B2854 - FOOD SECURITY IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will understand the challenges that the issue of food security poses to states at the national level and in the context of their relations with other states, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Students will also be able to evaluate both the effectiveness of the strategies adopted at national and international level to promote food security within the borader context of the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between states.

Course contents

Class Description:
This course focuses on three different approaches to fight hunger, undernourishment and malnutrition, and reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 by 2030: food security, the right to food and food sovereignty. Phenomenal technical progress has been made in agriculture and it is now possible to produce enough food for all, despite population pressure. However, over 800 million people have been permanently undernourished for several decades. 80% of them work in rural areas and 60% are women and girls. The course aims to understand the dynamics that perpetuate this situation, and responses proposed by the United Nations (UN) and other actors. Advances and challenges in the fight against hunger in the Global North and Global South will be presented, as well as some of the recent shocks to food security such as the COVID-19 pandemic will be discussed. Class participants are required to think critically about the role of various actors in establishing and upholding the current food system, and what each of them should do to build more equitable, sustainable and just food systems.

Course contents
The course is organised in two parts.
The course will start with a lecture format, with presentation by the course convenor, and discussion encouraged with participating students. Students are expected to have read and digested the core readings indicated below and prepared for the class discussion.
The second part will consist of two-hours sessions organised around presentations of individual student work. These presentations will be organised in the form of a round-table discussion or debate. These sessions will be facilitated by students (in the role of discussant).
Be aware that reading materials listed below are not exhaustive. Additional materials will be provided throughout the course as needed.

Class 1 - Introduction: Food security and nutrition in the world

Readings 

FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, In Brief to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all, Rome, FAO, http://www.fao.org/3/cb5409en/cb5409en.pdf

FIAN International, “SOFI 2021: Tracking Hunger, Skipping Problem’s Roots”, Press release, 19 July 2021, https://www.fian.org/en/press-release/article/sofi-2021-tracking-hunger-skipping-problems- roots-2822


Class 2 – sustainable development and ‘Right to Food’

Readings

Fakhri, M. (2020), Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Vision of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, UN Doc. A/HRC/46/33, 24 December 2020, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/46/33

Margulis ME (2017), The Global Governance of Food Security, in Handbook of Inter- Organizational Relations (Joachim Koops and Rafael Biermann, eds, 2017)

Filardi and Prato (2018), Reclaiming the Future of Food: Challenging the Dematerialization of Food Systems, Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (2018)
Flavio Luiz Schieck Valente, The Corporate Capture of Food and Nutrition Governance: A Threat to Human Rights and Peoples’ Sovereignty, Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (2015)

Class 3 – Food Sovereignty and Socio-Political Stability
Readings

Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni, 2007, https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf

Amorim, J., “Food Sovereignty: 25 years in the making”, La Via Campesina, 2021, https://viacampesina.org/en/food-sovereignty-25-years-in-the-making/

Nyéléni, “Food Sovereignty in a Time of Pandemic”, Newsletter no. 43, 2021, https://nyeleni.org/DOWNLOADS/newsletters/Nyeleni_Newsletter_Num_43_EN.pdf


Class 4 - sustainable food system

Readings

FAO (2018), Sustainable food systems: Concept and framework
Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S.,
Garnett, T., Tilman, D., DeClerck, F., Wood, A., et al (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the
EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet, 393(10170), pp. 447-492.
Kennedy, Eileen, et al. "Transforming food systems: the missing pieces needed to make them work." Current developments in nutrition 5.1 (2021): nzaa177


Class 5 - Food, population, and sustainability
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2021), Population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development. UN/DESA Policy Brief #102
Imasiku, K., Ntagwirumugara, E. (2019), An impact analysis of population growth on energy-water-food-land nexus for ecological sustainable development in Rwanda. Food and Energy Security, Volume 9, Issue1, February 2020

Class 6: Healthy food environment
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (1996). Rome declaration on world food security and world food summit plan of action, World food summit, Rome
Food And Agriculture Organisation Of The United Nations (2016). Influencing food environments for healthy diets, Rome.
M. Spires, et.al. (2023), “The People’s Summit”: A case for lived experience of food environments as a critical source of evidence to inform the follow-up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. Global Food Security, Volume 37, June 2023
Turner, Christopher, et.al., Concepts and critical perspectives for food environment research: A global framework with implications for action in low- and middle-income countries. Global Food Security, Volume 18, September 2018, pp. 93-101

Class 7: Food safety and diseases
WHO (2015). Food Safety: What you should know, New Delhi.
FAO (2022). Thinking about the future of food safety – A foresight report
WHO (2022). WHO global strategy for food safety 2022-2030: towards stronger food safety.
Afsana, K., Jolly, S.P., Akhter, F. (2022). Nutrition, Food Safety and Global Health. In: Kickbusch, I., Ganten, D., Moeti, M. (eds.) Handbook of Global Health. Springer, Cham
Grace, D. (2015). Food safety in developing countries: An overview. Hemel Hempstead, UK: Evidence on Demand

Class 8: Poverty and food security
FAO (2022). Understanding poverty and food insecurity at the household level. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Policy Brief, No. 59. Rome.
UNDP (2021). Impacts on Poverty and Food Security. In Compounding Crises
Asian Development Bank (2012). Food Security and Poverty: Key Challenges and Policy Issues
Jubril, B., Samson, O.S. (2022). Why the sustainable development goals matter in Africa. African Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development Volume 5, Issue 3, 2022 (pp. 73-82)


