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The Role of the Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is at the core of the United Nation’s effort

to advance sustainable economic, social and environmental development. It is the central

platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and

coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals. It is also responsible for the follow-

up to major UN conferences and summits. The UN Charter established ECOSOC in 1945 as one

of the six main organs of the United Nations.1 ECOSOC links all the United Nations bodies

dedicated to sustainable development, providing overall guidance and coordination. The bodies

include regional economic and social commissions, functional commissions facilitating

intergovernmental discussions of major global issues, and specialized agencies, programmes and

funds at work around the world to translate development commitments into real changes in

people’s lives. 2 Reforms over the last decade, particularly General Assembly Resolution 68/1,

have strengthened ECOSOC’s leading role in identifying emerging challenges, promoting

innovation, and achieving a balanced integration of the three pillars of sustainable development.

ECOSOC is charged with giving special attention to coordinated follow-up on major UN

conferences and summits.

Introduction: The role of rising food prices on global food security

In order to fully understand the scope of the impending food crisis towards which the

world is headed, we must first understand what a volatile market economy can do on an already

stretched global food system. During the 2008 financial crisis the prices of food groups heavily

1 United Nations. Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination. 2007. Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Poverty and Hunger : Dialogues at the Economic and Social Council. New York2 United Nations, 2007.

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relied on by consumers across different countries increased very quickly. The price of corn

tripled, and the price of rice increased almost five-fold in that year alone. This caused a

displacement of citizens within impoverished developing states, spurring riots and pushing

nearly 75 million people into poverty.3 The recession not only revealed the instability of

financial markets, it also tested, to some degree, the global food supply. High prices ultimately

signaled that aggregate demand was overshadowing aggregate supply as there remained chronic

shortages within many developing states. During the financial crisis, inflation coupled with

unemployment gave rise to massive stagflation and food prices shot up rapidly.

Stagflation affects the most economically disenfranchised members of society. Stagflation is a

condition of slow economic growth and relatively high unemployment, or economic stagnation,

accompanied by rising prices, or inflation. It can also be defined as inflation and a decline in

gross domestic product (GDP). Most people in many developing states spend roughly 50-70% of

their income on food.4 Since the financial crisis, food prices have fallen back to the market

equilibrium. However, as the world continues to suffer from land shortages and unsavory

agricultural practices, the finite resources may ultimately cause the price of food to increase

again and make access to food scarcer. Likewise, climate change has proven to be a key factor in

the world food supply. Climate change has caused hotter growing seasons and increasing water

scarcity on a global scale. It is projected to reduce future harvests in much of the world, raising

the specter of what some scientists are now calling a “perpetual food crisis.” 5

The Problem: The rising poverty rate and food shortage

3 World Bank. 2014. The World Bank Group and the Global Food Crisis : An Evaluation of the World Bank Group Response. Independent Evaluation Group Studies. Washington, D.C.: World Bank4 International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri). “2019 Global Food Policy Report: Synopsis,” 2019.

5 International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri). “2019 Global Food Policy Report: Synopsis,” 2019.

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The capitalist mode of production has been far more productive than any other

means of production over the course of human history. The world currently produces far

more than enough food to feed every person on earth, but much of this gets wasted by

many developed states. According to United Nations statistics, in 2016, 11% of the global

population went hungry. 6 The poverty line is defined as a monetary threshold under which

an individual is considered to be living in poverty. It is calculated by taking the poverty threshold

from each country given the value of the goods needed to sustain one adult and converting it into

dollars. The international poverty line was originally set to roughly $1 a day and was moved to

$1.90 in 2015.7 In 2019, the UN estimates that demand for food by the world’s population

increased by 60% compared to the previous year. Birth rate data suggest that the world’s

population will reach approximately 10 billion by 2050, putting more demand on a

stretched food system in the economic south. The world continues to experience

unprecedented climate instability and a decline in the availability of fertile land. The

outlook for future generations is a planet whose resources have been exhausted, coupled

with climate problems and increased exploitation brought on by capitalism.

