Global Food Security Governance: Civil Society Engagement in the Reformed Committee on World Food Security

In 2007/8 world food prices spiked and global economic crisis set in, leaving hundreds of millions of people unable to access adequate food. The international reaction was swift. In a bid for leadership, the 123 member countries of the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) adopted a series of reforms with the aim of becoming the foremost international, inclusive and intergovernmental platform for food security. Central to the reform was the inclusion of participants (including civil society and the private sector) across all activities of the Committee. Drawing on data collected from policy documents, interviews and participant observation, this book examines the re-organization and functioning of a UN Committee that is coming to be known as a best practice in global governance. Framed by key challenges that plague global governance, the impact and implication of increased civil society engagement are examined by tracing policy negotiations within the CFS, in particular, policy roundtables on smallholder sensitive investment and food price volatility and negotiations on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition. The author shows that through their participation in the Committee, civil society actors are influencing policy outcomes. Yet analysis also reveals that the CFS is being undermined by other actors seeking to gain and maintain influence at the global level. By way of this analysis, this book provides empirically-informed insights into increased participation in global governance processes

Mapping the organisational forms of networks of Alternative Food Networks : Implications for transition

In response to the failures of the dominant agro-food regime multiple practices for transition towards more environmentally and socially sustainable food systems have been proposed and put into practice by Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). To advance societal transitions, some AFNs have employed a strategy of developing broader networks. These network of networks, take various forms. To date, the ways in which networks of AFNs organise remains understudied, yet how they organise is likely to influence the transition pathways they advance. Drawing on organisation theory we propose a typology of organisational forms for networks of AFNs. We theorise that networks of AFNS that adopt organisational forms that are isomorphic to the dominant food regime may have their practices adopted, but that these risk co-option and dilution. Networks of AFNs that organise around polymorphic organisational forms are less likely to see their practices integrated at the dominant regime level, but their practices could have a more fundamental transformative impact.<br/

Towards a New Cosmopolitanism: Global Reflexive Interactive Democracy as a New Mechanism for Civil Society Participation in Agri-food Governance

In an increasingly interconnected world, where the widespread travel of goods highlights our interconnectedness, who has the power to decide the global regulations that shape the production, processing and exchange of agri-food products? How are such decisions made and by whom? Who decides what is safe to eat? Whose definition of safe is used? Where is the way to the new cosmopolitanism? In this article we seek out answers to these questions through an analysis of global food safety regulation. We review the current legal structure of global agri-food governance and consider limitations in decision-making models, restricted transparency, limited public participation and insufficient democratic guarantees.Global food regulation necessitates transparent, participative and impartial mechanisms of policy- and rule-making. However, a common global regulation must also consider and respect pluralism. We argue that the harmonization of global food regulation thus needs to follow a democratic pattern which pursues integration without compromising pluralism, and reduces fragmentation without denying legal and cultural differences. In this context, we propose a model for global decision-making that combines associative and deliberative democracy. We then propose a plan to engage the public in policy-making by using an interactive procedural mechanism of deliberation and by engaging civil society organisations in decision-making. Enhanced civil society participation in global agri-food governance has the capacity to increase efficiency, impartiality, transparency and democracy in the global policy-making process

Global-local governance for generating transformative pathways towards sustainable food provisioning and nature conservation

[Extract] Feeding the growing human population at the same time as conserving nature is a global challenge that impacts on the ways land is used, world trade and the nature of the way in which governments meet agreements. Does the global governance structure (e.g., Food and Agriculture Organization, World Trade Organisation and United Nations Environment Programme) limit the opportunity to support the right decisions and, if so, what would be needed to replace it