STWR - Share The World's Resources

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.

Agricultural policies prescribed by industrialised countries have led to a food system dominated by private interests. But in the context of achieving global food security, maximization of international trade and corporate profits should not be the dominating forces, writes Daryll E. Ray.

Implementing global food reserves should be part of a genuine multilateral response to the food crisis. A new Global Convention on Food Security could offer an institutional framework for the governance of food and agriculture, argues a presentation by Robin Willoughby.

The political and economic risks of allowing foreign governments and private investors to purchase land in Africa far outweigh any gain. African governments must make food security for their own people paramount, writes Ama Biney.

Rather than a push for techno-fixes and tightened intellectual property rights that characterised the recent World Seed Conference, we need a new paradigm in agricultural development that promotes cooperation, sharing and free-exchange of seeds, writes Robin Willoughby.

Following the latest weak outcome of the Commission on Sustainable Development, it is time to ask if the United Nations is achieving enough in the realm of sustainable agriculture - and to start building a grassroots movement that can forge a new vision for the future, writes Adam W. Parsons. 

The issue of globally-managed food reserves is receiving increased attention from policymakers in light of the food price crisis. But will the current proposals help achieve food security, or do we need a new framework to discuss their implementation? A backgrounder, by Adam W. Parsons.