Review of The Wheel of Life: Food, Climate, Human Rights and the Economy

 "Agriculture is not about producing food but about profit. Food is a side effect."-- Richard Levins, "Why Programs Fail," Monthly Review, March 2010
 
  
 
9-24-11
Independent Science New
New report links food, climate and agricultural policies
Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson
http://independentsciencenews.org/news/new-report-links-food-climate-and-agricultural-policies/
Understanding of the 'problem' of agriculture took a giant step forward in 2007
with publication of the UN IAASTD report. This report, which was as important
for agriculture as the IPCC reports have been for the climate, pinpointed a move
to ecology-based agriculture as the key to meeting many other fundamental needs
such as clean water, safe food and sustainability. What the IAASTD didn't do, at
least directly however, was to focus on politics, especially the obstacles to
progress in improving agriculture.
A new report, The Wheel of Life:  Food, Climate, Human Rights and the Economy
(Sept. 2011), released by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and the Heinrich Böll
Stiftung Foundation, usefully complements this deficit. It does this in part by
drawing attention explicitly to some common myths on which support for
conventional production-oriented solutions for agriculture are based. Among
these myths are that hugely enhanced food production will be required in the
future, that biotech (GMO) seeds are needed to solve hunger and mitigate climate
change, and that traditional agriculture is wasteful and inefficient.
The Wheel then examines how major current crises-hunger, climate change, and
ecological degradation-are deeply interlinked. Despite the evident linkages,
however, government and international institutions typically address these
issues as if they were disconnected from one another. Thus the IPCC, for
example, still has not adequately considered agriculture as a contributor to
climate change. The consequence of this disconnect, The Wheel of Life points
out, is that many policies do not tackle root causes and therefore negative
global trends have tended to intensify.
Confronting global hunger is one example identified in the report. Leaders on
each end of the political spectrum uniformly assert that economic growth is
needed to address hunger and poverty. Yet economic growth is typically conducted
via industrial activities that contribute to climate change, which in turn,
negatively impacts the ability to grow food.
Similarly, in addition to their effects on climate change, economic and trade
policies can spur growth for a few while undermining the ability of small-scale
farmers and rural communities to provide food for local populations. The Wheel
of Life suggests these complex interactions help explain why, even though
economic growth indicators have risen in many countries over the last decade,
hunger rates have increased too, especially within the last several years.
To successfully remedy social injustices, climate change, and agriculture, The
Wheel of Life argues that political action is needed that incorporates social
and ecological needs. And it notes that while governments dither on climate
change and agricultural reform, agribusiness is already positioning its products
as the preferred solutions. The strategy proposed by The Wheel of Life is to
incorporate civil society input into political and economic discussions. Some
countries, such as Germany, already have productive dialogues with civil
society, but in the US and Britain, for example, interactions are negligible. To
encourage cooperation the report also provides a list of civil society
organisations with compatible aims in the areas of climate change, agriculture,
environment, human rights, women's rights, and migration.
The Wheel concludes that lasting solutions to hunger and other major crises of
our day must, above all, be guided by fundamentals of ecology.
"Policies and practices must begin with the ecological imperative in order to
ensure authentic security and stability on all fronts-food, water, livelihoods
and jobs, climate, energy, and economic," writes report author Debbie Barker,
international director at the Center for Food Safety.  "In turn this engenders
equity, social justice, and diverse cultures."