Transcript of Webinar. Granaries found in ancient Egypt and used by ancient Chinese civilisations for storage of...
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- Webinar
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- Granaries found in ancient Egypt and used by ancient Chinese
civilisations for storage of food. Ancient Greek and Roman cities
included granaries to store food. Records of Greek and Roman city
states releasing food at times of famine. Shows an understanding of
food security and planning at the state level
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- Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his
family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to security in the event
of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other
lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
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- First defined by1974 World Food Conference Originally a state
level issue: WFC defined food security at the national level, with
a state being food secure when there was sufficient food to
"sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset
fluctuations in production and prices".
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- WHO looks to the individual rather than the state The World
Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing when all
people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious
food to maintain a healthy and active life. Commonly, the concept
of food security is defined as including both physical and economic
access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their
food preferences. http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/
http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/
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- The latest FAO estimates indicate that global hunger reduction
continues: about 805 million people are estimated to be chronically
undernourished in 201214, down more than 100 million over the last
decade, and 209 million lower than in 199092. In the same period,
the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 18.7 to 11.3
percent globally and from 23.4 to 13.5 percent for developing
countries. http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2014/en/
http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2014/en/
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- In the USA, in 2013, at some point in the year 14.3% (17.5m) of
households were considered food insecure. 5.6% (6.8m) were
considered to have VERY low food security.
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- In the past year, 913,138 people in the UK received 3 days
emergency food from a food bank. Up from 346,912 in 2012/13. Well
done to the Coalition Government.
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- Nobel Peace Prize winner Amartya Sen published Poverty and
Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981), a book in
which he argued that famine occurs not only from a lack of food,
but from inequalities built into mechanisms for distributing food.
There is no such thing as an a-political famine.
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- Developing WorldDeveloped World Climate change = extreme
weather Intensive farming = land degradation Global water crisis
(due to intensive farming, climate change and foolish use of what
we have) Agricultural diseases (often due to mono-cropping))
Politics / Kleptocracy / corruption Poverty Lack of governmental
planning Privatisation of services and price hikes Food wastage
Distribution Inadequacies, inefficiencies, inequalities
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- The Government does not provide (or intend to provide) support
directly to food banks, as outlined by the Parliamentary Under-
Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Lord De Mauley) in April 2013: The Government are not
considering the provision of funding to support food banks. We do,
however, recognise the good work of organisations that redistribute
surplus food to help reduce food poverty, assist the homeless and
provide access to nutritional meals for those who may otherwise
struggle. In addition, most major retailers already have
partnerships with redistribution charities. In 2012, Defra held a
meeting with retailers and food distribution charities to explore
the current barriers to redistribution and the Waste and Resources
Action Programme has recently begun working with Fareshare and
FoodCycle to deliver a trial to increase food distribution from
retail stores.
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- The World Bank has helped to turn Ica Valley, one of the driest
places on earth, into the largest supplier in the world of
asparagus (a wet crop) Great! More money for Peru!!! No constant
irrigation means the water table has dropped by as much as eight
meters per year As a cash crop, asparagus has provided jobs for
local people, but most of the money goes to the buyers, mainly the
British. Sustainable? No Well done World Bank
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- They provide huge benefits to the farmers who use them. They
increase acreage of usable crops. They can increase yield. They can
include useful traits such as increased content of important
vitamins. They have huge potential for developing countries.
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- Rice with added vitamin A to help prevent blindness Socially
motivated technology development? Is it better to eat lots of rice
with added vitamins, or eat a balanced diet?
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- They may become weedy. They may cross breed with traditional
and conventional plants contaminating them with unwanted traits.
They may be less healthy than conventional. Their use, particularly
in developing countries, could cause economic problems due to lost
trade. There is very little evidence that health traits work. There
are very few societal GM products in development. Many people do
not want to eat GM food for religious, cultural and social reasons.
Big business own the patents for these crops, they are no longer
part of the commons. High technology is not sustainable
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- Herbicide resistant corn, soya, cotton Internal pest resistance
corn, soya, cotton ??? WHY ??? These are useful to farmers in the
USA These increase monocropping yields
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- Developing worldDeveloped world Food scarcity and food
(in)security are not new issues There is no such thing as an a-
political famine Much food insecurity is caused by the people who
should be solving it. Not much food insecurity is caused by lack of
food. A lot of developing world food insecurity is caused by a lack
of access. Hunger is not just a developing world problem A lot of 1
st world food insecurity is caused by lack of money Food wastage
and distribution inadequacies exacerbate the issues Political will
to envisage food insecurity as a state problem Lack of coherent
strategy and response