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Legal Dimensions of Global Poverty and Food

Insecurity

Prof. Carmen G. GonzalezSeattle University School of Law

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Food SecurityAgro-biodiversityClimate Change

Three crises related to food and agriculture

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Nearly 800 million people chronically undernourished

2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiency

26 percent of world’s children stunted due to undernourishment

Food Security

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80 % are small farmers in rural areas of global South

Small farmers grow at least 70 % of world’s food

Women, children, and indigenous peoples disproportionately represented in the ranks of the rural poor

Food Security - Who is undernourished?

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Small number of crops: 12 crops supply 80%

of the world’s dietary energy from plants

Narrow genetic base: monocultures have supplanted traditional varieties

Agrobiodiversity

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Greater resistance to pests, disease, adverse weather events

Source of germplasm to develop new crop varieties

Future sources of food and medicine More varied and nutritious diets Climate change adaptation

Agrobiodiversity

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Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events

Decline in agricultural yields Decline in productivity of fisheries Additional pressure on scarce water

resources Tropical and subtropical regions most

affected

Climate Change

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Direct emissions: 11-15% global GHGs Changes in land use: 15-18% global GHGs Processing, transport, packaging, retail: 15-

20% global GHGs Waste: 5 % global GHGs

TOTAL: 40-51% global GHGs (excludes emissions from production of fossil fuels to make pesticides & fertilizers and power machinery)

Agriculture & climate change

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Integrates natural pest, nutrient, soil & water management

Minimizes synthetic pesticides & fertilizers Enhances and conserves agrobiodiversity,

including plant genetic resources, livestock, insects and soil organisms

Uses traditional knowledge and modern science to reduce dependence on external inputs

Sustainable agriculture

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Reduces fossil-fuel based GHG emissions

Restores degraded soils – enhances productivity & carbon sequestration

Sustainable agriculture & climate change mitigation

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Increases soil’s water retention capacity – enhances resilience to floods & droughts

Crop diversity enhances resistance to pests, disease and extreme weather events

Promotes food security Preserves traditional knowledge Adopts scientific innovations

Sustainable agriculture & climate change adaptation

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Food insecurity due to poverty, not food scarcity

Food insecurity is primarily rural phenomenon

Some of the most food insecure countries are net agricultural exporters

Three key points

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Northern agricultural subsidies, overproduction, export of “cheap” food

IMF/World Bank structural adjustment policies

Food production dropped; dependence on food imports increased

2007-2008 price shocks – food riots

Roots of Food Insecurity

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WTO AoA failed to curb Northern subsidies

IMF/World Bank & regional and bilateral trade agreements required lowering of tariffs

Redirection of agricultural production to foreign markets increased market power of TNCs

Roots of Food Insecurity

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Speculative investment in agricultural commodities

Biofuels boom Land grabs in global South: TNCs,

Northern investors, middle-income Southern states

Additional threats to food security

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Dispossession of small farmers

Interference with food production

Diversion, contamination, depletion of water supplies

Consequences of land grabs

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Private contract between the host state and the foreign investor – stabilization clause

Bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between the host state and the home state to provide additional protection to the foreign investor

International investment law

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UDHR, ICESCR, ICCPR Respect: prevent dumping of cheap food

and dispossession through land grabbing Protect: regulate private actors Fulfill: meet food needs directly

International human rights law: right to food

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Respect – make sure trade & investment agreements and domestic laws and policies (e.g. biofuels mandates) do not violate right to food in other countries

Protect – regulate TNCs and exercise voting power at IMF/World Bank to prevent interference with right to food of vulnerable populations in global South

Fulfill – food aid

Extraterritorial human rights obligations of Northern states

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Reform trade, aid, finance, investment, and environmental policies to promote human rights

Eliminate trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in US and EU

Phase out biofuels mandates & other incentives Curb speculative trading in agricultural

commodity markets Moratorium on land grabbing Anti-competition law

The Way forward