Prof. Carmen G. Gonzalez Seattle University School of Law 1.
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Transcript of Prof. Carmen G. Gonzalez Seattle University School of Law 1.
1
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