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.
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.
If aquaculture is to play a responsible role in the future of seafood here at home, we must ensure that the "blue revolution" in ocean fish farming does not cause harm to the oceans and the marine life they support. The ratio of wild fisheries inputs to farmed fish output has fallen to 0.63 for the aquaculture sector as a whole but remains as high as 5.0 for Atlantic salmon.
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Conference Room
With continued human pressure on marine fisheries and ocean resources,
aquaculture has become one of the most promising avenues for increasing
marine fish production in the future. This review presents recent trends and future
prospects for the aquaculture industry, with particular attention paid to ocean farming
and carnivorous finfish species. The benefits of farming carnivorous fish have been
challenged; extensive research on salmon has shown that farming such fish can have
negative ecological, social, and health impacts on areas and parties vastly separated in
space. Similar research is only beginning for the new carnivorous species farmed or
ranched in marine environments, such as cod, halibut, and bluefin tuna. These fish have
large market potential and are likely to play a defining role in the future direction of the
aquaculture industry.We review the available literature on aquaculture development of
carnivorous finfish species and assess its potential to relieve human pressure on marine
fisheries, many of which have experienced sharp declines.
In this article, we examine why concerns about food security have diminished, at least relative to earlier periods. We argue that it should be in the interest of agricultural economists to return this concept to the G-8 agenda in light of the clear linkages between agricultural development, economic growth, food security, and national security in poor countries. We are particularly concerned that issues of hunger not get lost in a world food economy that is now driven predominately by animal product demand, super markets, and subsidies, and that is increasingly constrained by natural resources and their (mis)management.
Global meat production is becoming increasingly industrialized, spatially concentrated, and geographically detached from the agricultural land base. This Policy Forum reviews the process of livestock industrialization and globalization, and its consequences for water, nitrogen, and species-rich habitats in meat- and feed-producing regions often vastly separated in space. It argues that pricing and other policy mechanisms which reflect social costs of resource use and ecological change are needed to re-couple livestock and land in producer countries, drawing on examples from Europe and the United States. It also argues that consumers can play an important role in setting a sustainable course.
Carnegie Institution
Department of Plant Biology
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Richard and Rhoda Goldman Conference Room
SEATTLE - There are a billion hungry people in the world. Fifteen thousand children-the equivalent of five times the victims of the World Trade Center bombings-die each day of hunger. Yet it doesn't have to be this way. We can end hunger-if we make a commitment to doing so. The new one-hour documentary Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger shows how it can be done. Shot on location in the United States, South Africa, Kenya, Rome, Mexico and Brazil, Silent Killer examines both the problem of hunger and solutions. The documentary and its companion Web site (www.SilentKillerFilm.org) will provide viewers with inspiration and information to become part of the effort to end hunger.
Produced by Hana Jindrova and John de Graaf (Affluenza, Escape from Affluenza), in association with KCTS/Seattle Public Television, Silent Killer will air on several California public television stations as follows:
KTEH/ San Jose: Sunday, October 16 at 5:00 p.m. (please confirm).
KOCE/ Huntington Beach: Sunday, October 23 at 4:00 p.m.
KQED/ San Francisco: Wednesday, November 2 at 11:00 p.m., repeating on
KQED Encore (Digital Channel 189), Thursday, November 3 at 10:00 p.m.
KVCR/ San Bernardino: Thanksgiving evening, Thursday, November 24 at 8 p.m.
KVIE/ Sacramento: Airdate and time to be announced.
KCSM/ San Mateo: Airdate and time to be announced.
(For all other stations, please check local listings).
Narrated by National Public Radio's Scott Simon, the film begins in South Africa's Kalahari Desert, where razor-thin Bushmen use the Hoodia cactus to fend off hunger. But now, a drug firm has patented the Hoodia's appetite-suppressant properties and is using it to make a diet product for obese Americans and Europeans. Hoodia is a metaphor for a world where some people die from too much food, but millions more die from too little.
