FEEDING THE FUTURE

Rome, where the largest global food organisations – FAO, IFAD and WFP – are headquartered, was the venue of the World Summit on Food Security (Nov. 16-18). The situation couldn't have been more momentous, but the Summit was snubbed by the world?s top leaders, failed to deliver binding aid commitments, and didn?t set a target date for the eradication of hunger.

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.

DON’T MISS OUR EXCLUSIVE SLIDESHOW OF FARMERS MEETING IN ROME ALONGSIDE THE FOOD SUMMIT:
www.ipsnews.net/slideshows/worldsfarmers/

DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Summit?s Failure Exposes Grim Reality
By Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – There are two main ways the flop of this week?s United Nations World Food Security Summit in Rome – which has been snubbed by the world?s top leaders, has failed to deliver binding aid commitments, or to set a target date for the eradication of hunger – is being read.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49299

*****
DEVELOPMENT: Climate Change Likely to Increase African Hunger Woes
By Julio Godoy
BERLIN (IPS) – Africa, the continent already most affected by hunger and food scarcity, is likely to see its woes increased due to climate change and the changing rain patterns it provokes, experts and scientists say.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49321

*****
DEVELOPMENT: To Grab, Or To Invest
Analysis by Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – The World Food Security Summit in Rome this week opened up a dispute between what may be investment in farmland to some, but is seen as land grab by others.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49317

*****
AGRICULTURE: Exporting Afghanistan
By P.J. Tobia
KABUL (IPS) – The 60 hectare stretch of farmland in north Kabul's Badam Bagh neighbourhood looks much like farmland all over this country. Colourful rows of neatly planted crops stretch out from a dusty road and up the gentle slope of an arid ridge.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49291

*****
U.S.: Nearly One in Six Citizens Went Hungry in 2008
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON (IPS) – As the World Food Security Summit got under way in Rome Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed that nearly one in six U.S. households went hungry at some time during 2008, the highest level since it began monitoring food security levels in 1995.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49287

*****
DEVELOPMENT: Hunger Summit Passes Toothless Declaration
By Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – Fears that the United Nations World Food Security Summit would fail to deliver effective measures to defeat hunger were borne out Monday when world leaders and government officials approved a toothless declaration on the first day.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49283

*****
DEVELOPMENT: Farmers Not Invited to Food Summit?
By Sabina Zaccaro
ROME (IPS) – World farmers are not part of the official delegations at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit on food security that opened here Monday. But they came anyhow to express their views, since, they say, it is their communities that are most impacted by the food crisis.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49278

*****
DEVELOPMENT: Looking to the Past to Feed the Future
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON (IPS) – As wheat rust threatened crops in the 1950s, a global effort to breed resistant wheat varieties led to 117 million hectares of cropland being protected from the deadly fungi and ensured the food security of 60 to 120 million rural households.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49266

*****
DEVELOPMENT: More Promises to Eat
By Paul Virgo
ROME (IPS) – Next week's United Nations food security summit is in danger of becoming a massive missed opportunity, experts and non-governmental organisations say. Fears mount that top leaders will not show up, and binding new commitments will not materialise.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49248

*****
AGRICULTURE-ZIMBABWE: New Methods to Maximise Yields
By Vusumuzi Sifile
GURUVE, Zimbabwe (IPS) – Last season, for the first time in her more than 20 years as a farmer, Elizabeth Runema harvested her maize crop at the beginning of February.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49241

*****
WEST AFRICA: Helping Pirates to Plunder the Oceans
By Hilaire Avril
PARIS (IPS) – West Africa is one of the world?s regions most affected by pirate fishers. Illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing has been devastating local livelihoods and ecosystems for decades. National fisheries management authorities are often helpless to protect their maritime resources.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49218

******
SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE NEW IPS GENDERWIRE:

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

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

******
IPS Coverage of the World Summit on Food Security (Nov. 16-18):
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/food-crisis/index.asp

******
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/

EARTH ALERT: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE FOR COPENHAGEN?

Read about the forces behind climate change – but also about growing citizen awareness and new climate policies towards sustainable development.

The 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is set to take place in Copenhagen from Dec. 7 to 18. World leaders are expected to try to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which is set to expire in 2012. IPS brings you the latest news from the 'frontline' of environment.
Webpage www.ipsnews.net/climate_change/index.asp
Newsletter ipsnews.net/_newsletter/environment.asp

Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world's leading provider of information on global issues, is backed by a network of journalists in more than 150 countries. Its clients include more than 3,000 media organisations and tens of thousands of civil society groups, academics, and other users.

IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.

Visit Inter Press Service at www.ipsnews.net