Global Economic Change and the Challenge of Food Sustainability
Fostering a more sustainable food system is of paramount importance. There are several reasons for this: for example, the industrial production systems that provide much of the world’s food use large amounts of water and fossil fuels. They are also major contributors to biodiversity loss, soil erosion, chemical exposure and climate change. These problems are serious enough to endanger not only the sustainability of our environment, but our future food security.
Two dramatic economic trends are currently reshaping the global food system with important implications for sustainability: increased corporate concentration and new patterns of agricultural trade. To date, there has been little international policy response to the environmental impact of these global economic drivers of change in the food system.
Dr. Jennifer Clapp, Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability, aims to shed light on the links between global economic change, environmental sustainability and global food system governance. Clapp and her research team are analyzing how global economic change and environmental considerations interact with international food security governance arrangements. In particular, they are examining these issues with respect to rising corporate concentration and the reconfiguration of agricultural trade in the current global economic context.
Ultimately, Clapp’s research will help policy-makers understand the complex political and economic forces that foster or hinder global co-operation for sustainable food security.