Food sovereignty: alternative policy for a sustainable national food system in Timor-Leste under climate change

Abstract

Globally, more than enough food is produced to feed the world’s nine billion people (a figure that is expected to peak in 2050). Yet despite this, every year almost one billion people experience food insecurity. The consequences of food insecurity are set to be greatly exacerbated by climate change; circumstances that will be acutely experienced in developing countries, where the intersection of poverty and food insecurity is often concentrated. In this context, Timor-Leste, as one of the least developed countries (UN, 1998; IPCC, 2007; McMichael, 2008), will stand to suffer the earliest and the most detrimental impacts of climate change for food security, unless substantive mitigation and adaption actions are taken.With this as context, this thesis examines the impacts of agri-food development policies for food security in Timor-Leste. Through the adoption of a critical political economy perspective, this thesis undertakes an historical analysis of the causes of food insecurity. It then explores food sovereignty as a possible pathway for rebuilding the current food system, particularly in the context of climate change. This approach contributes to extending sociological understandings of, and responses to, food insecurity in Timor-Leste; representing a departure from many earlier studies, which have centrally focused upon technical barriers to food security.Methodologically, the thesis adopts a constructivist approach, accepting that different realities exist across multiple stakeholders engaged in the food and climate change nexus, and that truth or knowledge claims are both constructed and relative. The thesis undertakes a comparative case study approach, through the selection of cases across three villages in Timor-Leste. Data from these cases is augmented by interviews with additional stakeholders, including politicians, NGOs, academics and students. A total of 130 interviews were conducted in this study. This was complemented with document analysis, observation and a seminar.The results show that post-independence Timor-Leste has embraced a modernist techno-fix development pathway to food security. This is an-elite driven approach, rendering local people with very limited roles in determining priorities, and unable to shape the form or outcomes of policies and programs. These development pathways have delivered limited benefits to the poor and vulnerable, as well as further widening the gap between the poor and rich. Despite this, the current government is seeking to solve Timor-Leste’s food security problems through continued agricultural modernisation and market liberalisation. This has resulted in significant negative consequences, including nutrition transition, dependency onimported white rice, and increased dependence on the state as a food and service provider.This thesis concludes by arguing that the root cause of food insecurity in Timor-Leste is an outcome of political failures that disempower at both macro and micro levels. Ensuring good governance–which is important to enable democratic participation of all stakeholders to exercise their deliberative capacity to shape policies and their outcomes–will be a vital part of building food security in Timor-Leste. The food sovereignty paradigm, including its commitment to democratic governments; based on the principle that food is a fundamental human right; and the basis for healthy and sustainable livelihoods, offers important insights into rebuilding both democratic and sustainable food systems. While modernist techno-fix and market based approaches to addressing food security have not had significant positive impacts on the poor and vulnerable, food sovereignty also depends on a numbers of factors, including access to productive resources–including land–which enables communities to control their food system. Informed by food sovereignty, and broader deliberative governance thinking, this thesis concludes by arguing that rebuilding of the current food system will require what Moyer, McAllister, Finley & Soifer (2001) refer to as both reformer and radical change approaches; which translates into building cooperation between different stakeholders, as well as land and policy reform in order to allow thosemost in need to be able to provide food for themselves. Such transformations will be required to enable contemporary approaches to transforming food systems to create the basis for a sustainable, fair and just national food system in the context of climate change for Timor-Leste.