urbanization and FNS

This working paper by the Global Network for the right to food and nurition argues that we need to react against the urbanization of the development agenda, and the long-held dichotomy of rural and urban spaces. It addresses ongoing discussions in preparation of Habitat III, the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. The terms ‘rural-urban linkages’, ‘city-region food systems’, and ‘territorial food systems’ are often used interchangeably in international policy fora, academia, and other discussions on how rural and urban spaces relate to each other in food systems. »

This report argues that the global food system must transform to feed growing cities and that this transformation need to create opportunities for small-scale and especially female farmers. The growth of cities fuels an unprecedented demand for food, due to changing diets of people moving to cities, in combination with increase population growth, climate change. Feeding cities presents a major opportunity to improve the plight of millions of small-scale farmers and rural residents trapped in subsistence agriculture and joblessness. »

In this briefing it is argued that urbanization, population growth and environmental change in East Africa are generating distinct food security challenges for urban slum dwellers and the rural poor. The author argues that the relation between rural and urban areas will change, especially in relation to food security. By 2050, the proportion of urban residents in East Africa will increase from 25 to 44 per cent. »

The book chapter delves into policy oriented research in the area of food security and sustainable development. It focuses on the relationship between food insecurity and urbanisation in different human development contexts. »

This report prepared for Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK, presents a set of challenges and opportunities for tackling under nutrition in low- and middle-income countries where DFID works. However, since it also displays different approaches to urbanisation issues, it can be useful for others practitioners in different countries. »

This paper elaborates on the food security transition that China has undergone over the last 35 years. It tries to understand the evolving axes of inequality with regard to access to affordable, safe and nutritious food in the context of changing rural–urban linkages. In China the production, distribution and consumption of food changed in this period due to rapid economic growth, urbanisation and industrialisation. The paper discusses how this change was addressed by policies aimed at ensuring adequate food provision and the regulation of quality and safety. »