Educational Program: New Ways of Thinking to Ensure Food Security
Population growth, climate change, supply chain issues, and war are all factors that can adversely impact food supplies and it has become increasingly imperative to develop new ways to think about developing food security. Food security, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which points to the efforts of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS), “means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.”
Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier has served as the chair of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 2014. Prior to this, Dr. Carpentier acted as Major Groups Coordinator for the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and was a prominent force in the negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Before she embarked on her U.N. career, Dr. Carpentier served as Head of the Trade and Environment Program of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
“There are about 2.4 billion people that suffer from food insecurity right now,” says Dr. Carpentier, who notes that that number is “as many people who were on this planet after World War II.” COVID-19 has only added to this number, with the war in Ukraine further compounding the issue. She stresses that It’s important to understand that the global food crisis is not just a food crisis—it’s a crisis of food, of finance, and of fuel, and it’s “threatening the very fabric of our nations.”
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (AFPC-USA) spoke at length with Dr. Carpentier about this issue to learn how public and private innovators embrace new tools and ways of thinking to solve this pressing challenge. This educational program was held on Monday, February 13 and was moderated by journalist Thanos Dimadis, who is AFPC-USA’s Executive Director.
The AFPC-USA is solely responsible for the content of this educational program. Below, readers will find a summary of some of the most important takeaways from the presentation.
ON HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS ONGOING FOOD SECURITY CRISIS
Dr. Carpentier says trade is “very necessary to ensure that net food-importing countries will get access to enough food to feed their populations.” Many people in these countries do not produce their own food, she says, and the problem is made worse by efforts by the Federal Reserve to target inflation. These efforts create “pressure” in these net food-importing nations, depreciates their respective currencies, and “makes food more expensive to import” unless they find ways to support their own populations. Keeping trade open is helpful because these countries “have not developed their productive capacity” but on the other hand, it’s important to help these countries develop their “self autonomy to grow their own food.”
These nations “do not have the fiscal capacity right now” because of factors like COVID-19, their inability to give their citizens an economic stimulus, and the war in Ukraine. Helping to alleviate the debt of developing nations is paramount, especially with the continued threat of climate change. Dr. Carpentier says this is a matter of “international solidarity.” Unfortunately, western economies are not alleviating this burden due to a lack of political will. “I think we need to help our decision makers understand and communicate to the population this interdependence,” she says, noting that if these countries fail because of factors like food insecurity or defaulting on their debt, there will be a “political vacuum” that could allow terrorism to take root.
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALTERNATIVE TO ADDRESS THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOOD SECURITY
There is good news to share on this front, says Dr. Carpentier. The “digitalization of the economy” and the rise of start-ups and the integration of entrepreneurship with the digital economy” has reduced the cost “tremendously.” She says the world needs “data intensive agriculture” over “input intensive agriculture” to further reduce costs, reduce negative environmental impacts, and increase production. Most importantly, “We just need to ensure that those who need it the most get access to these technologies.”
New technologies are and continue to be developed in such realms as drought and pest adaptation. More researchers from the Global South need to be a part of these conversations too because there is still a general mistrust in many developing countries toward biotechnology and bioengineered crops. Researchers in these nations will have the insights into how to “tweak” and “better adapt” these technologies to their own settings.
The private sector must be incentivized to “ensure access to some of these patents in developing countries” but this doesn’t necessarily mean that these companies’ incentives to seek returns on their investments are reduced. The public sector must also invest, facilitate, and collaborate for this venture to be a success.
ON FIGHTING MISINFORMATION AND FAKE NEWS
Dr. Carpentier acknowledges that both the media and supranational organizations like the U.N. have “been terrible at communicating environmental issues and climate change issues” because of a focus on “the negative impact and fear factor as opposed to resembling and bringing people together.” People, she says, need to feel “empowered” and like they’re “part of the solution.”
The U.N. and society generally must provide incentives so “the right information gets to people.” Information and media literacy are key here if the world wants to see progress in the battle against climate denial.
At its next General Assembly, the U.N. will consider ways to “give a voice to the future generation” and “measure progress beyond just GDP” to “actually measure the wellbeing of people and the planet.” “Right now what we are doing is maximizing profit and economic dimension at the expense of the social and the environmental given our status quo of economic models and financial models.” On the subject of new economic models, Dr. Carpentier says we absolutely need new ones to measure sustainable development.
ON POVERTY AND THE DIVERSIFICATION OF SUPPLY CHAINS
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, “the major driver of food insecurity was not enough gainful employment,” says Dr. Carpentier. Poverty was decreasing before the pandemic but now that the problem encompasses “human security” at large, “poverty has started increasing again” and so has food insecurity. After pointing out that many countries lack the characteristics to thrive under the economic status quo, she observes that poverty “is a symptom of the structural problem that we have in our economic and financial system and [a] lack of solidarity among human beings.”
Diversifying supply chains is important and COVID-19 and the Ukraine war have shown societies how “problematic” it is to not have strong domestic supply chains. She says that the plans the Biden administration has put forward are less diversification and more “radicalization,” suggesting it is a response to calls for things to be “produced by Americans, for Americans” rather than a solution to a global issue.
“We've maximized efficiency at the cost of resilience,” says Dr. Carpentier, who adds: “We can't isolate our economy, our health system from everybody else, therefore we need resilience. And climate change shows us we need resilience.” Awareness is rising and people are realizing “we need to support the most vulnerable and we can do it.”
ON PRINCIPLES TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY
Agriculture should be repurposed “to steward sustainable and nutritious food production.”
Trade should “keep flowing.”
“More solidarity” is necessary to help developing countries develop self-sufficiency.
