STWR - Share The World's Resources

A billion people go hungry daily, not because of insufficient production, but because of the inequitable model of international trade. The human right to food should be the first priority in our efforts to reform the agricultural system, argues Olivier De Schutter.

Five years after the outbreak of bird flu, the world is once again reeling from a pandemic caused by the industrial food system. Local communities will remain at risk until governments insist on corporate accountability and provide health systems the public can trust, warns GRAIN.

The International Monetary Fund regained its relevance at the G20 Summit with a trebling of its resources for lending – but is resurrecting the IMF such a good idea considering its controversial history?

In the Great Depression Frederick Soddy criticized economists' unfaltering belief in the 'invisible hand' of the market to harmlessly generate infinite wealth. Although hesitantly received then, today his ideas are echoed in the alternative proposals of ecological economics, argues Eric Zencey.

Latin America is locked in a struggle between those leaders seeking economic alternatives to the Washington Consensus and others who resist change. This tension is not only responsible for the region's instability; its outcome could also define a postneoliberal order. By Emir Sader.

The G8 Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting has offered no fresher solution to the food crisis than the tired mantra of increasing production. When will they recognise the potential of small scale local farming to end hunger and promote food security?

Researchers predict that the number of people affected by climate disasters will double by 2015. Our current capacity to respond to emergencies could be completely overwhelmed – unless governments acknowledge and respond to the growing threat, warns a report by Oxfam.

It has become fashionable to laud corporate social responsibility as a win-win practice for business and society. Yet CSR is a misleading and distracting doctrine that blinds us to the political realities of corporate economic globalization, writes Jessica Ludescher.

Self-reliant local economies are better suited to withstand crisis and are more responsive to the needs of local communities. So why are politicians so resistant to the growing sentiment in favour of protectionist policies, asks Pranav Bihari.

It is hubris to downgrade the culpability of the rich world's environmental footprint because generations of poor people not yet born might one day get to be as rich and destructive as us. Overpopulation is not driving environmental destruction; overconsumption is, argues Fred Pearce.