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Sustainable Development Law & Policy Volume 9 Issue 1 Sustainable Development Law & Policy Volume 9 Article 1 Issue 1 Fall 2008: Global Food & Agriculture Sustainable Development Law & Policy Volume 9 Issue 1 Sustainable Development Law & Policy Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/sdlp Part of the Agriculture Law Commons, and the Food and Drug Law Commons Recommended Citation Sustainable Development Law & Policy, Fall 2008, 1-80. This Entire Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sustainable Development Law & Policy by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Volume IX, Issue 1 Fall 2008 SSUU SS TAINABLETAINABLE DDEVELOPMENTEVELOPMENT LLAWAW && PPOLICYOLICY EXPLORING HOW TODAY ’S DE V E LOPM E N T AFF E C T S FU T UR E GE N E RA T IONS AROUND the GLOB E IN TH I S ISSUE : GLOBAL FOO D & AG RICULTURE 1 | ED ITOR S ’ NOTE by Lisa Novins & Addie Haughey 2 | AN OVERVIEW O F THI S Iss UE : CLO S ELY -LINKE D NATURE O F GLOBAL FOO D AN D FINANCE by Siwa Msangi 4 | BIO F UEL , THE ENVIRONMENT , AN D FOO D SECURITY : A GLOBAL PROBLEM EXPLORE D THROU G H A CA S E STU D Y O F IN D ONE S IA by Nicola Colbran & Asbjørn Eide 13 | TWO GLOBAL CRI S E S BRIN G OPPORTUNITY IN INTERNATIONAL TOBACCO CONTROL by Chris A. Bostic, M.S.F.S., J.D. 19 | SU S TAINABLE SOIL S : RE D UCIN G , MITI G AT I N G , AN D AD APTIN G TO CLIMATE CHAN G E WITH OR G ANIC AG RICULTURE by Meredith Niles 25 | THE GROWIN G SUPPLY O F ECOLABELE D SEA F OO D : AN ECONOMIC PER S PECTIVE by Nicolai V. Kuminoff, Darrell J. Bosch, Dan Kauffman, Jaren C. Pope, & Kurt Stephenson 31 | THE GLOBAL FOO D CRI S I S : UR G ENT NEE D AN D EMER G IN G SOLUTION S by Terence P. Stewart, Stephen J. Norton, Jumana G. Madanat, and Hanna E. Stewart 36 | Add IN G BIO F UEL TO THE FIRE : A SU S TAINABILITY PER S PECTIVE ON ENER G Y POLICY IN THE 2008 FOO D , C ON S ERVATION , AN D ENER G Y ACT by Jeni Lamb, Andrew Rogers & L. Leon Geyer 45 | CON S ERVIN G FARMLAN D IN CALI F ORNIA : FOR WHAT AN D FOR WHOM ? HOW AG RICULTURAL CON S ERVATION EA S EMENT S CAN KEEP FARMLAN D FARME D by Kendra Johnson 51 | THE CA S E F OR GREEN FOO D LABEL S by Emily Alves & Mark Edwards 57 | COMMENTARY : GENETICALLY MO D I F IE D OR G ANI S M S AN D GLOBAL HUN G ER : A REAL SOLUTION ? by Simon Nicholson http://www.wcl.american.edu/org/sustainabledevelopment ED ITOR S ’ NOTE he food crisis has been at the forefront of the global con- sciousness for much of this year. Although food inflation Tis nothing new, the combination of rising commodities FEA T URES : prices, increased fuel costs, greater consumer demand, and shifts from food to energy crops has made the cost of food an issue at 12 | T HE REAL PRICE O F ATLANTIC SALMON by Courtney Henson every table. The issue brings with it a myriad of questions about not only the cause of rising prices but also how global food and 24 | USDA OR G ANIC : ECOPORNO G RAPHY OR A LABEL agriculture impacts sustainability, climate change, and individ- WORTH SEARCHIN G FOR ? ual health and consumption decisions. by Blake M. Mensing Our global agricultural system is about much more than the 29 | THE FOO D CRI S I S : A NEW -FOUN D MOMENTUM TO food we eat. On a large scale, it is also about how domestic and RE D E F INE AF RICAN AG RICULTURAL POLICIE S international agricultural policies impact our air, water, and soil. by Meti Zegeye On a more local scale, it is also about working landscapes, urban 41 | THE WTO, AG RICULTURE , AN D DEVELOPIN G sprawl, and rural livelihoods. And individually, it is about our COUNTRIE S : THE NEE D F OR TRA D E RE F ORM S health, nutrition, and lifestyle choices. Finally, it is about the by Melissa Blue Sky access and equity necessary for everyone to realize the potential 43 | RI S IN G GLOBAL FOO D PRICE S : THE NEE D F OR benefits of a thriving and efficient global food and agricultural RE-RE G ULATIN G COMMO D ITY FUTURE S system. by Megan S. Chapman As we considered putting together an SDLP issue on food and agriculture, the wide range of potential topics was striking. 