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152. Weathering the Crises, Feeding the Future: Philippine food justice report
- Author:
- Jeanne Frances Illo and Dante Dalabajan
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- At the height of the food price crisis in 2008, the Philippines was among the countries with "severe localized food insecurity" requiring external assistance in food.3 A series of severe weatherrelated events occurred in 2009 with the total damage to the economy exceeding 100 bn pesos-more than twice the amount allocated for agriculture that year. Rice imports reached an all-time high of 2.45 million metric tons in 2010, making the Philippines the biggest rice importing country in the world that year.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Israel and Philippines
153. Land and Power: The growing scandal surrounding the new wave of investments in land
- Author:
- Bertram Zagema
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- International investment plays a vital role in development and poverty reduction. Investment can improve livelihoods and bring jobs, services, and infrastructure, when it is managed responsibly within the context of an effective regulatory framework. Oxfam sees this every day in its work and, in some cases, is working collaboratively with businesses to promote investments that directly benefit poor communities. The recent record of investment in land is very different. It tells a story of rapidly increasing pressure on land – a natural resource upon which the food security of millions of people living in poverty depends. Too many investments have resulted in dispossession, deception, violation of human rights, and destruction of livelihoods. Without national and international measures to defend the rights of people living in poverty, this modern-day land-rush looks set to leave too many poor families worse off, often evicted from their land with little or no recourse to justice.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Western Europe
154. Yemen: Fragile lives in hungry times
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The promise of what came to be known as the Arab Spring, which dawned in North Africa, sweeping into the Arabian Gulf and up through the Middle East, has foundered in Yemen. Political turmoil has taken hold and reform has stalled, sparking renewed insecurity, devastating an already frail economy, and triggering a national fuel crisis that has in turn driven rising levels of hunger. Levels of child malnutrition in some regions are among the worst in the world. While billions of dollars have been donated to Tunisia, Libya, and to a lesser extent Egypt to rebuild their economies, Yemenis are facing chronic hunger and have few resources at their disposal. While the eyes of the world are on other countries experiencing major upheaval, Yemen must not be forgotten. Leaving the country to simmer and collapse in slow motion will lead to far greater humanitarian and security concerns.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Food, and Famine
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Norway, Yemen, Arabia, United Nations, and Egypt
155. Experiences of Plantation and Large-Scale Farming in 20th Century Africa
- Author:
- Peter Gibbon
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The paper's background is a revival of the historically dominant narrative on the large-scale and plantation farming (LSF and PF) in Africa, in reaction to the contemporary phenomenon of 'land grabbing'. The historical antecedents of this narrative are examined and its central contentions – that features including low productivity and limited employment generation normally, if not intrinsically characterize LSF and PF – are problematized. This is undertaken on the basis of comprehensive reviews of the historical and contemporary literatures on African LSF and PF farming and labour control systems.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Political Economy, Territorial Disputes, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Africa
156. Policy making and implementation in agriculture: Tanzania's push for irrigated rice
- Author:
- Ole Therkildsen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Tanzania's 2005 push to increase rice production by ambitious rural investments in irrigation and by tariff protection of its rice industry from cheap imported subsidised rice has apparently highlevel political support. Yet, the implementation has run into problems: non-compliance with the tariff, substantial smuggling of cheap rice through Zanzibar, and low sustainability of irrigation schemes due to poor local-level operation and maintenance.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Tanzania
157. Feeding Asia in the 21st Century: Building Urban – Rural Alliances
- Publication Date:
- 08-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- The International Conference on Asian Food Security (ICAFS) took place on 10–12 August 2011 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore. ICAFS 2011, themed 'Feeding Asia in the 21st Century: Building Urban- Rural Alliances', was convened in the context of complex and multifaceted challenges throughout food systems in Asia. The conference sought to address timely questions relating to these challenges, and foster discussions among a range of stakeholders from Asia's food sectors.
- Topic:
- Security, Agriculture, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Asia
158. Public Policy, Price Shocks, and Conflict: Price Shocks and Civil War in Developing Countries
- Author:
- Robert H. Bates and Brett L. Carter
- Publication Date:
- 11-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Those who study the role of agriculture in the political economy of development focus on government policy choices on the one hand and the impact of price shocks on the other. We argue that the two should be studied together. We find that civil unrest (Granger) causes government policies, pushing governments in poor and medium income countries to shift relative prices in favor of urban consumers. We also find that while civil wars are related to food price shocks, when government policy choices are taken into account, the relationship disappears. We thus learn two things: Policies that placate urban consumers may inflict economic costs on governments, but they confer political benefits. And when estimating the relationship between price shocks and political stability, equations that omit the policy response of governments are misspecified.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Economics, Government, Markets, Political Economy, and Food
159. Bridging the Gap in Urban Health and Poverty Research
- Author:
- Mojgan Sami
- Publication Date:
- 06-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- Urban health tends to be perceived as measures ensuring access to fresh food, parks, sidewalks and good air quality. In the last decade, donors such as The California Endowment have initiated place-based plans to “build healthy communities” through participatory action planning. While these endeavors are steps in the right direction, the overall approach to healthy urban development tends to narrowly focus on the physical and built environment, and does not pay adequate attention to the social determinants of health, or what the World Health Organization calls “causes behind the causes” of health (WHO 2008). In part, the challenge lies in the difficulty of understanding the complexity of social reality and the diverse social constructions of health and poverty that exist in multi-cultural cities throughout the world. To control for such complexity, planners tend to favor quantitative, standardized approaches to research whereby they can generalize impacts and solutions to a wider population. However, by overly de-contextualizing urban health research, planners miss the opportunity of obtaining deeper understanding and insight into the age-old problems that have plagued cities from the beginning of the planning profession; namely, inequity and inequality (Hall 2002).
- Topic:
- Development, Health, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- California
160. Rebuilding the American Food System—One Heirloom Tomato at a Time
- Author:
- Frederick Kirschenmann
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- The food system of the United States is currently witnessing a remarkable shift. Small farms and artisanal producers are on the rise, working with restaurants, institutional food services, and retail outlets to make locally-sourced, sustainably-grown food more widely available. Health- and environment-conscious consumers— “the locavores” —are placing new demands on the food system in ways that are affecting the nation's economy as well as its eating habits (see the “infographic” opposite). On March 4, 2011, United States Studies at the Wilson Center, with the support of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, convened practitioners, scholars, farmers, producers, and food activists to discuss both the scope of this phenomenon and the challenges faced by those seeking to transform the way Americans eat.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, Markets, and Food
- Political Geography:
- United States