Getting beyond ’empty signifiers’—Food policy expert Corinna Hawkes asks: What are food systems for?
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Agriculture / Article / Diet / Opinion piece / Policy

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

FOOD SAFETY: In support the traditional—and essential—food markets of low-income countries
A4NH / Advocacy / Agri-Health / AHH / Article / Disease Control / Event / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / Policy / Southeast Asia / Vietnam

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
A4NH / Advocacy / Agri-Health / AHH / Article / COVID19 / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Event / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Zoonotic Diseases

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

Disease outbreaks linked to degraded ecosystems: A problem ALL of us are driving and ALL of us need to solve
Agri-Health / Article / Biodiversity / COVID19 / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / Intensification / Policy / Wildlife / Zoonotic Diseases

Disease outbreaks linked to degraded ecosystems: A problem ALL of us are driving and ALL of us need to solve

While the world’s attention is focused on controlling COVID-19, evidence points at the biodiversity crisis as a leading factor in its emergence. At first glance, the two issues might seem unrelated, but disease outbreaks and degraded ecosystems are deeply connected. Continue reading

Food—a ‘hyper-local issue’—needs to keep MOVING, ‘from farm to fork’, says the World Bank’s Juergen Voegele
Article / CGIAR / Consumption / COVID19 / Food Security / Policy / Trade / Value Chains

Food—a ‘hyper-local issue’—needs to keep MOVING, ‘from farm to fork’, says the World Bank’s Juergen Voegele

On a recent World Bank ‘Voices’ blog, German agricultural economist Juergen Voegele, World Bank vice president for sustainable development, said that with the emptying of supermarket shelves and the sweeping travel bans being put in place to try to stem the spread of COVID-19, one might deduce that global food supplies were low. That’s not the case, he says. Continue reading

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?
Africa / Animal Diseases / Article / Communications / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / News clipping / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?

An article in The Guardian newspaper raises the question of whether human destruction of nature is responsible for mass pandemics like COVID-19. It quotes Eric Fevre, a principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute, on the ubiquity of possible germ sources: ‘”There are countless pathogens out there continuing to evolve which at some point … Continue reading

Addressing Africa’s deteriorating food security should be Africa’s top priority—World Bank
Africa / Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / Food Security / Policy / Research

Addressing Africa’s deteriorating food security should be Africa’s top priority—World Bank

World Bank/Brookings report: ‘A key priority for Africa over the next decade should be to address a deteriorating food security situation that is compounded by the effects of climate change, declining agricultural productivity, and rapid population and urbanization growth.’ Continue reading