IPS News Special – FEEDING THE FUTURE

More than 1 billion people suffer hunger today, according to the UN. A crucial part of this complex problem is food production and distribution. Is it possible to increase food production in an environmentally and socially sustainable way? Can modernisation, research and investment enhance food security? Is there anything to learn from traditional knowledge? How do trade and energy policies affect the equation? And gender? Where and when is food aid really needed? Can the upswing of commodity prices be positive for some countries? How are farmers coping with climate change?

IPS finds the stories behind the current food crisis to understand local and global causes of shortages and rising prices, and their long-term effects.

Rome, where the largest global food organisations – FAO, IFAD and WFP – are headquartered, is the venue of the World Summit on Food Security (Nov. 16-18). The situation couldn't be more momentous.

DEVELOPMENT: Land Grabs for Food Production Under Fire
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – A move by governments and rich investors to raise food crops on farmland purchased in some of the world's poorer countries is coming under fire.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48979

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DEVELOPMENT: More Food May Not Mean Less Hunger
By Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – Achieving ambitious Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) production targets to meet growing world demands will not suffice to feed the world, and focusing too much on churning out crops may even be damaging, experts warn.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49050

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DEVELOPMENT: More Than a Billion Going Hungry
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON (IPS) – The global economic crisis has led to an historic increase in hunger and undernourishment in the world's poorest countries, with broad consequences for political security and stability, according to two reports released for World Food Day, observed Friday.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48898

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CUBA: Food Security Focus of New UN Programmes
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) – Three new international cooperation agreements channeled through the United Nations system in Cuba are aimed at strengthening food security, especially in the poorest parts of the country.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49058

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SIERRA LEONE: New Agriculture Plan Sprouts
By Mohamed Fofanah
FREETOWN (IPS) – When in power, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) promised that thanks to its pursuit of a pro-agriculture agenda, no Sierra Leonean would go to bed hungry by 2007. But the appointed date came and the people were still hungry. Unfortunately for the SLPP, it was an election year.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49064

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GERMANY: New Govt May Neglect Development Aid
By Julio Godoy
BERLIN (IPS) – Concerns have risen with the inauguration of the new government that Germany will cut back on its commitments on international development.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49059

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DEVELOPMENT: For a Greener Green Revolution
By Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – A new Green Revolution that is truly green is needed to prevent efforts to eradicate hunger colliding with climate change goals, environmentalists say.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49003

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DEVELOPMENT: For-Profit Seeds Hurting Farmers, Biodiversity
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Large biotechnology firms are not only depriving poor farmers of inputs essential for their livelihoods, but are also pushing up food prices, according to a new U.N. report.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48976

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PERU: On Track to Meeting Poverty Reduction Target
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA (IPS) – Peru is only one percentage point away from halving the proportion of its people living in extreme poverty, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by the international community in 2000, according to a United Nations report.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48945

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ECONOMY-CUBA: Cutting Subsidies to Balance the Budget
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA (IPS) – Cuban President Raúl Castro is willing to risk unpopular measures to free the state from its excessive burden of subsidies and for-free services, as part of a programme to adjust public expenditure to shrunken government revenues and balance the budget.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48892

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SOUTH AFRICA: “If You Are Landless, You Are Damned”
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN (IPS) – A group of small-scale South African farmers has lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) against the government, accusing the authorities of not sufficiently assisting small farmers to make a living and therefore undermining their human right to food security.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48890

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Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women's. You can change your perspective – Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp

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Read More IPS Coverage of the Food Crisis from around the world:
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/feedingfuture/

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Rome, where the largest global food organisations – FAO, IFAD and WFP – are headquartered, is preparing for the World Summit on Food Security (Nov. 16-18). The situation couldn't be more momentous. IPS reports:
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/food-crisis/index.asp

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IPS Coverage of Water security: www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/water/index.asp

DON’T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE. Through special coverage of issues like food security, extractive industries, biodiversity and climate change, IPS is giving a voice to people whose stories are seldom heard. IPS is also highlighting the various challenges they face in the globalised world: health and food insecurity, environment degradation and poverty.
www.ipsnews.net/environment.asp

Read IPS Special Coverage of Sanitation:
Despite improved sanitation worldwide last year, there are still about 2.6 billion people – or about 41 percent of the world population – lacking adequate toilet facilities.
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/toilet/

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