Global food governance in an era of crisis

Abstract

There have been multiple and significant changes in the global food landscape when it comes to governance. The 2008 Global Food Crisis heightened attention to and action for food security; this is reflected in the expanding food security agenda across the United Nations system, the World Bank and the Group of Eight (G8) and Group of Twenty (G20) clubs of states. Similarly, there has been expansion of new modes of governing the global food system, ranging from transnational certification schemes for agrofuels and food commodities to voluntary guidelines on land tenure. The two articles in this section provide timely analysis of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which is a global forum that has taken on greater centrality in the global governance of food and that features a diverse set of state and non-state actors involved in the agenda-setting, policy-making, and decision-making process.