CAN AFRICA FEED ITSELF?

Within a decade, Africa’s population’s demand for food is expected to double that of current levels. The vast majority of people, who are low income earners, will suffer the inevitable household and social strains.

Reaching Communities in London: Somali Week

The Somali week event took place in London from Oct 20^th to 28^th 2012. This was the 6th year where the event was held. The focus of the Somali Week festival was on arts, culture and music. The main theme of the event was on the Courage of Artists that use their trade to challenge the social and political status quo.

Sustainability

We live in a world of seven billion, one billion starving, 1.7 billion suffering from malnutrition caused illness and an environment more damaged now than ever before.

The Move to Strengthen London Food Network

The autumn gathering of the Tower Hamlets Food Growing Network held on 25^th October 2012. The event which held at Tarling East Community Centre, London was focused more on healthy eating; growing own vegetable herbs or fruits; and initiating own gardens. 

Seeds of Freedom

A land mark film by The Gaia Foundation and African Biodiversity Network, in collaboration with MELCA Ethiopia, Navdanya International and GRAIN has recently produced.

Will we all be vegetarians in 2050?

According to a report from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the world population will have to change to an almost exclusively vegetarian diet by 2050 in order to avoid catastrophic shortages of food.

Time to stop bankers betting on hunger

Watch the video and sign the petition.

Land Grabbing in Africa – FAO says "bring on the sheriff"

José Graziano da Silva, the head of FAO - UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has compared "land grabs" in Africa to the "wild west", stating that a "sheriff" is necessary to restore the rule of law.

Food We Want Coordination Meeting 2012

The Food We Want (FWW) partners meeting was held on the 18^th and 19^th October 2012 at the International Institute of Environmental Development (IIED), London. Participating partners from  Istituto Oikos Italy (IOI) , Fundacion IBO Spain, Oikos Portugal (OP) , IGO Poland and PENHA UK were present. The meeting, held in two days over two sessions discussed  and evaluated different activities undertaken by the partners and put forward various action plans.

Global Hunger Index 2012 Launched

Concern Worldwide, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe launched the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI). The report combines the most recent available data on national rates of malnutrition, child nutrition and child mortality to give a comprehensive snapshot of how hunger is distributed around the globe.

GLOBAL FOOD PRICES Expected to Rise

The World Food Programme estimates that rising food prices have pushed 44 million people into extreme poverty and hunger since June 2010. The effects of increasingly high and volatile prices of basic foods are felt most by the poorest and most vulnerable people.

870 million people go hungry in the world

Of which the overwhelming majority (98%, 852 million) live in developing countries. These are the figures presented by FAO in its latest report "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012." Despite a reduction in the number of hungry people in Latin America and Asia, in Africa, in the last four years, over 20 million people were thrown into a situation of hunger, leading to the fact that one in eight people on the planet suffers from malnutrition.

Food Security in Africa: Critical Issues for Small Scale Producers

PENHA, in partnership with IIED, organised an event on Food We Want – Sustainable, Local, Fair project launch with a discussion on the challenges of food security in Africa. The panelists raised a number of critical bottlenecks of African smallholder producers and suggested implementable policy actions. 

Virtual water - the water we eat

The 1st of October is the Portuguese National Water Day, so it’s the one day in the year when we can really talk about sustainable use of water in the media (the rest of the year water will only be featured in the media if there is a water associated calamity or another rise in the prices for consumers).

United Nations prepare post-2015 Development Agenda

The UN is preparing a new post-2015 Development Agenda which will replace the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To this end a panel of advisors was formed and the UN announced it was likely to hold a Summit on Sustainable Development in 2015. Human Rights, Equality and Sustainability will be the core of this new Development Agenda, in which SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) will replace the MDGs.

To Know More About the Project - Watch It!

This short video shows the importance of the Food We Want project and its contribution towards the global agricultural sustainability. Within about 4 minutes you will get an overview of the project and its intended targets.

Agricultural Outlook for 2012-2021 Published

OECD-FAO published the Agricultural Outlook report for 2012-2021 which focused on achieving sustainable agricultural productivity growth. 

Sustainable Diets - FAO and Bioversity point the way to improve human health and the environment

FAO and Bioversity used the release of the book "Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity" to call for immediate measures to promote sustainable diets and agricultural biodiversity, in order to improve human health and the global environmental situation.

Interview with Nardos Tilahun who Won Global Essay Competition

Nardos Tilahun is the one who won the Global Eassy Competition organized by the Living Rainforest under its Secondary Schools category. Nardos is 15 years old who is living in New Zealand and her excellently written essay under the title of 'Exploiting Consumerism for our Planet' on sustainable globe exceptionally attracted the judges of the competition (out of 577 essays received) and other global leaders. The prize had helped her to attend the global Earth Summit held in Rio last June (Rio+20 United Nations on Conference Sustainable Development).

In her mission to Rio+20, Nardos had a chance to talk with several global leaders including Head of UNHCR and Head of UNDP who was the Prime Minister of New Zealand in strengthening of young participation in the earth's future. A brief interview made with her follows [Picture: Karl Hansen, Director of the Living Rainforest (UK), Nardos and Helen Clark, Head of UNDP and also former Prime Minister of New Zealand]:

What if a country decided to go 100% organic?

During the Rio +20 Summit, Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley said that Bhutan aims to become the first country with 100% organic agriculture.

Black future or green future - the impact of climate change on agriculture

Agriculture is one of the sectors that will suffer the impacts of climate change. As expected, agricultural production in developing countries will be seriously affected pushing millions of people into situations of nutritional deficiency or hunger.

Milk Price Row: UK Farmers called for fair milk price

The UK dairy farmers are revolting for the unfair price allocated to their row milks. That is, the proportion of the price being paid by milk customers doesn’t actually reach on the hand of those producers – farmers.

The role of sustainable agriculture in the mitigation of climate change

A group of 15 scientists published a paper in CAB Reviews in which they analyze the relative contributions of various farming systems to the global emissions of greenhouse gases, and concluded that the agro-ecological practices, often used in family farming, leading to reduced emissions and increase the resilience to climate change.

Tools for assessing the impact of bioenergy on food security

FAO published the report "Impacts of Bioenergy on Food Security - Guidance for Assessment and Response at National and Project Levels", presenting a set of indicators and methodologies for assessing the impacts of biofuels on food security.

Lusophone countries are preparing a common strategy to tackle Food and Nutritional Security

Maputo welcomed the Ninth Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and the assembled leaders focused the debate and resolutions on the hot topic of Food and Nutrition Security in Portuguese speaking world.

‘Dear Mr. UN Secretary-General ...’

Nardos Tilahun from the Auckland Girls Grammar School, New Zealand won the international essay competition prize organised by Living Rainforest in building environmentally sustainable globe.

Sustainable agriculture: a global tool for job creation

During Rio +20, the United Nations submitted a report affirming that a sustained global investment in sustainable agriculture could generate up to 50 million new jobs by 2050.

Food We Want – Sustainable, Local, Fair colourfully launched in the UK

The Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa (PENHA) in partnership with IIED  has launched the Food We Want project colourfully in London, UK on the 29^th March 2012.