Many virologists do not want to see a blanket ban on wet markets. Rather, they prefer a more nuanced approach and more narrow regulation to control their most dangerous aspects. To understand why, it helps to unpick what wet markets are, and their role in the feeding of billions of people. Continue reading
Category Archives: Advocacy
Wildlife markets in the pandemic: Prohibit or preserve them? Ban or promote them?
ILRI and UN experts say preserve and protect the world’s ‘informal markets’ AND invest and enhance these markets, which provide billions of people
with food and incomes. Continue reading
Getting beyond ’empty signifiers’—Food policy expert Corinna Hawkes asks: What are food systems for?
Corinna Hawkes, director of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London, UK, asks all of us concerned with ‘food systems’ of one kind or another to think beyond ’empty signifiers’, even beyond visions for better food systems, and to get back to a fundamental question—what should be the purpose of food systems? If we can reach agreement on that, she argues, we can then set about creating diverse visions and actions, suiting diverse circumstances, for fulfilling that agreed-upon purpose. Continue reading
Australian body calls for RENEWABLE FOOD (aka ‘regenerative agriculture’ or ‘circular food economies’) as well as renewable energy
The Commission for the Human Future’s second round table conference on global threats and solutions has called for a worldwide effort to transform global food production to a system that is renewable, healthy and fair to all. Continue reading
FOOD SAFETY: In support the traditional—and essential—food markets of low-income countries
On this World Food Safety Day (7 June 2020), staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) make the case for supporting traditional markets to improve food safety. Continue reading
FOOD SAFETY: A point of departure for preventing diseases originating in the world’s food systems
To mark World Food Safety Day today, 7 June 2010, three of the world’s leading food safety experts investigate opportunities for building back better food systems and nutrition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading
Twitter Moment: ILRI-UNEP explore ‘One Health’ at the Global Landscapes Forum
Twitter Moment: “ILRI-UNEP explore ‘One Health’ at the Global Landscapes Forum” Continue reading
COVID-19 gives the ‘One Health’ approach to tackling epidemics ‘global celebrity status’. Again.
Recent past pandemics, such as bird flu, swine flu and MERS likewise led to the potential of One Health being acclaimed. But the present COVID-19 pandemic reveals that the implementation of One Health has not matched its periodic celebrity status. So what is the problem? Continue reading
How CTA helped me develop the ILRI CapDev Grand Challenge—Wellington Ekaya
Wellington Ekaya, head of capacity development at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), recently talked about his work with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in an article on the CTA Blog. Continue reading
Why shutting down Chinese ‘wet markets’ could be a terrible mistake
The current focus on exotic food consumption in China often relies on Orientalisation, and is in some cases tinged with anti-Chinese sentiment. Continue reading