The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
International Development
International Development
FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.
They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.
FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.
FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
Recent Multimedia
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Clean air led to better crop yields, Stanford researchers find
July 2021
Reductions in air pollution led to significant increases in corn and soybean yields from 1999-2019, according to new Stanford research that uses satellite data to measure pollution at fine scales. Read more at woods.stanford.edu.
Housing markets don't efficiently factor in flood risk, researchers find
April 2021
As the climate changes, more frequent and intense flooding is a threat that many Americans face. In a new study, Stanford researchers explored whether US housing markets respond efficiently to information about flood risk.
Stanford-led analysis reveals aquaculture's promise and peril
March 2021
A Stanford-led team of researchers conducted a review on the past 20 years of global aquaculture, finding that freshwater aquaculture has grown dramatically and feeds have become more sustainable.
Researchers find corn yields becoming more sensitive to drought
October 2020
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of droughts in many agricultural regions.
Researchers show effects of dust on infant mortality in Africa
June 2020
From analyzing dust concentrations in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and millions of birth outcomes, researchers find that small increases in dust lead to large increases in infant mortality.
Interview with Chris Barrett
March 2020
Chris Barrett, Professor of Applied Economics and Management and an International Professor of Agriculture with Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, visited FSE and spoke about "Innovation Needed to Meet Global Food Security...
Innovation Needed to Meet Global Food Security Challenges
February 2020
Agricultural and development economist Christopher B.
India's Transition: Was Coleridge Right?
November 2019
Junaid Ahmad, the World Bank Country Director for India, looks at the political economy of managing service delivery in India through the prism of water.
Food Insecurity: A 21st Century Threat to Global Security and Stability
May 2018
Ertharin Cousin, Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Visiting Fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment, presented her ongoing research on food insecurity as a global threat on...
Interview with Ertharin Cousin
May 2018
Ertharin Cousin, FSE visiting fellow, sat down with FSE Deputy Director David Lobell prior to her Payne Distinguished Lecture "Food Insecurity: A 21st Century Threat to Global Security and Stability."
Insights from the Global Food and Water Nexus
March 2018
Quentin Grafton presented at the Global Food Security Symposium on March 7, where he discussed the current state of the food-water nexus, possible future scenarios, and evaluated some of the myths, realities, and possible solutions to promote both...
Interview with Quentin Grafton
March 2018
Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, visited FSE to speak about "Insights from the Global Food and Water Nexus." He sat...
Ertharin Cousin, Tales from the War on Hunger
February 2018
After the 2007 Global Food Crisis, President Barack Obama in his Inaugural Address committed to the world’s poor nations: “We pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed...
Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?
November 2017
Food security experts from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) gathered for the symposium "Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?" This is the first of our new Global Food Security Symposium...
Global Food Security Symposium Series
November 2017
The Global Food Security Symposium series brings leading experts in food security areas including agriculture, policy, development, and technology to Stanford to share new research in an integrated, ten-lecture series.
Pamela Ronald, Tomorrow’s Table: Ecologically-based Farming, Plant Genetics and the Future of Food
January 2017
Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis.
Interview: Pamela Ronald
January 2017
Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis.
Interview: David Little
October 2016
David Little is a senior lecturer and researcher of The Institute of Aquaculture Systems Group, with over twenty years’ experience in tropical aquaculture.
Ronald Hardy, Aquaculture, Food Security, and the Marine Environment
October 2016
Ronald Hardy is an international expert in fish nutrition and serves as Director of the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Idaho.
Interview: Ronald Hardy
October 2016
Ronald Hardy is an international expert in fish nutrition and serves as Director of the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Idaho.
David Little, Aquaculture, Food Security, and the Marine Environment
October 2016
David Little is a senior lecturer and researcher of The Institute of Aquaculture Systems Group, with over twenty years’ experience in tropical aquaculture.
Food, Energy & Water Security: Implications for U.S. National Security
October 2016
FSE Director Roz Naylor spoke at the panel session in Washington D.C. with Stanford scholars and other experts discussed pressing environmental and energy challenges and risks that the next Administration will need to confront.
Video: Roz Naylor at the Farm Tank 2016 Sustainable Protein Panel
September 2016
The Sustainable Protest Panel from the 2016 Farm Tank Summit, featuring: Moderator: Tom Philpott, Food and Ag Correspondent, Mother Jones Keynote: Sheila Bowman, Seafood Watch Manager of Culinary & Strategic Initiatives, Monterey Bay Aquarium...
People
Rosamond L. Naylor Senior Fellow William Wrigley Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Senior Fellow and Founding Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment 
Steven Gorelick Cyrus F. Tolman Professor and Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment 
Noah Diffenbaugh Kara J. Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment 
Stefano Ermon Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment 
Hemant Pullabhotla Postdoctoral Scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Department of Earth System Science 
