Food Insecurity by Celeste Sanchez

1996 World Food Summit & Plan of Action

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-20 03:51:38 UTC

As the world population increases, so does International food insecurity. In 1996, the UN's Food and Agriculture organization held a summit to "to protect what they deemed a fundamental human right of adequate food". Over 80 states joined in Rome and set 7 commitments in its Plan of Action that would act as a guide to establish principles for States to form policies on food security. The ultimate goal was to reduce the amount of individuals who suffered from food insecurity in half in 20 years. The amount slightly decreased in 2004, but their goal was unattainable. On a more positive note, the World Food Summit and Plan of Action led to both the Millennium Summit in 2000 and the Millenium Development Goals which helped further push a global plan/solution on tackling food insecurity. The Plan of Action also served as a foundation for the "Plant Treaty" or the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture adopted in November of 2001 (enforced in June of 2004). While this plan is considered soft law, the treaty helps establish the plan as concrete binding law.

U.N. Millennium Development Goals

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-20 04:19:49 UTC

In September 2000, world leaders came together at UN Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration. In the declaration they committed their nations to a new global partnership in hopes of reducing extreme poverty. They established several goals with a deadline of 2015. These goals have become known as the Millennium Development Goals. More specifically, Target 1.C was that between 1990 and 2015, the goal is to cut the proportion of people who suffer from hunger in half. This would place their target at 11.5% of the population suffering from hunger. While other MDGs were met, unfortunately this goal was unattainable. In 2015 the percentage of individuals suffering from hunger was 12.9%. While these goals helped set a target for diminishing food insecurity, it was unsuccessful in attaining it's goal. One possible setback to the MDG's are the fact that they are non-binding international law. Meaning that states will try their best to comply with their promises, but they aren't required or forced to comply.

Action Against Hunger

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-20 04:37:46 UTC

Action Against Hunger (AAH) is an international non-profit organization that aims to help malnourished children and adults. They hope to solve world hunger and help as many individuals as they can. They help about 28 million people across 55 countries each year get access to food and clean drinking water. They help by treating severely malnourished children and preventing children from becoming malnourished in the first place. Teaming up with local government agencies, NGO partners, and community leaders to bring efficient, effective relief to communities hit by disaster. Their goal is to end world hunger by 2030.

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-20 05:16:32 UTC

While the main purpose of the treaty was not on food security, the legally binding agreement aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. It recognizes the crucial role of genetic resources in achieving food security and sustainable agriculture. On page V it acknowledges the goals of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action and said this agreement aids with successfully meeting those goals.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-20 05:17:51 UTC

With the ratification of 170 states, the ICESCR is a key United Nation's treaty that set standards for basic rights. Part III, Article 11 focuses on the idea that food security is a fundamental right and that states will work with other states to "improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food" and take "into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need".

World Food Programme

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-21 20:18:52 UTC

The World Food Programme was established by the United Nations in 1961. The IGO is comprised of 36 members, most of which are members of the Nations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. According to the official website, "the Board provides intergovernmental support, policy direction and supervision of the activities of WFP". Unlike NGO's like Action Against Hunger or Convey of Hope, the World Food Programme offers support to governments to maintain food sustainability long term. The WFP is almost always the first to respond in an emergency and covers broad ranges of issues that effect individuals access to food. For example, when the pandemic hit in 2020, WFP was at the forefront making sure that individuals did not go without meals by delivering food and provided aid to governments to make sure that those who were unable to work were still able to eat. More recently, in 2023 WFP contributed a total of $8.3 billion USD in combating food insecurity via monetary funds to governments, meals to individuals, research, etc. A unique feature of the WFP is that they contribute not just to emergencies and hose who are unable to afford meals but also help during times of conflict and crop failure.

European Union

celestesanchez3 — 2024-03-21 20:27:07 UTC

The European Union sets a great example as a leading IGO in their aims to limit food insecurity. A majority of their efforts stem from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, which operates under the Directorate-General and is a part of the European Commission. They aim to limit food insecurity by providing food assistance to victims of food crises worldwide and invests in reducing the risk of famine. They have been creating legislation since 2010 that has helped millions of individuals get access to sufficient quantities of safe and nutritious food. They are one of the largest donors to ending food insecurity, donating over 1 billion euros annually. European Commission is also member of the Food Assistance Convention and has committed to providing a minimum of €350 million annually to alleviate food insecurity. In the last 2 years, it has spent over €1.7 billion in emergency food and nutrition assistance for the most vulnerable cases. Each year the Directorate-General releases reports on food security and ends with policy recommendations on what they think would be the most effective and practical way of solving the challenges addressed in the reports.

A) What Did I learn?

