The number of hungry people crossed the 1 billion mark for the first time in 2009, and this year world food prices climbed to a new record high. Reason enough for the German Federal Foreign Office to organise the 28th Forum on Global Issues: "(No) Daily Bread? Food in Crisis" in Berlin on 10 May. The conference centred on the link between food insecurity and conflicts as well as the global instruments for resolving the crisis.



In his opening address, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle emphasised that food security is also a security issue. This was demonstrated by the “hunger riots” that followed the surge in food prices in 2008, which were referred to several times during the course of the conference. Yet, the global focus on these “loud” unrests, which largely take place in cities, tends to push the silent hunger crisis into the background. Protests against widespread famine occurring in rural regions are hard to organize politically and, therefore, mostly escape public attention. From a foreign policy perspective, however, a one-sided focus should not result in losing sight of the challenges of rural development.



The Forum discussions at the Foreign Office clearly highlighted the urgent need for investment in agriculture in developing countries. In this context, more emphasis would have to be given to the needs of small farmers. NGO representatives warned that large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors are partially displacing small farm holders, thereby exacerbating the food crisis.



The activities of the FAO Committee on World Food Security are a step toward finding solutions to the problem. This recently reformed committee includes representatives from government, research institutions, and civil society. One of its current activities is the development of voluntary guidelines for responsible land use (Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other Natural Resources). If the guidelines are adopted in October this year as planned, it would be an institutional milestone in combating silent hunger. However, it also became clear during the Forum that these guidelines, as well as the human right to food, highlighted by Germany’s foreign minister, are just a beginning. Dealing with the problems of unequal global resource distribution and weak governance will require long-term political initiatives that look beyond riots in the cities. (Lena Donat)



The speech by the German Foreign Minister can be accessed here.



The conference programme is available here.



Please also visit the new ECC topic “Land and Food”.

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, 3/2011