New recommendations for combating global food and nutrition security
One of the biggest challenges facing global society today is the widespread and growing presence of hunger and food insecurity. Global food prices can swing wildly and the EU-funded FOODSECURE project has sought to address the resulting challenge of food and nutrition security (FNS), being particularly keen to provide concise guidance to EU policymakers on global FNS. To do this, the FOODSECURE project team has worked with experts from a wide range of policy areas to help them develop their vision for FNS in Europe (and globally) by 2050. These included development aid and disaster relief, the food industry, agriculture, climate change, trade, environmental policy, innovation, and renewable energies. ‘Overall, the continuation of inequalities in the food system are the main threat for sustained FNS in the long run,’ commented Dr. Hans Van Meijl, FOODSECURE project coordinator. ‘The EU and its international partners need to step-up their game to reach the goal of zero hunger [by 2050]. They must implement more coherent policies, assess better the EU’s impact on environmental sustainability, address the impact of donor funds, and finally, implement multi-stakeholder knowledge partnerships that can harness all available expertise.’ The project team found that the effectiveness and coherence of EU aid for FNS is severely hampered by donor proliferation, aid fragmentation and the overall lack of coordination. They found that despite great political commitment and a will to increase funds towards guaranteeing FNS, the EU has not made sufficient progress in reducing donor proliferation by concentrating on selected recipient countries and/or by specialising in selected aid sectors. Dr. Van Meijl also pointed out the importance of working towards stable political situations in addressing FNS - ‘conflict is the number one cause of hunger,’ he states. Another area of interest to FOODSECURE researchers was finding the right balance between agriculture’s need to expand (to fulfil the needs of an expanding population) and meet environmental targets. They advocate that increasing agricultural productivity whilst safeguarding sustainability is indeed achievable, with the aid of technological advancements, moderating consumption, nature conservation and the establishment of protected areas, and spatial planning. They also dug deep into how high and volatile food prices have distinct implications for consumers and producers, with price increases and excessive levels of volatility being recorded from 2007 onwards into the current decade. Among the key factors for this included increased biofuel production, the medium- and long-term effects of climate change, and higher levels of trading in commodity future markets. Armed with these results, the project team has urged policymakers to endorse easier trade in agricultural commodities, drives to guarantee larger food reserves, and more active of global financial instruments to positively influence agricultural commodity markets (as well as stricter regulation of such markets). Finally, Thom Achterbosch of the FOODSECURE coordination team points out the importance of education and innovation to support positive societal outcomes that impact on FNS. ‘Along with political stability, basic services for health and development are vital as overall FNS builds on these basic services and helps to lower the food insecurity of vulnerable households,’ explains Achterbosch. Although FOODSECURE has now ended, its legacy will live on through its online navigator website that acts as an interface between the scientific output of the project and policymakers and other stakeholders in the EU and developing countries. The project team will continue to update it, with its main aim being to support decision makers in the formulation of evidence-based food and nutrition policies by presenting key insights on the drivers of global food and nutrition security.
Keywords
FOODSECURE, food and nutrition security, FNS, food prices, food system, better policymaking
