Similarly we need a Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that allows fishermen and their communities to prosper, while protecting fish stocks and the marine environment. Europe will soon have the chance to reform the CAP and the CFP and Defra will be pushing for genuine change.
The food chain has a large impact on climate change, and on biodiversity. Climate change and biodiversity decline impact upon food production. Failure to deal with these issues will put food security at risk.
To boost food security, CAP should therefore re-balance environmental and economic objectives.
This isn’t just about our own food security. The moral question aside, it is in our own interests to respond both to our own needs and those of the wider world. Food security problems in other regions will lead to instability and conflict. Our food security and variety of diet are dependent upon global supply.
Which is why we’ve committed £100 million to international forest biodiversity, as announced by Caroline Spelman at Nagoya in November.
In Europe, we’re looking to build alliances with other joint agriculture and environment ministers who take a similar view of international food security. We will also be looking to work with the Department for International Development, to explore how we can achieve shared outcomes.
Trade and competitiveness are vital. We are a trading nation in a global market, which is and will continue to experience seismic changes. This planet currently supports 6.5 billion people and that’s projected to grow to around 9.2 billion by 2050. The growing middle class in the emerging economies have the money to buy a wider range of foods, including more animal protein and more imported food. Planning for our future food security requires sophisticated thinking from both governments and the food industry. There are a number of causes of food insecurity and they require a range of solutions, based on sound evidence.
The food price spike of 2008 was originally blamed on bio-fuel production and market speculation. As price levels have fallen back it’s now clear that it was caused by low stocks, poor harvest, high oil prices and export restrictions.
Where food prices were held down there was no incentive to invest in greater production – which did nothing for either food supply or, in reality, food prices. Farmers in OECD countries, on the other hand, could invest in higher yields and responded to the events of 2008 by producing the biggest cereals harvest the world had ever seen.
With the right approach from markets and governments, we can reduce volatility and help secure a more
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