#3 2012 Food – our most basic need?

Most of us have seen – and heard – a hungry baby crying for food. In order to stop the crying we do all we can to feed the baby and fulfil its needs. This perhaps most basic of all our needs stays with us all our lives, but our expressions of hunger get more refined as we mature. Still, if we are hungry long enough, it makes us tired, bad-tempered – and angry.

When food is scarce, the risk of outbreaks of violence increases. But also the reverse occurs, with hunger, and even starvation, as one of the grim effects of violent conflict. Droughts, flooding, and other effects of climate change are other potential triggers of food insecurity.

Rising food prices, either because of bad harvests or sheer speculation, often cause loud, sometimes violent, protests. The nexus between a demand for social and political change and calls for more just access to food at affordable prices is obvious worldwide.

The Green Revolution, once seen as the solution to the world’s food problems, has failed. When global corporations buy locally cultivated seeds from small African companies, they separate the small farmer from his/her seed and threaten genetic biodiversity.

Collective international efforts are underway to achieve more just food policy. Read about biopiracy, food justice, and other aspects of the vital issue of food in this issue of New Routes! Your comments and input are, as always, most welcome!

Kristina Lundqvist

Green revolution for Africa – food security or invasive policy?
Andrew Musthita & Carol Thompson

Food sovereignty:
A question of sustainable production and equitable distribution
Kjell Havnevik

From food crisis to food governance?
Nora McKeon

Zambezi river basin:
A risk zone of climate change and economic vulnerability
Ashok Swain, Ranjula Bali Swain, Anders Themnér & Florian Krampe

Hungry and angry:
Food riots and social unrest – a volatile combination
Marco Lagi, Karla Z. Bertrand & Yaneer Bar-Yam

Farmers rights project:
Furthering agrobiodiversity as a means of poverty alleviation
Regine Andersen & Tone Winge

Violent conflict worsens food crisis in the Sahel
Thomas Ekelund

Breaking the cycle of conflict and hunger in Africa
Pedro Conceição & Sebastian Levine

Publicerad: 2013-05-07

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