Feeding the Worlth Healthily: the Challenge of Measuring the effects of Agriculture on Health

Agricultural production, food systems and population health are intimately linked. While there is a strong evidence base to inform our knowledge of what constitutes a healthy human diet, we know little about actual food production or consumption in many populations and how developments in the food and agricultural system will affect dietary intake patterns and health. The paucity of information on food production and consumption is arguably most acute in low- and middle-income countries, where it is most urgently needed to monitor levels of under-nutrition, the health impacts of rapid dietary transition and the increasing ‘double burden’ of nutrition-related disease. Food availability statistics based on food commodity production data are currently widely used as a proxy measure of national-level food consumption, but using data from the UK and Mexico we highlight the potential pitfalls of this approach. Despite limited resources for data collection, better systems of measurement are possible. Important drivers to improve collection systems may include efforts to meet international development goals and partnership with the private sector. A clearer understanding of the links between the agriculture and food system and population health will ensure that health becomes a critical driver of agricultural change

Making the Food Aid Convention meet the realities of the 21st century

Emergency situations have become increasingly frequent over the past 25 years, often coupled with acute and chronic food insecurity in the affected countries. International responses to these crises have generally focused on addressing immediate humanitarian needs, as evidenced by the growing share of food aid that is channelled to emergencies. However, achieving lasting food security would often require an integrated development approach that combines short-term relief measures with longer-term mitigation strategies. A reformed Food Aid Convention (FAC) could provide the institutional framework for more effective interventions.rural development, hunger, food security, economic crisis, prices, agriculture

Fighting Poverty and Hunger - What role for urban agriculture?

Towns and cities are growing rapidly in developing countries. This process is often accompanied by high levels of poverty and hunger, leading many urban dwellers to engage in farming activities to help satisfy their food needs. Policy makers need to recognize this reality and actively seize the opportunities offered by urban agriculture.rural development, hunger, food security, economic crisis, prices, agriculture

Price Volatility in Agricultural Markets - Evidence, impact on food security and policy responses

Recent bouts of extreme price volatility in global agricultural markets portend rising and more frequent threats to world food security. A new Policy Brief of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization argues that countries should improve market functioning and equip themselves better to cope with the adverse effects of extreme volatility. Apart from improving global safety nets, countries can lower their vulnerability by raising agricultural productivity for a diverse set of crops that proves both competitive and sustainable, as well as by promoting dietary diversification.rural development, hunger, food security, economic crisis, prices, agriculture

Spain Trawlers cephalopods fishery - Guinea Bissau waters, 2011

Inventario de las pesquerías españolas en el área CECAF. Descripción de la pesca española de de arrastre cefalopodera aguas de Guinea Bissau, 2011: visión general, localización, actividad pesquera (área de pesca, recursos explotados, especies objetivo, especies acompañantes, tipo de barco, segmento de flota, estacionalidad, duración de las mareas, puertos e indicadores de la pesquería), uso y mercados, gestión (marco jurisdiccional, régimen de gestión), estado y tendencias y fuentes de información

Rural Women's Empowerment through Employment from the Beijing Platform for Action Onwards

This article provides a critical analysis of the conceptualisation of women's empowerment through employment (and later decent work) from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action through to the Millennium Development Goals, the Decent Work Agenda and current proposals for the post?2015 Development Agenda. The article focuses on the context of rural women. Through a historical overview of the increasing importance placed on employment and the ‘world of work’ for poverty reduction and women's empowerment within the development discourse, the article analyses the implications and gaps of prevailing approaches. The article also provides recommendations to enhance the potential of rural employment and decent work in promoting women's empowerment, including with specific reference to the debates around the post?2015 Development Agenda

A comment on "What catch data can tell us about the status of global fisheries"

There is considerable interest in the state of the world’s natural fishery resources. The paper by Froese et al. (2012) is a recent example of applying a set of ad hoc decision rules to a time series of catch data in order to assign the world’s fisheries to categories of exploitation and hence make generalisations about their current status. They conclude that the percentage of stocks that are over-exploited is worse than previously reported in FAO (2010). The approach used by Froese et al. is based on an algorithm proposed by Froese and Kesner-Reyes (2002) which has been heavily criticised both on theoretical grounds and from simulation studies (Branch et al. 2011; Daan et al. 2011; Wilberg and Miller 2007). In their recent paper, Froese et al. (2012) produce additional analyses to support their method which assumes that maximum sustainable yield (MSY) lies in the interval (0.5Cmax, Cmax), where Cmax is the maximum observed catch in the time series. Unfortunately, these analyses do not support their contention that MSY for a particular stock is related to maximum catch in a predictable way and renders their conclusions unsaf

Ficus maxima Mill.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/20099/thumbnail.jp

Maclura tinctoria D.Don ex Steud.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/19979/thumbnail.jp