Source: Fao.org

Les pressions sur les ressources naturelles, de plus en plus intenses, les inégalités qui continuent de se creuser et les répercussions négatives du changement climatique compromettent la capacité de l'homme à se nourrir par lui-même à l'avenir. Tel est le message alarmant d'un nouveau rapport de la FAO publié aujourd'hui.

Few aspects of development policy are better furnished with empirical evidence than the interplay between support for agriculture in the context of rural development and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It is therefore surprising that German Development Cooperation has today largely disengaged from activities in this area: Despite the evidence that practically nothing is more effective and sustainable than combating poverty where it is most often found, namely in the rural areas of poor countries,we fail to take that route.

Water and soils are increasingly becoming a limiting resource for meeting the food requirements
of a growing world population. Integrated concepts for managing natural resources in a sustainable
and environmentally sound manner show encouraging impacts, if applied on a large scale and
over a long period like in Tigray, the northernmost regional state of Ethiopia.

Life without liberty would result in some or the other form of slavery. Liberty cannot be there to a person having an empty stomach.The individual's right to life will have no meaning if the State fails to provide adequate food or food articles.The Indian Constitution provides «right to life» as a Fundamental
Right.That right is given a wide interpretation by the Supreme Court so as to include «right to food» so that democracy and full freedom can be achieved and slavery in any form is avoided.

In November 2004, after a two-year drafting process, the FAO Council adopted the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food - in effect, a new legal instrument for defending and enforcing the right to food.This article addresses the following questions:
What will this instrument be capable of achieving? Will the effort expended in creating the Guidelines prove to have been worthwhile? And, finally, will the implementation of this new approach to human rights contribute towards reducing the numbers of people suffering from hunger?

Poverty in rural households have deepened in the past two years through world events: unprecedented rises in food and fuel prices were followed by global economic meltdown, all amidst growing climate uncertainty. Balancing water availability within and across growing seasons, water harvesting helps to buffer households against drought. Research on water harvesting in South Africa has focused on rural household livelihoods. Innovative results on appropriate water harvesting technologies and food security facilitation techniques are now being implemented in villages across South Africa.

Fragile states, posing a major challenge of our times, are increasingly becoming a focus of attention in international politics and development cooperation. But very often, the viewpoint of the people affected by fragile statehood is not sufficiently heard. Parts of the international community prioritize their own security policy interests, the motto being the «war on terrorism». People in fragile states, by contrast, are primarily concerned with their own survival and the quest for development opportunities for themselves and their communities.

Negotiations to establish a set of Voluntary Guidelines on the human right to food, held under the auspices of FAO, were successfully completed in autumn 2004, with all 174 FAO member countries signing the final document. However, the negotiations proved to be far from straightforward, as many countries were anxious about the legally binding nature of the Guidelines.

Water is scarce in India's semiarid zones of Rajasthan. Climate change is putting additional pressure on the rare resources. Irregular or no rainfall forces many small farmers to abandon their fields, at least temporarily, and seek work in the towns. Participative water management projects as practiced in Bhipur village, growing crops with low water requirements and more sustainable farming practices are adaptation strategies that allow farmers to continue their activities despite climate risks.

Interest in the notion of «state failure» has seen a dramatic upsurge in recent years. As a rule, changes in global framework conditions are held responsible for this decrease in state control and legitimacy. But the prominence of this topic in the international debate easily overlooks the fact that the phenomenon of failing states is not new, but has existed since the division of the world into nation-states. Moreover, it is almost impossible to establish a uniform pattern of state failure.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the human right to food provide a further instrument of international law in the fight against world hunger.The Guidelines promise to be a powerful new weapon in combating malnutrition.They forge an alliance between development policy and human rights in the struggle for the right to food. The «human rights approach» has become the new watchword in the fight against hunger.

The world food crisis has spurred foreign direct investments (FDI) into arable land in developing countries. While significant financial inflows into agricultural sectors could be beneficial on a global scale, it could negatively affect local livelihoods. This article provides an overview of the different types of FDI in land. In addition, examples of investment flows are illustrated in an overview and a sustainable impact matrix outlines the occurring effects. Finally, requirements of avoiding negative effects are presented, to achieve a Pareto-efficient win-win situation.