STWR - Share The World's Resources

La Via Campesina is the leading transnational movement opposing the corporate domination of food production. How has such a movement arisen and how has the notion of food sovereignty forged a shared identity among its members? By Maria Elena Martinez-Torres and Peter M. Rosset.

Despite the continuing threat of further food crises, international support for long-term agricultural programmes remains neglected. Overseas aid should target small-scale farmers in order to tackle global hunger, says a report by the APPG on Agriculture and Food for Development.

Producing an ever-larger volume of agricultural commodities will not address the systemic fragility in our food system. To address the structural causes of hunger, governments must place human rights at the centre of any response to the global food crisis, says Olivier de Schutter.

The acquisition by foreign investors of farmland in poorer countries could fatally undermine sustainable food production. Governments should look to alternative strategies to feed their people – including a fledgling initiative to establish regional food reserves, argue Michael Kugelman and Sue Levenstein.

In 2009, the number of undernourished people in the world reached a record high of one billion. International trade rules must be fundamentally reshaped to put human rights, particularly the right to adequate food, at the centre of economic policy, says a report by IATP et al.

Without a redistribution of power away from agribusiness, real solutions to hunger and food insecurity are not possible. Far reaching reform of national and international governance is required to prioritise the right to food, says a report by Agribusiness Action Initiatives.

Dealing with the twin spectres of peak oil and climate change requires a radical rethink of our fossil-fuel intensive food system. Three fundamental principles should underpin any approach to food security: resilience, resolarisation and relocalisation, argues Jonathon Porritt.