50 | THREE KEY S F OR REHABILITATIN G AN D S TABILIZIN G HAITI We hope to provide a broad overview of some of these issues by Chris Logan along with explanations of ongoing and potential future solu- tions. Articles range from a synopsis of the recent global food 55 | PREPARIN G F OR THE UNKNOWN : THE THREAT O F AG ROTERRORI S M crisis to the potential for and limitations of genetically modified by Matthew Padilla crops in addressing the crisis. Our contributors touch on biofu- els, organic agriculture, green labeling, tobacco farming, rural 62 | LE G I S LATIVE UP D ATE land use, and the 2008 Farm Bill in the United States. With this by Anastasia Lewandoski issue, we hope SDLP will help move the discourse beyond the 64 | BOOK REVIEW common rhetoric of blame and defeat towards creative solutions EARTH : THE SEQUEL for effective and efficient use of our global agricultural resources by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn for today’s growing population and future generations. Reviewed by John R. Shackelford Lisa Novins Addie Haughey ED ITOR -IN -CHIE F ED ITOR -IN -CHIE F 1 SUS T A I NABLE DEVELOPMEN T LAW & POL I CY AN OVERVIEW O F THI S Iss UE : CLO S ELY -LINKE D NATURE O F GLOBAL FOO D AN D FINANCE by Siwa Msangi* he tumultuous economic events of the past year have the effects of high food prices, they also tend to be more cantan- given us all a stark reminder of the closely-linked nature kerous and critical of other less-desirable aspects of government Tof the global food and financial economy, and the ability policy—which is why low food prices are often the opium that of market-level ripple effects to quickly spread from one corner poorly-performing governments prefer to give to their constitu- of the globe to the other. In the case of the food crisis, the origin ent masses. and underlying causes of these ripple effects are both diverse The overall conclusion that we are forced to draw from and complex in nature—as they include ‘drivers’ of change that these lessons of the recent past is that we live in a much tighter are both socio-economic and environmental. While the role of and more volatile world food market situation, where the fail- crop-based biofuels in certain OECD countries might explain ure of certain countries to maintain consistently high exports, part of the rapid increase in prices for commodities like corn, the for whatever reason, will result in a rapid escalation of prices underlying causes of rapid increases in rice prices in East and and deterioration of socio-economic welfare for the world’s Southeast Asia stem from a very different set of policies—some poorest and most vulnerable. There may not be the ‘fat’ in the of which, in themselves, helped to magnify the original mar- system that we might have taken for granted in the past, that ket shocks, and worsen the effects. Among such policies were might help us to stave off the worst effects of food price vola- export bans and unilateral trade actions, which tend to allow tility for long enough to make the corrective measures needed less room for flexibility in the system just at the time when it is to avoid high inflation. As we anticipate the growth of today’s needed most, and distort the market signals that might help to nearly 6.2 billion people into a global population of over nine bring about needed corrections and adjustments. billion in 2050—many of whom will be more wealthy and Production-side shocks to food economies were driven by sophisticated in their diets and lifestyles—and contemplate the droughts, floods, or other extreme weather events that coincided implications for global food supply, and the constraining effects with a much ‘tighter’ set of market conditions in many countries, of land degradation and climate change, we are given reason to where historically abundant stocks of grain reserves had slowly pause. Malthusian doom is not upon us yet—but we must work been run down over time, and demands had slowly been ramp- to prevent his herald from appearing. Much work is yet to be ing upwards. The relatively low level of global grain stocks is done in strengthening agricultural production, distribution, and largely due to either policy neglect or the desire to privatize the marketing systems in regions which have the worst-functioning operation of the food system, so that a ‘just-in-time’ principle of infrastructure, and weak systems of agricultural extension and inventory management could be exercised for the sake of effi- research.
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