty / Malnutrition / Food security / Poverty alleviation / Development Policy / Social Policy / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Enhancing food security and nutrition policy assistance: lessons from experience / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ... Ed. by Jean Balié
  Corporate body: Food and Agriculture Organization
  Published: Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009
  Subject heading: Food security / Nutrition policy / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: The gene revolution and global food security: biotechnology innovation in latecomers / Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka; Padmashree Gehl Sampath
  Published: Basingstoke [u.a.]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
  Subject heading: Agricultural biotechnology / Food security / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Feeding the world?: Transnational corporations and the promotion of genetically modified food / Marc Williams
  In: Corporate power in global agrifood governance. - Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-51237-4. - 2009, S. 155-185
  Subject heading: Agroindustry / Novel food / Biotechnology / Technological change / Agroindustry / Transnational corporation / Food security / World
• Title: The food economy: global issues and challenges / edited by Frank Bunte and Hans Dagevos
  Published: Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publ., 2009
  Subject heading: Globalization / Agricultural production / Food security / Sustainable development / Food industry / World
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Governance of food security in the 21st century / M. A. Mohamed Salih
  In: Facing global environmental change. - Berlin [u. a.]: Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-68487-9. - 2009, S. 501-507
  Subject heading: Food security / Nutrition policy / Global governance / World
• Article: Do we have an adequate global strategy for securing the biodiversity of major food crops? / Melinda Smale, Peter Hazell, Toby Hodgkin and Cary Fowler
  In: Agrobiodiversity conservation and economic development. - London [u.a.]: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-46505-2. - 2009, S. 40-50
  Subject heading: Agricultural production / Grain production / Plant Production / Food security / Biodiversity / Nature conservation / Economic development / World
• Title: The global governance of food / ed. by Sara R. Curran ....
  Published: London [u.a.]: Routledge, 2009
  Subject heading: International economic relations / Cooperation / Agricultural production / Food security / Foreign Trade / Global governance / Globalization / World / 1982-2004
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Food crises and the WTO: World Trade Forum / ed. by Baris Karapinar ...
  Published: Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010
  Subject heading: Agricultural production / Food security / Poverty / International agricultural trade / Globalization / WTO rules / World / 1995-2008
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Introduction: Food security, nutrition and sustainability in a globalized world / Geoffrey Lawrence, Kristen Lyons and Tabatha Wallington
  In: Food security, nutrition and sustainability. - London [u.a.]: Earthscan, ISBN 978-1-8440-7775-5. - 2010, S. 1-23
  Subject heading: Food industry / Food security / Nutrition / Sustainable development / World
• Title: Food politics: what everyone needs to know / Robert Paarlberg
  Published: Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010
  Subject heading: Food / Food industry / Food security / Nutrition policy / World
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Food as a new human and livelihood security challenge / Úrsula Oswald Spring
  In: Facing global environmental change. - Berlin [u. a.]: Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-68487-9. - 2009, S. 471-500
  Subject heading: Food security / Nutrition policy / Sovereignty / Subsistence minimum / Subsistence farming / Agriculture / Sustainable development / World