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:11:09 UTC

I learned that contrary to popular belief, world hunger continues to be a big global issue that affects millions every single year. Over the years the international community has made significant improvement starting with the 1996 World Food Summit and Plan of Action which led to other achievements like the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goal of 2015, up until COVID-19. While the international community was cooperating together to build soft law goals, NGO collaborations on emergency food supplies, legally binding treaties on food production and treaties that made food a basic human right, they were able to drastically decrease the percentage of individuals suffering from food insecurity worldwide. However, all progress was lost following the global pandemic that forced a world-wide lockdown. The effects of COVID-19 are still felt today as food insecurity reaches an all time high. COVID isn't the only challenge facing this global issue but lack of consensus on the origin, government reliance on NGO's, and the proportion of funding to demand continues to make the issue persist.

B) What do the resources demonstrate about the constraints, challenges, and achievements of international law in addressing global challenges?

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:11:34 UTC

The resources demonstrated the difficulties of tackling such a complex issue in such a large scope. One of the main challenges in ending food insecurity is the lack of consensus behind what the real root of the problem is. In order to abolish world hunger long term, one must eliminate the origin first. However, research shows that the international community accredits the origin to several different possibilities. Without a clear cut approach and consensus it is almost impossible to come up with a strategy. Another issue is the lack of participation from governments and the reliance they have on non-governmental organizations. While NGO's have been very successful in their efforts of helping reduce the percentage of individuals suffering from food insecurity and malnourishment, they are extremely limited in terms of money, resources, and scope. Without help and participation from governments, food insecurity will remain an unsolvable global issue. On the other hand, the international community has had many success in lowering the amount of individuals suffering from food insecurity through soft law like Millenium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goal which force food insecurity onto the global agenda and set goals for states. IGO's and NGO's have also been extremely successful in providing emergency aid, meals, food supplies, and nutrition resources to communities in need. The international community was significantly decreasing the percentage of individuals suffering from food insecurity until COVID-19. The global pandemic continues to be a big issue and has halted the success of the changes made by the international community. While funding continues to increase each year, it is still not enough to keep up with the demands.

C) How are intergovernmental organizations involved?

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:11:51 UTC

Intergovernmental organizations are involved by providing money and resources to affected communities, conducting research, releasing annual reports and updates, creating and drafting policies, and working with non-governmental organizations to further reach more individuals. IGO's are the key players in ending food insecurity and have done their best to be transparent and hold themselves accountable. Examples of this include the European Union's European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations which has it's Directorate-General release multiple statements a year that has a detailed report on where the international community stands as a whole on food security and policy recommendations.

D) What can your target audience do with this information to address these challenges?

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:12:09 UTC

My target audience can use my information to continue their own research on how food insecurity affects millions of lives everyday and ways they can help. The goal of my project was to shed awareness on an issue many think has simply gone away or has been resolved. With the help of my research, I explored the challenges of resolving food insecurity and urge my audience to spread the word in order to get states motivated to take charge and not rely on NGO's to get the work done. On the other hand helping NGO's can still greatly help the cause. There are many routes in doing so but some of the most common ways of getting involved with NGO's is by volunteering, donating money or goods and services, attending their events or fundraisers, etc. There are so many ways to help address this global challenge, and just engaging with this project was enough to spread awareness.

Convoy of Hope

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:16:38 UTC

Convoy of Hope, is an American non-proft humanitarian organization that works with local communities to aid in solving hunger and poverty. Convoy of Hope differs from other food insecurity NGO's as they are a faith based organization. They work by providing food, water, and other emergency supplies to individuals affected by disasters, conflicts, and/or poverty. They collaborate with a wide range of NGO's like World Vision, Save the Children, and Mercy Corps by working together on projects, exchanging resources, and networking to maximize their impact and reach more communities. Along with NGO's they also work with IGO's like United Nations World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization to help them reach more communities. In addition, they work with government agencies and local governments to help bring resources to communities struggling with food insecurity, disasters, and poverty. Their best known example of their assistance was in 2010 after a devastating earthquake in Haiti. Convoy of Hope provided supplies like food, water, hygiene kits, and medical aid to survivors, many of whom had lost their homes and belongings in the disaster. They worked with other NGO's and local governments to help bring resources as effective and efficient as possible while also helping provide long-term solutions. They fed tens of thousands who had no access to food after the disaster by distributing food supplies, provide mobile feeding programs, established community feeding centers, and nutritional support for vulnerable individuals like children and pregnant women.