Class 9: Climate Change effects on Food Security
FAO (2022). FAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022–2031. Rome
Tumushabe, J.T. (2018). Climate Change, Food Security and Sustainable Development in Africa. In: Oloruntoba, S., Falola, T. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York


Class 10: Sustainable food consumption
Hasegawa, T., Havlík, P., Frank, S. et al. Tackling food consumption inequality to fight hunger without pressuring the environment. Nature Sustainability 2, 826–833 (2019)
Kummu, M.; De Moel, H.; Porkka, M.; Siebert, S.; Varis, O.; Ward, P.J. (2012). Lost Food, Wasted Resources: Global Food Supply Chain Losses and Their Impacts on Freshwater, Cropland, and Fertiliser Use. Science Total Environment 2012, 438, 477–489.
United Nations Environment Programme (2021) UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021


Class 11: Food Insecurity During Protracted Crises, Conflicts and Climate Related Disasters
Readings
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (In Brief) (2017) Read: pp. 17-30
Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, The Role of Development Cooperation and Food Aid in Realizing the Right to Adequate Food: Moving From Charity to Obligation, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/5 (2009) Read: paras. 1-35
Hilal Elver, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, The Right to Food in Conflict Situations, UN Doc. A/72/188 (2017)  Read: paras. 45-90
UN Committee on World Food Security, Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (2015):



Class 12: Towards Sustainable Agriculture and Development
United Nations Secretary General Report. (2012). Agricultural Development and Food Security.
Elver, H. (2017). UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Report on the impact of pesticides. United Nations General Assembly, A/HRC/34/48.


Class 13: food security and labour
FAO (2023) Estimating Global and Country-level Employment in Agrifood Systems. FAO Statistics Working Paper Series, Issue 23/34

Class 14: food security and International Trade
Margulis, M. E. (2014). Trading out of the global food crisis? The World Trade Organization and the geopolitics of food security. Geopolitics, 19(2), 322-350.
Jennifer Clapp, Food Security and International Trade: Unpacking Disputed Narratives (FAO, 2015)
Read: section 1 (Introduction), 2.2 (Trade Norms: Food Exceptionalism and Trade Liberalization), 3 (Trade as Opportunity for Food Security) and 4 (Trade as a Threat to Food Security)
Sophia Murphy, Food Security and International Trade: Risk, Trust and Rules, 2(2) Canadian Food Studies 88 (2015)
Biraj Patnaik, Addressing Structural Inequity: Global Trade Rules and Their Impact of Food and Nutrition Security, Right to Food and Nutrition Watch (2017)


Class 15: Nutrition for Human Development
Sommers, P. and White, A. (2022). Food security and nutrition as keys to human development, European Parliament.
Burchi, F., et.al. (2012) A Human Development and Capability Approach to Food Security, Working Paper 2012-009: February 2012, UNDP.

Class 16: international institutional architecture for food aid
Mary, S. and Mishra, AK (2020). Humanitarian food aid and civil conflict. World Development, Volume 126, February 2020, 104713

Class 17: Covid-19 and its impact on Food systems
United Nations (2020). Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition, June 2020
Workie, E., et.al. (2020). Deciphering the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food security, agriculture, and livelihoods: A review of the evidence from developing countries. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 2, December 2020
O'Hara, S., Toussaint, EC (2021). Food access in crisis: Food security and COVID-19. Ecological Economics, 2021

Class 18: War in Ukraine and food security disruption
FAO (2022). Impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict on global food security and related matters under the mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). CL 170/6, May 2022.
Rabbi, M.F. (2023). Food Security Challenges in Europe in the Context of the Prolonged Russian–Ukrainian Conflict. Sustainability 2023, 15, 4745.

Class 19: Gender and food system
Giner, C. (2022). Gender and food systems: Overcoming evidence gaps. OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers, September 2022, no.184
Andrea M. Collins (2022) “Empowerment, rights, and global food governance: gender in the UN Committee for World Food Security”, Globalizations, Volume 19, 2022


Class 20: Urban food security
FAO (2023), The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023: Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum

Teaching methods

Class Description:
This course focuses on three different approaches to fight hunger, undernourishment and malnutrition, and reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 by 2030: food security, the right to food and food sovereignty. Phenomenal technical progress has been made in agriculture and it is now possible to produce enough food for all, despite population pressure. However, over 800 million people have been permanently undernourished for several decades. 80% of them work in rural areas and 60% are women and girls. The course aims to understand the dynamics that perpetuate this situation, and responses proposed by the United Nations (UN) and other actors. Advances and challenges in the fight against hunger in the Global North and Global South will be presented, as well as some of the recent shocks to food security such as the COVID-19 pandemic will be discussed. Class participants are required to think critically about the role of various actors in establishing and upholding the current food system, and what each of them should do to build more equitable, sustainable and just food systems.

Assessment methods

In-Class Discussions: Each student will be required to prepare discussion questions on the basis of the class readings. Each student will be responsible for preparing questions for two different classes. Students are required to send a list of at least 4 discussion questions by 9 am the morning of their assigned classes based on the readings for that day. All students are required to actively participate in class discussions.
Presentation: Each student will be required to prepare a 10 minute presentation. Presentations are intended to give context to the discussion topic for the particular date and to enrich the class discussion.
Research Papers: Students must have their topic approved by the instructor in advance. Papers are to be approximately 5000 words excluding references and the list of bibliography.

Office hours

See the website of Hanako Umezawa