We discover how serious the problem is in Kenya as we meet Jane Ininda, a scientist who is trying to make agriculture more productive in her country, while her own brother, Salesio, barely survives the drought, poor soils and pests that constantly threaten his crops. Through powerful stories, we come to understand the dimensions of the hunger crisis.
At the World Food Summit in Rome, we learn how activists have been working to end hunger since President John Kennedy declared war on it in 1963. But today, America's commitment to food security is less clear. In fact, world financial commitments to hunger research are now in decline.
But Silent Killer does not leave viewers feeling helpless. A visit to Brazil finds a nation energized by a new campaign called FOME ZERO-Zero Hunger. In the huge city of Belo Horizonte, we meet a remarkable leader and see how, under the programs she supervises, the right to food is guaranteed to all. In the countryside, we are introduced to the Landless Peasants' Movement, which is giving hope to millions of hungry Brazilians.
Can we end hunger, or will it always be with us? Why should we try? What will it take? What are we doing now? Can biotechnology play a role, and if so, how? Is hunger just a problem of distribution, or do we still need to produce more and better crops? These are the questions considered in this exquisitely photographed documentary.
EXPERTS featured in Silent Killer: The Unfinished Campaign Against Hunger and available for press interviews include:
David Beckmann - President, Bread for the World. Since 1991, Reverend David Beckmann has served as president of Bread for the World, a Christian group that lobbies the U.S. government for policy changes to end hunger in the United States and around the world.
Per Pinstrup-Andersen - World Food Prize Laureate 2001. A native of Denmark, Per Pinstrup-Andersen is the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University. He also serves as the chairman of the Science Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.
Chris Barrett - Development Economist, Cornell University. Dr. Barrett is a professor of applied economics and management at Cornell University. His focus is on rural communities, primarily in Africa, concentrating on the dynamics of poverty, food security and hunger.
Walter Falcon - Development Economist, Stanford University. Dr. Falcon is the Farnsworth Professor of International Agricultural Policy at Stanford University (emeritus), co-director of the Center for Environmental Science and Policy, and former director of the Stanford Institute for International Studies.
PROGRAM TIE-INS: October 16 is the 25th observance of World Food Day-a worldwide event designed to create awareness, understanding and year-round action to alleviate hunger. (See www.worldfooddayusa.org.) In addition, October 24 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and its first agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
CREDITS: Silent Killer was produced by Hana Jindrova and John de Graaf in association with KCTS/Seattle Public Television and is narrated by NPR's Scott Simon. Writer: John de Graaf. Photographers/Editors: Diana Wilmar and David Fox. Composer: Michael Bade. Executive Producer: Enrique Cerna, KCTS. Funding was provided by The Rockefeller Foundation.
DISTRIBUTOR: Silent Killer is presented nationally by KCTS/Seattle Public Television and is distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA).
WEB SITE: See www.SilentKillerFilm.org for more information about the film, including a full transcript, in-depth interviews with film characters and experts on hunger, a guide for teachers, a list of hunger facts and myths, a detailed "Take Action" section and additional resources. Color images from the film are posted on the site for press use, along with an online press kit.
500E Encina Hall East
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
Were is 'returning to the Farm' having completed his Masters here in International Development Policy, a PhD in Agricultural Economics, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Food Research Institute.
He is currently a Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader for Agricultural Science and Technology Policy at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. He is leading a newly created global research program focused on agricultural science and technology policy in developing countries. He is also the Coordinator for IFPRI's Eastern Africa Food Policy Network covering Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique. His experience will be greatly appreciated as CESP expands its work in the area of food security and the environment.
In addition to his professional fellowships and consulting experience, Were is also a novelist. Publishing such books as The Men Do Not Eat Wings - A Novel and Private Solutions: A Tale of Political Awakenings and Coming-of-Age in Africa. We look forward to passing his books around the office.