Sustainable Development Goals

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:25:01 UTC

The Sustainable Development Goals, came fourth after the Millenium Summit and the Millenium Development goals. The MDG's set expectations/goals for 2015, giving the goals a "deadline". Before these goals were set to "expire" in 2015, the global community came together in Rio in 2012 to have a plan for when they have reached the deadline. Member states drafted the "Future We Want" document that ensured they wanted to continue their fight towards ending poverty, food insecurity, improving working conditions, etc. The document ultimately outlines a plan that would build on their prior MDG's and provided a promise from the international community to continue to move forward as a whole to help meet these new goals. A year later, in 2013, the General Assembly created a group of about 30 members that would draft a proposal for the Sustainable Development Goals. In early 2015, the actual negotiations would take place before they actual UN Sustainable Development Summit in September where the final goals would be considered soft law. The new SDG's would replace the MDG's and would have a new deadline of 15 years (like the MDG's) which are set to "expire" in 2030. There are 17 goals with 2 pertaining to food insecurity: goal 2 (no hunger) and goal 12 (responsible consumption and production). Every year UN Secretary General releases progress reports on the SDG's to hold states accountable. While the SDG's and their annual reports are helpful in bringing awareness and accountability, the reports show that in terms of food insecurity the SDG's aren't helping and the numbers are actually getting worse.The reports further states that "world is also seriously off track in its efforts to halve per capita food waste and losses by 2030" and that 2023 figures "reflects an alarming 391 million more people than in 2019".

Origin

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-02 02:31:05 UTC

A major difficulty in solving this global issue, is the fact that there is not a common consensus on who or what is to blame for food insecurity. In order to successfully prevent a problem, one must eradicate the very root of the problem. However, this article highlights "poverty, economic fluctuations, and the impact of transnational businesses and international financial institutions" as the competing causes of hunger. The author goes further into this idea by stating that the lack of agreement causes "the hunger problem to persist and [is] creating further obstacles in trying to reach world goals toward defeating hunger". (p. 6, 2001).

COVID-19

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-07 05:00:03 UTC

A big challenge when dealing with food insecurity is the heavy impact of COVID-19. Prior to the global pandemic of 2019, their were significant efforts to end world hunger and food insecurity that resulted in a significant reduction of the world population suffering from food insecurity. With a world-wide quarantine, food insecurity numbers rose to an all time high and continue to do so. caused food factories to reduce or slow down their production. According to the article, "airline closures, national and international restrictions, and lockdowns have severely disrupted the food supply chain... along with structural weaknesses in the world food system such as production, distribution, access, and stability in the food chain, have exposed more people to the food crisis". The lockdown itself can be to blame for the rapid increase of food insecurity. A second consequence was the rise of food prices. Because food was much more difficult to get, the prices of basic food items drastically rose. Because of the lockdown, many individuals were laid off or unable to work therefore having little to no money. Many individuals could no longer afford food and were now struggling with poverty and had no access to food. Today, the international community has struggled to decrease the amount of individuals suffering from food insecurity because "funding struggles to keep pace with growing food assistance needs" (European Commission).

Government Responsibility

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-07 06:10:16 UTC

A common concern when it comes to food insecurity is the inability of states to participate. Governments tend to rely on nongovernmental organizations to do the work for them and solve world hunger. While there is no denying that nongovernmental hunger relief organizations do a great job at helping and assisting those in need, these organizations are limited in scope, money, and resources. In this article published by the White House, the authors argue that the "federal government has a greater ability to marshal available resources and better coordinate actions across the nation than the nonpublic sector can do on its own". The solution cannot be achieved by NGO's alone and solving the issue will not be possible until governments are willing to coordinate as a unified international body and get involved. Their lack of participation is evident in their low treaty participation and lack of legally binding law on the matter. For example, the Food Assistance Convention only has 16 parties out of 193 countries (see Treaty's subsection Food Assistance Convention for more information).

Food Assistance Convention

celestesanchez3 — 2024-05-07 07:14:45 UTC

The Food Assistance Convention (FAC) is a treaty that is legally binding on its signatories. The FAC establishes a framework for international cooperation and coordination in providing food assistance to those in need, specifically those in times of crisis or emergency. The treaty also establishes the obligations and commitments of participating countries regarding the management and oversight of food aid programs. The FAC entered into force on January 1, 2013 following the ratification of 6 states: Canada, Denmark, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland and the United States of America. Today, there are 16 parties one of which is an IGO (European Union). It forces participating countries to give a certain amount of money to the cause, increase it's transparency by providing yearly reports, and keep the movement alive. One of the FAC's key achievements have been the use of cash-based transfers (CBTs). CBTs are when individuals are given cash or vouchers instead of food supplies or meals, allowing them to purchase food items of their choice from local markets. The treaty has been overall successful on keeping the international community accountable on this issue through cooperation and monitoring.