Global governance

A new day for food aid

Today, a new multilateral Food Assistance Convention (FAC) is available for signature. Thirty-four counties and the European Union will be eligible to sign the convention (countries must be food aid donors to sign).

Defining our terms: Agroecology and sustainable agriculture in the context of Rio+20

Earlier this month as the U.N.

Economic governance: A rich-country-only privilege?

You might think that the devastating impacts of commodity price volatility on global hunger would require policy debates in multiple international organizations.

Reflections on the right to water as we move towards Rio+20

Today, even as the world celebrates World Water Day, some countries at the United Nations are trying to remove the reference to the “right to water” from a document that will guide the international development path in the coming decade.  

EU-India Free Trade Agreement: 'Don’t trade away our lives' say activists

Dehli, India – On February 12, India and the European Union (EU) held their 12th joint summit here.

The water, energy and food nexus

As I flew back from Bonn last week, on my way back from the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference (16–18 November), one thing was clear to me. Corporate environmentalism is entrenching itself firmly in the corridors of global governance, and challenging its advance will require new strategies.

New Global Contract Needed to Re-Assert Basic Rights, Protect Environment

Global institutions enforcing trade and finance rules have overridden fundamental human rights, stalled international development and harmed the environment, finds three new papers released today by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. A new system is badly needed.

Trade Talks Collapse, New Direction Needed

Today, trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva broke down. It has now been seven years since the Doha Round of negotiations began at the WTO. People want global agreements to solve food insecurity, to get them out of poverty and to avoid the devastating effects of climate change. If trade can help these goals, it should be used.

WTO Doha Negotiations Threaten to Encourage Inefficient Food Aid Delivery

Revised rules on food aid in the latest negotiating text at the World Trade Organization fail to reduce adequately the scope for the sale of food aid and encourage a highly wasteful, trade distorting system, according to a letter sent to trade ministers today from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Oxfam International.

Harvesting Fuel: Cutting Costs and Reducing Forest fire Hazards Through Biomass Harvest

This study was designed to provide information on two sets of challenges to the development of biomass markets in and around the Superior National Forest: 1) economic and operational issues faced by loggers; and 2) environmental constraints of concern to and managers, scientists and policymakers involved in developing and refining biomass harvest practices.