World hunger is not new. Before the current price increase, 850 million people – 13% of the world’s population – were chronically hungry. The number of under-fed people has steadily climbed over the past decade. Now, the World Food Programme estimates that the crisis has driven another 100 million people into hunger, including even urban middle class people in Indonesia and Mexico. Katarina Wahlberg discusses strategic approaches against starvation. >>> more
More on the current food crisis
Food Crisis: In Grip of Financial Markets The current price hike in food markets, some say, is caused by increasing demand, be it from emerging economies or for the production of biofuels, by rising input prices, such as oil and fertilizer, and by low stocks. Others consider food speculation the culprit. No doubt, agflation as the phenomenon has been dubbed, can partially be explained by speculation. >>> more
Livestock: Contracted in Global Value Chains In times of rising food prices, not only agrofuels but also industrial livestock production is under scrutiny. It is based on concentrate feed that competes directly with food and fuel, and indirectly for land and water resources. In addition, the livestock’s greenhouse gas emissions, as well as increasing human health costs and animal welfare concerns are calling for a change. >>> more
Are We Approaching a Global Food Crisis? By the end of the 1990s, food prices had plummeted to historic lows. But after the turn of the millennium, prices began to increase. And since 2006, food prices have escalated dramatically, raising fears of a global food crisis. The rapid price increase will worsen the already dire situation for the world's poor and hungry. >>> more
Financial Volatility and Food Crisis at UNCTAD XII Limiting the impact of financial volatility and soaring food prices on the world's poorest and ensuring that the global economy benefits developing countries are among the key topics of the XII Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII), held in Accra, Ghana, from 20 to 25 April 2008. >>> more
Bob Zoellick's Newest Blueprint for the World Bank In the run-up to the Spring Meetings, Bob Zoellick, the President of the World Bank, outlined last week, during a major policy speech at the Center for Global Development four strategic areas where he sees a need for immediate World Bank action. These are the global food policy, the Doha Trade Deal, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) investment in Africa. >>> more
Agro-Fuels and Social Movements in Brazil A heated international debate has been triggered by fuels derived from plants. Brazil plays an important role in this discussion. The social movements of landless, agricultural workers and small farmers have now intensified their efforts to initiate a dialogue about the conflict-charged future of agro-fuels. >>> more
The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax + Global Unemployment on Record Levels + New Beginning in European Development Policy? + Clean Development for the South
Global Economic Prospects for 2010 + Does Copenhagen Really Matter? + Quo Vadis, German Development Cooperation? + Mapping Social Protection in South Asia
"Natural disasters have invariably been transformed into man-made disasters, through the unpreparedness and dysfunction of government institutions, the incompetence of its politicians, the greed of its economic agents, the tenuous nature of support from civil society..."
The summit meeting of the Group of 20 most important industrialised and emerging countries (G20) in Toronto on 26-27 June 2010 reminded us that even extended informal management bodies in the global economy can only be as good as their member governments.
It was not long ago that we could say, "We are all Keynesians now." The financial sector and its free-market ideology had brought the world to the brink of ruin. Markets clearly were not self-correcting. Deregulation had proven to be a dismal failure.
“Love for Africa” was the motto at “Tchibo-World,” which took place in the third week of June in 2008. In addition to fair coffee and African furniture, 700,000 tops, skirts and table cloths bearing the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) label have been sold in the 900 (app.) Tchibo retail stores.
The ITUC's Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights has documented a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered in 2009, with 101 killings - an increase of 30% over the previous year. The new Survey also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers' rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened.
Volume 2010 
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