Transcript Global Food Systems

Global Food Systems
Impact of Climate Change, Trade Rules,
War, Displaced People, etc. etc. etc.
Global Food Systems
• Alternative Food Systems.
• Local food systems
• Organic food systems
• Cooperatives in food systems
• SPIN (Small Plot Intensive) farming
• Restoration Agriculture
• Fair Trade
How can we Feed Nine Billion people
by 2050?
• How do we use Science and Technology?
• How do we Distribute the food we have,
better?
• How can we use local food systems better and
stand as a buffer between consumers and
global markets?
• What government policies do we need to make
our food system more sustainable?
What is fair trade?
• Fair trade seeks to transform the lives of poor
producers in the developing world by enabling
them to use their skills and resources to
trade their way out of poverty.
• It seeks to challenge injustices in trading
structures and practices that so often lead to the
exploitation and marginalisation of poor people.
What is fair trade?
Fair trade sets out to:
• create opportunities for poor producers
• ensure trading practices are fair, both in
terms of payment and prices
• ensure that children are not being
exploited
• ensure there is no discrimination
• ensure working conditions are safe.
Fair trade coffee
(LIFFE – London International Financial Futures Exchange)
Global Food Systems
• Who controls our food?
• 83.5% of all of the beef packing in the United States is in the
hands of four firms
• Five firms control 48% of US food retailing
• 66% of all pork in the US is packed by just four companies
• 71% of all soybean crushing is done by three firms
• Three companies control nearly 90% of global trade in grains
• Just two firms control nearly 60% of the United States corn
seed market, 65% of the global maize seed market and 44% of
the global soy market
(Hendrickson 2007; Action Aid 2005)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Food Price Index 1990-2012
Global Food Systems
• Who controls our food?
• Food or Fuel?
Food or
Fuel?
Agrofuels in
our
food
system?
World Production of Biofuels 2009
Global Fuel Ethanol Production 2009
(million of litres)
Global Food Systems
• Who controls our food?
• Food or Fuel?
• Trade rules?
What’s wrong with the Global
Trade System?
• Unequal Partners: rich countries abuse
the system and bully poorer countries into
agreeing to rules which favour the rich.
• The benefits of trade will only reach the
poor – at home and in the developing
world – if international trade rules are
deliberately weighted in favour of poor
people and the environment.
• While international trade is worth $10
million a minute, poor countries only
account for 0.4% of this trade - half the
share they had in 1980.
• The so-called Doha Development Round
projected that 2/3 of any gains would go to
the richer countries.
• One size doesn't fit all: rich countries use
trade rules to force poor countries to open
their economies to goods from rich countries
(known as “trade liberalisation”). But poor
countries' farmers and industries aren't
ready to compete.
• Decades of forced liberalisation has
devastated many poor countries resulting in
huge job losses, poor health care and less
education. Trade “liberalisation” often comes
alongside increased rights for foreign
investors and pressure to privatise the
economy.
• Rich countries such as the USA, Canada, the
EU, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea
and Taiwan succeeded economically by
protecting their farmers and industries, only
opening up to competition once their
industries were strong enough to compete.
• Rich countries are using trade rules to deny
poor countries the same rights. For example,
the average EU cow is subsidised to the tune
of around $800. In Ethiopia, the average
annual income per person is just $100.
Global Food Systems
• Who controls our food?
• Food or Fuel?
• Trade rules?
• Global Investment Policy?
Investment Policy
“Most of these investments occur with a complete
lack of transparency, without proper consultation of
the local communities concerned. They will benefit
investors and perhaps some of the local elites – but
they will create much less employment, and
contribute much less to rural development than
would policies supporting small farmers and ensuring
their access to land.”
Olivier De Schutter,
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion
Agreements (FIPPAs)
• Canada has signed Foreign Investment
Protection and Promotion Agreements
(FIPPAs) with most of the countries where
investment takes place; investors are able to
take advantage of the protection granted
under these treaties should their investment
ever be challenged.
Global Food Systems
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Who controls our food?
Food or Fuel?
Trade rules?
Global Investment Policy?
• Global Land Rush?
CANADA AND THE GLOBAL LAND RUSH
• Mining Sector:
Seventy-five percent of the world’s mining
companies are headquartered in Canada with
exploration and mining projects all over the world.
• At least fifteen Canadian companies have acquired
land in developing countries since 2000. Three of
them are forestry companies and one company
specializes in tourism development. Twelve other
companies acquired land for agricultural (mainly bio
diesel) production purposes.
Global Food Systems
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Who controls our food?
Food or Fuel?
Trade rules?
Global Investment Policy?
Global Land Rush?
• Climate Change?
Climate
Change
and
Hunger
The Facts
What does climate change look like?
• Higher temperatures
• More droughts
• Changes in rainfall
patterns
• Rising sea levels
At least 70 percent of people who
regularly go to bed hungry live in
rural areas in developing countries
Most of these people
are farmers
What has Canada done to
help vulnerable people in
developing countries?
• Signed onto an international agreement
• A generous funding contribution 2010-2012
• Mostly for mitigation
What does
Canada still
need to do?
Make a new
funding
commitment, with
more support for
adaptation