Category Archives: Food Security

Donors commit USD790m to help smallholder farmers cope with climate change; Global Commission on Adaptation calls for doubling of investments in CGIAR
Advocacy / Africa / Agriculture / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / Opinion piece / Policy / South Asia

Donors commit USD790m to help smallholder farmers cope with climate change; Global Commission on Adaptation calls for doubling of investments in CGIAR

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On September 23, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the European Commission, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany announced commitments of more than US $790 million to address the impact of climate change on food and agriculture. These commitments followed a recent call by the Global Commission on Adaptation, led by Ban Ki Moon, Bill Gates, and Kristalina Georgieva, for increased resource allocations to international agricultural research. Continue reading →

On a frugal continent of ‘economic vegetarians’, consuming more meat means longer, healthier lives—The Economist
Advocacy / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Production / Animal Products / Asia / China / Consumption / Dairying / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / India / Intensification / Kenya / Livelihoods / Markets / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Senegal / Trade / Value Chains

On a frugal continent of ‘economic vegetarians’, consuming more meat means longer, healthier lives—The Economist

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The Economist reports that the future of food lies in Africa. And why that’s a good thing. As Africans get richer, they will eat more meat and live longer, healthier lives. Continue reading →

Lawrence Haddad on the ‘Great Food Transformation’ promoted by the EAT Lancet ‘planetary health diet’
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Human Health / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Report

Lawrence Haddad on the ‘Great Food Transformation’ promoted by the EAT Lancet ‘planetary health diet’

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Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and this year’s co-winner of the World Food Prize (along with David Nabarro), has published his reaction to the recent EAT Lancet report calling for a ‘Great Food Transformation’. Continue reading →

Where nutrients and protein sourced from livestock remain vital—Crawford Fund
Advocacy / Africa / Agri-Health / Asia / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / Livelihoods / Opinion piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

Where nutrients and protein sourced from livestock remain vital—Crawford Fund

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‘Coinciding with the launch of the EAT-Lancet “Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems” report, Dr Colin Chartres, the [Crawford] Fund’s CEO, . . . discusses the importance of ‘smart foods’ and smart people for a healthy population and planet. Continue reading →

Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study

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a group of scientists recently published a paper on the importance of distinguishing—and treating differently—two of the most common greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is a long-lived emission and methane a short-lived one. The paper outlined a better way to think about how much, and how long, carbon dioxide and methane gases contribute to greenhouse gas emissions budgets. Continue reading →

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans

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FAO has set the record straight regarding not just the level of greenhouse gas that livestock emit (see yesterday’s posting on this blog) but also incorrect information about how much food (crops eatable by humans) livestock consume, the regular reporting of which is commonly used to bolster arguments for the world to go vegetarian. Continue reading →

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line

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As the media frenzy caused by a ‘planetary health diet’ proposed in a new report from an EAT-Lancet commission this month continues, it is perhaps timely to recall that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has set the record straight regarding  a flawed comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock and transport sectors, a statement that is commonly used to support arguments for the world to stop eating meat.  Continue reading →

IFPRI’s Shenggen Fan on the ‘differentiated approach’ needed to navigate today’s food systems
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Human Health / News clipping / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

IFPRI’s Shenggen Fan on the ‘differentiated approach’ needed to navigate today’s food systems

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The following sensible comments were recently made by Shenggen Fan, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Fan is one of the 37 authors of the new report making the media rounds, Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems, and a member of the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health. Continue reading →

With huge variations in meat consumption, we’re ‘all in this existential crisis together’—Vox
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Human Health / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy

With huge variations in meat consumption, we’re ‘all in this existential crisis together’—Vox

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The way we eat and produce food has become so destructive to the environment and our health that it now threatens the long-term survival of the human species, an international commission of 37 scientists write in a sprawling new Lancet report. Continue reading →