As world population swells and incomes rise the UN believes food production needs to rise 70% by 2050. But fuel and fertliser prices are also rising, land and water is scarce and who knows what damage climate change will wreak? Justin Rowlatt interviews Kostas Stmoulis, the director of the FAO's Agricultural Development Economics Division about future food prices... Read more...
Rio+20 - Furthering Sustainable Development or Economic Growth?
22 March 2012, source: allAfrica.com URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/201203221015.html
In June this year, the United Nations Conference of Environment and Development (UNCED) popularly known, as the Rio Earth Summit will commemorate 20 years.
It was originally held in Brazil in 1992. You may recall that in 2002, South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), so this year also marks WSSD+10, though it doesn't seem to have the same prominence as Rio+20... Read more...
New report finds agriculture promotes African economic growth
22 March 2012, source: Voice of America (VOA) URL: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua_agri_resilience_22mar12-143787626.html
A new report says African agriculture can contribute to sustained global economic growth. But it says there must first be greater investment in farming, markets and social development. The Montpellier Panel, made up of European agricultural experts, is calling for "growth with resilience" in Africa... Read more...
Growth with resilience: An opportunity for African agriculture
Many African countries are growing fast. African GDP is growing at about 6% per year and over the past decade, 6 of the world's 10 fastest grow¬ing countries were African. But this growth remains fragile. Economic growth in low income countries has been, in part, driven by faster agricultural growth... Read more...
Durable food security and agricultural growth depend on development strategies with resilience built in from the start, says Gordon Conway. Economic growth with resilience to environmental threats will be central to the agenda of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June this year, which aims to map out a pathway of sustainable development for the planet... Read more...
By Michelle Martin LONDON (Reuters) - Empowering female farmers in developing countries is crucial to solving the world's food problems as an era of food price spikes looms, the chair of a panel which advises governments and donors on agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa told Reuters. "If we're going to feed the world and in particular if Africa is going to be fed, we need every tool we can lay our hands on to make that happen and one component of that is to ensure that women fulfil their potential as farmers," Gordon Conway, Chair of the Montpellier Panel, said as the group launched a report on African agriculture... Read more...
Expert report sets out new agricultural resilience strategy for African countries
By Annie Kelly (Guardian.co.uk) Montpellier Panel argues growth of agriculture sector must be underpinned by improved strength and sustainability measures World leaders must recognise that agricultural growth in Africa is still too fragile and needs to become more resilient if the continent is to work towards improving the livelihoods of millions, according to a new report (pdf)... Read more...
Experts call for human rights in development goals
A group of independent experts have urged a United Nations sustainable development conference in Brazil to include basic human rights in the conference goals.
The experts today urged world governments to include universally agreed international human rights norms and standards, as well as accountability mechanisms, in the goals that will emerge from the UN sustainable development forum in June... Read more...
Rio+20 African Delegates Meet in New York to Discuss 'One Voice for Africa'
African negotiators to the forthcoming Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, to be held in June, gathered in New York last week for a training session on negotiation techniques. The African Development Bank (AfDB) supports six of the negotiators from its African member states.
Distinguished personalities at the training day on 15 March on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development included: Mr... Read more...
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