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Development Review Development Review 2010
Table of Contents
Review of "The Plundered Planet: How to Reconcile Prosperity with Nature" by Paul Collier.
Maeve Bateman
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Reviews of:
- Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepeneurship and the State by Yasheng Huang
- China and Africa: Emerging Patterns in Globalisation and Development by Julia C. Strauss and Martha Saavedra
Eoin Dillon
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In June 2009, it was announced that over one billion people in the world now suffer from hunger. Prices of agricultural commodities have gone down on the international markets since they peaked in the summer of 2008 and in the past, we have tended to use this indicator to measure the extent of the problem of hunger. It is now high time to move away from commodity exchange boards to the real lives of people. The first questions to ask are: Who are those one billion people?
What are their lives like? And what is the composition of those groups who suffer various kinds of malnutrition? This figure of one billion results from the steady annual increase in the numbers suffering from hunger. Remember that in 2004-2005 the figure was about 850 million, in January 2008 it had risen to 923 million and it has been going up ever since. To understand the situation of these people, it is important to make a distinction between the groups affected by hunger.
Olivier De Schutter
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What is to be done to ensure that aid commitments are delivered in full and on time? This article develops six options for action by the government and Irish Aid, noting that keeping commitments goes beyond building relations of trust as it also enhances the efficiency and impact of aid expenditure.
Support for the aid efficiency argument is drawn from reports on the malign outcomes for poor countries of donors’ aid deliveries differing from their prior commitments and from international agreements, including the Paris Declaration on Aid Efficiency.
Most aid commitments are in the multi-annual development programmes agreed between Irish Aid and each of its partner countries and aid agencies. However, money to fulfil these commitments is only allocated by annual votes of parliamentarians in Dáil Éireann.
Arrangements in other countries to ensure delivery of multi-annual public expenditure plans and to safeguard delivery of multi-annual aid commitments are described for two countries with parliamentary institutions comparable with those in Ireland. These, and commitments in the White Paper on Irish Aid, provide the foundations for the proposed six options to enhance the predictability and reliability of Irish Aid and thus its efficiency.
Tara Bedi and Brendan Riordan
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This paper aims to explore the Irish government’s response to the problem of poverty and hunger and through a critique of the Irish Hunger Task Force Report reflects on the implications for policymaking. It does not consider the Report in detail, but makes observations on increasing agricultural productivity through interlinkages between people, agricultural practices and land usage, social norms, donor aid specifics, government commitment levels, all of which can contribute to good governance principles. The paper also includes discussion and recommendations on creating a hunger-free society through appropriate funding.
Nita Mishra
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Conservation agriculture (CA) is not a new technology and there is extensive literature on the agronomic, economical and environmental benefits of CA, however the impact of CA on the livelihoods and food security of smallholder farmers has largely been assumed. This paper presents results from evaluations of Concern Worldwide’s CA programme in three semi-arid districts of Zimbabwe to demonstrate the impact that CA has made on food security at household and village levels.
For substantial and equitable progress towards food security, increased attention to and investment in agricultural development is required, with a focus on poverty reduction, mitigated global warming emissions, resilience to the effects of climate change and the rights and education of women farmers. Based on both agronomic and livelihoods research, investment in CA by both national governments and donors has the potential to meet these conditions, and so contribute towards rural poverty reduction and an increase in food supply, while at the same time maintaining or improving soil fertility and providing a range of environmental goods and services.
Paul Wagstaff and Malachy Harty
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Tackling world poverty and ending global hunger have long featured among the rhetoric of world leaders, governments and international institutions. Yet in 2010, an unprecedented number of people, 1.2 billion, are living in hunger and poverty. A business as usual approach will not deliver food security, sustainable agriculture or poverty reduction. If we are to tackle hunger seriously then it is time that a right to food approach is given primacy in shaping global, European and Irish policy and actions. Such an approach requires political courage and leadership. It means making political choices directed towards the pursuit of the common good. In practical terms it means ensuring our endeavours in aid are not undermined by commercially driven policies in food, agriculture and trade. This comment piece outlines what a right to food approach and policy coherence demand from and can contribute to the global, European and Irish responses to hunger.
Michael O' Brien
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This article aims to articulate the value added of a rights-based approach to the Irish food security agenda. First, it briefly introduces key elements of that agenda, asking whether or not it addresses the right to food. Secondly, the right to food is presented in its legal foundation and normative content, drawing its evolution from recognition, to interpretation, to implementation and highlighting the key features of a rights-based approach and the implications for food security. This leads to looking more closely at the way in which Ireland has engaged with the right to food over time, identifying gaps and the need for action.
Isabella Rae
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This article understands food security as a “wicked problem” and suggests that the rights-based approach addresses some of the impasses by shifting the key concern from food to hunger, and placing the human person at the centre of development. The 2004 FAO
Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food provide clarification on the rights-based approach and point to how the right to food can be incorporated into government strategies and institutions. A landmark legislative example from India illustrates how the rights approach can empower a range of detailed programmatic actions on hunger, which in turn reinforce other socio-economic rights. The conclusion reflects on how the right to food and the right to development bring important substantive dimensions to the current agenda for policy coherence in development assistance and cooperation.
Su-ming Khoo
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“Food security… is a critically important part of national security. A nation that does not produce its own seed and its own food cannot be a secure nation.”
Suman Sahai
This article seeks to examine the role of trade and specifically that of the WTO (World Trade Organization) in ensuring, or otherwise, food security and fulfilling one of the Millennium Development Goals’ objectives of halving world hunger by 2015. It highlights the impact of the WTO agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs) on the domestic regulatory and legislative framework of WTO members. The article also draws attention to the implications that TRIPs may have for future food security and examines briefly the Indian sub-continent where the impact of the food security-related provisions of the agreement have been greatly contested. By following such an approach it may be possible to illuminate the dangers and pitfalls in TRIPs, but also instances where amendments to and flexibilities within TRIPs can be utilised by WTO member states in order to enhance their citizens’ food security.
Gerard Downes
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This article begins by discussing the challenges involved in addressing issues of global justice with young children. It reviews existing related literature and highlights the dearth of research suggesting that traditional theories of childhood and children’s capacity for understanding may be contributory factors. It advocates for post-structuralist theories which hold that children are capable of independent thinking and agency and are aware of the wider world. The article details one empirical testing of these more recent understandings which was jointly undertaken by Trócaire and St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra using the issue of food as a focus. It describes the strategies employed and examines the findings, postulating that by employing appropriate strategies, issues such as food and hunger are accessible to children as young as 3 years. It concludes by suggesting opportunities and implications for NGOs and educators engaged in development education.
Brian Ruane, Sheila Dillon and Anne-Marie Kavanagh
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