Te Democratic Republic of the Congo, which contains 75 percent of the world’s second largest rainforest, wants to be a leader in reducing emissions from forests. Financing is expected to run in the billions of dollars, which demon- strates the government’s increased commitment to agri- culture. Speculation in agricultural commodities was also high on the agenda in 2011. Tere is litle evidence that speculators systematically drive food prices, but they do affect price volatility. However, limiting speculative trading might do more harm than good. Te G20 decided to create more transparency and asked the UN’s Food and Agricul- ture Organization to monitor trading more closely.
—Eric Tollens, Professor Emeritus, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium
For the first time the G20 placed a high priority on agricul- ture. Price volatility and food security were priorities of the French presidency. Interest in these issues continues into 2012 under the Mexican presidency and is likely to gener- ate significant investments in agriculture, thus addressing declining productivity.
—Justin Yifu Lin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank, Washington, DC
Persistent high food prices, among other things, triggered the formation of land markets, leading to excessive com- mercial pressure on land in a context of ill-defined property rights. A new landscape of energy policy emerged—shale gas, bioenergy, and partial exits from atomic energy in Germany and Japan. It comes with indirect linkages to agriculture (in the form of opportunity costs) and raises challenges to address climate change. Food policy was also significantly advanced by the G20 debate and proposals to increase agriculture aid, commodity trading improve- ments, and the related US and European follow-up that will accommodate more transparency and less speculation.
—Joachim von Braun, Director, Department for Economic and Technological Change, Center for Development Research, Bonn, Germany
Climate-smart agriculture increases productivity, strength- ens farmers’ resilience, and reduces agriculture’s con- tribution to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage on farmland. Growing global recognition of climate-smart agricul- ture and its potential to offer triple wins for food security, adaptation and mitigation was one of the major success
stories of 2011, and has real potential to influence national food policy.
—Rachel Kyte, Vice President of Sustainable Development, World Bank, Washington, DC
Te G20 process, with the creation of the Agricultural Market Information System and general recognition of the importance of beter information significantly influenced food policy in 2011. So did the growing acceptance of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s findings (in the 2011 State of Food and Agriculture report) that promot- ing gender equality and equity would bring the number of hungry down by 150 million. Also FAO’s launch of a new agricultural paradigm, “Save and Grow,” which is designed to increase global food production sustainably.
—José Graziano da Silva, Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Te increasing momentum of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement was evident in 2011. Te movement supported country-led efforts to improve nutrition through coopera- tive partners working across sectors toward a common goal. Scaling Up Nutrition promotes both direct nutri- tion interventions and nutrition-sensitive strategies such as improving agricultural practices to increase availabil- ity of nutrient-rich crops. Te 2011 international confer- ence “Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health,” coordinated by the 2020 Vision Initiative of IFPRI, sparked the interests of global counterparts and served as a timely complement to the Scaling Up Nutrition collective effort.
—Emorn Wasantwisut, Senior Advisor, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Salaya, Thailand
I am pleased with last year’s extraordinary commitment by world leaders to improve human nutrition, which has stimulated the emergence of a country-led movement to “Scale Up Nutrition.” I am particularly impressed with the way this has engaged a broad range of stakeholders and is encouraging nutrition-sensitive agricultural, indus- trial, health, education, employment, social welfare, and economic policies. I welcome the focus on improving the coverage of specific actions to improve nutrition from conception to a child’s second birthday and on politi- cal accountability for equitable improvement in nutri- tion within the context of policies for food, health, and social security.
—David Nabarro, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Food Security and Nutrition, New York
12 WHAT INFLUENCED FOOD POLICY IN 2011?
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