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Food Security in Iceland Present Vulnerabilities, Possible Solutions

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Food Security in Iceland Present Vulnerabilities, Possible Solutions Food Security in Iceland Present Vulnerabilities, Possible Solutions Orri Jóhannsson Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum Félagsvísindasvið Food Security in Iceland Present Vulnerabilities, Possible Solutions Orri Jóhannsson Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum Leiðbeinandi: Alyson Bailes Stjórnmálafræðideild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Júní 2011 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í alþjóðasamskiptum og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Orri Jóhannsson 2011 Reykjavík, Ísland 2011 Abstract Food insecurity is a major worldwide problem. This problem is only likely to grow as food prices increases and resources get scarcer. Numerous international institutions and experts predict that conflicts over food will become more common as water and food resources become more valuable. Iceland’s small and import oriented economy is not immune from this development and the influence of this global trend can already be felt in Iceland. Higher global food and resource prices combined with the devaluation of the Icelandic Króna have already made food imports more difficult for Iceland. This has prompted debate on the subject of food security and the value of strong domestic food production, although this discussion has not yet spread through society as a whole. Based on extensive research into economic data, consultation with experts and conducting a questionnaire among the public, this thesis attempts to shed light on the country’s food situation, its vulnerabilities, and its strengths. Questions are asked about how Iceland stands in this regard and what threats and risks potentially endanger the food security of the nation. The state of preparedness (or lack thereof) within the administration is examined and questions are asked about what Iceland could do to improve in this area. The general findings are that the Icelandic authorities have no comprehensive contingency plans for food security and no plans for emergency food reserves. Finally, suggestions are made about areas for improvement so that food security can be safeguarded. iii iv Útdráttur Fæðuóöryggi er mikið vandamál í heiminum. Umfang vandans á aðeins eftir að aukast þar sem matvælaverð fer hækkandi og öll aðföng verða stöðugt erfiðari. Fjöldi alþjóðastofnana og sérfræðinga spá því að vopnuð átök vegna deilna um vatn og matvæli eigi eftir að verða algengari þar sem slíkur varningur verður sífellt verðmætari. Smár og innflutningsmiðaður efnahagur Íslands er ekki ónæmur fyrir þessari hnattrænu þróun og áhrif hennar má þegar finna á Íslandi. Hærra matvæla- og aðfangaverð á heimsmarkaði ásamt falli krónunnar hafa þegar gert innflutningi erfitt um vik. Þessi þróun hefur vakið upp umræðu um fæðuöryggi þjóðarinnar og þýðingu þess að búa yfir sterkri innlendri matvælaframleiðslu. Með því að framkvæma viðamikla rannsókn á hagtölum, leita álits hjá sérfræðingum og með því að leggja fyrir spurningalista meðal almennings reynir þessi ritgerð að varpa ljósi á ástand matvælageirans hér á landi, veikleika hans og styrk. Spurt er hvernig Ísland standi í þessu tilliti og hvaða ógnir og hættur steðji hugsanlega að fæðuöryggi í landinu. Viðbúnaður (eða skortur á honum) innan stjórnsýslunnar er skoðaður og spurningar lagðar fram um hvað Ísland geti gert til að bæta sig í því tilliti. Helstu niðurstöður eru þær að íslensk stjórnvöld hafa hvorki gert neinar víðtækar viðbúnaðaráætlanir fyrir fæðuöryggi né neyðaráætlanir varðandi matvælabirgðir. Því eru í ritgerðinni gerðar tillögur um úrbætur svo fæðuöryggi verði tryggt. v vi Preface The idea of writing about food security came to me during the financial crisis in autumn of 2008. The uncertainty at the time surrounding reliability of imports and credit facilities for Icelandic importers abroad, along with newspaper and television reports of people hoarding food, evoked thoughts of ‘what if’ scenarios. I asked myself what would happen if the country were totally closed off from the outside world. Could Icelanders gather their own food without outside help? Most of the people I approached with this subject idea were convinced that Iceland would easily manage and hinted that there was in fact no point in looking further into this. Of course, they could only rely on their common sense (combined with patriotism) to reach this conclusion, because little if any research had been done on food security before. This egged me on to look at this myself and do my own research, not to prove anybody wrong, but to see if the situation was really so simple and clear cut. During my work on this thesis I have benefited from the great support and help of friends and family. I would especially like to thank Valgerður Guðrún Bjarkadóttir for immense patience and help during the writing and my children Markús Einar and Elín Birna for not being too cross over limited playtime with their father. I would also like to thank Jón Kristinn Ragnarsson for good suggestions, encouragement, and weird attempts at reverse psychology to spur me on. He and Anna Hugadóttir get credit for invaluable help with proofing the thesis. Special thanks must also go out to all of the one hundred and twelve accommodating individuals who took time out of their lives to answer my questionnaire. Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank Alyson Bailes for excellent guidance, well-considered comments, and interest in the well-being of this project. This thesis is the final assignment in the MA studies of International Relations at the University of Iceland. It accounts for 30 ECTS credits and the instructor was Alyson Bailes, Adjunct Professor at the University of Iceland. Orri Jóhannsson vii viii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................. iii Útdráttur .................................................................................................................................. v Preface ................................................................................................................................... vii 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 2 Concepts ............................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Food Security – A Definition ................................................................................. 4 2.2 Realism .................................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Historical Roots .............................................................................................................. 7 2.2.2 Modern Political Realism and Neorealism ..................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Realism and food security ............................................................................................ 10 2.3 Human Security .................................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 What is Human Security? ............................................................................................. 12 2.3.2 The 1994 Human Development Report ........................................................................ 15 2.3.3. Two main theoretical schools of human security......................................................... 16 2.3.3.1 Freedom from Fear ............................................................................................... 17 2.3.3.2 Freedom from Want .............................................................................................. 18 2.3.4 In Practice ..................................................................................................................... 19 2.4 Securitisation ......................................................................................................... 20 2.4.1 What is Securitisation? ................................................................................................. 20 2.4.2 Who has the Power to Securitise? ................................................................................. 21 2.4.3 Securitisation of the Icelandic Food Issue .................................................................... 23 3 Iceland’s Situation ............................................................................................ 27 3.1 The Icelandic Food Security Dialogue ................................................................ 27 3.1.1 Three Influential Events ............................................................................................... 28 3.1.2 Búnaðarþing 2008: The Start of a Dialogue ................................................................. 30 3.1.3 Beyond the 2008 Búnaðarþing ..................................................................................... 32 3.1.4 The Public View ........................................................................................................... 36 3.2 Food in Iceland ...................................................................................................... 39 3.2.1 Consumption ................................................................................................................. 39 3.2.2 Production ..................................................................................................................... 42 3.2.3 Imports .........................................................................................................................
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