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Food systems and diets: Facing the challenges of the 21st century

• by Sara Gustafson

According to the latest Foresight Report from the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GLOPAN), three billion people around the world consume low-quality diets, and this nutrition crisis will likely only get worse in the coming decades. Population growth and climate change will place increasing stress on food systems, particularly in Africa and Asia. At the same time, rapidly increasing urbanization, particularly in these two regions, will affect hunger and nutrition in complex ways.

March Crop Monitor for Early Warning Released

• by Sara Gustafson

The March edition of The Early Warning Crop Monitor was recently released, bringing together the monitoring efforts of international, regional, and national organizations on crop conditions within countries at risk of food insecurity. The subregions covered in the monitor are: East Africa and Yemen, West Africa, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Central America and the Caribbean.

Transmission of Grain Prices and Grain Price Volatility from World to Local Markets

• by Sara Gustafson

Since the 2007-2008 food price crisis, food price volatility has been front and center in the international development conversation. The period of the crisis saw a dramatic rise in the international price of grains and other important commodities, while the years immediately following the crisis saw increasing grain price fluctuations on the international market.

What role do markets and trade play in climate change adaptation?

• by Sara Gustafson

Global trade is a complex, politically charged issue that has important implications for the global food system.

A recent paper in Food Policy, “Do Markets and Trade Help or Hurt the Global Food System Adapt to Climate Change” , investigates whether markets and trade aid or inhibit the global food system ability’s to adapt to climate change. The discussion and themes raised in the paper are based on results collected from a wide variety of sources.