Many economists have warned that market economies continue to inefficiently

allocate resources. Governments committed to market-oriented policies are failing to

make the macroeconomic policy changes necessary to provide basic public goods. 8 This

will cause those in the global south to experience pronounced food scarcity. Millions will

suffer from starvation and malnutrition. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC), around 30 percent of global food production is wasted each year, mostly in

6 International Food Policy Research Institute,20197 Misselhorn, M. (2018). Measurement of poverty, undernutrition and child mortality (Doctoral dissertation, 2018). Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften.8 International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri). “2019 Global Food Policy Report: Synopsis,” 2019.

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high-income countries. By ending food waste and distributing food surpluses more fairly, we can

put an end to hunger while actually reducing global agricultural output. Scientists estimate that

this could liberate several million square miles of land and cut global greenhouse gas emissions

by 8-10%, taking significant pressure off the climate.9 This is not difficult to achieve. In South

Korea, households are required to pay a fee for every kilogram of food they toss. Some countries

such as France already banned the waste of food which could have been donated to the less

fortunate.10

What the world does now collectively will influence the future of food security

for decades to come. If global society fails to act now to mitigate the growing food crisis,

the state system will fail. Citizens of countries that already face an uphill battle

combating starvation within their borders will create new classes of refugees. As the

world grapples with food shortages, the increased influx of refugees to developed states

may well cause these states to fail in their efforts to provide for their citizens as well as

the refugees.11 Many of the people fleeing places like Guatemala and Somalia right now are

doing so because their farms are no longer viable.

Over the course of human history food sources have stagnated. According to the UN Food

and Agriculture Organization (FAO) a startling 50% of human food intake comes from

three main groups: wheat, maize and rice.12 As the effects of climate change worsen,

more agriculturally based diseases have appeared to reap havoc on food supplies across

the world. A notable example is the Panama disease, an infection that ravages banana plants,

9 Ibid10 Ibid11 Ibid12 International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri). “2019 Global Food Policy Report: Synopsis,” 2019.

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that has been sweeping across Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa. The impact has been

devastating. In the Philippines alone, losses have totalled US$400m. The disease threatens not

only the livelihoods of everyone in this US$44 billion industry but also the 400m people in

developing countries who depend on bananas for a substantial proportion of their caloric intake.

The world food supply is in grave danger if it is attacked by a malicious disease that

affects one or more of the three most common food sources. 13

The impending global food security crisis

One of the main decisions the world will have to make within the next few decades

is whether to pursue plant or meat-based food sources. This decision will decide the

future of global food security. Likewise, society has to act now to conserve land as

forestland rather than allowing it to be turned into grazing land for cattle. A kilogram of

animal-based protein is 30 times more demanding on finite land resources compared to

plant-based protein.14 Many developing states are shifting towards to a more meat-based

diet. If the food consumption patterns of industrialized states were fully replicated by the

developing states, it would be environmentally unsustainable. In addition, as David

Wallace-Wells reports, scientists estimate that for every degree we heat the planet, the yields of

staple cereal crops will decline by an average of about 10 percent. If we carry on with business

as usual, key staples are likely to collapse by some 40 percent by the end of the century.15

Under normal circumstances, regional food shortages can be covered by surpluses from

elsewhere on the planet. Food models being studied by scientist have suggest there is a real

13 Ibid14 Ibid15 Wallace-Wells, David. 2019. The Uninhabitable Earth : Life After Warming. First. New York: Tim Duggan Books

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danger that climate breakdown could trigger shortages on multiple continents at once. According

to the IPCC, if the Earth warms more than 2 degrees Celsius above current levels it is likely to

cause sustained food supply disruptions globally.16 Political systems are already straining under

the weight of a refugee crises. Populist movements are on the rise and international alliances are

beginning to crack.17 Factor in a 40 percent loss of global agricultural yields and the political

consequences will likely be catastrophic.18 Climate change is undermining global food systems,

but at the same time food systems are a major cause of climate breakdown. According to the

IPCC, agriculture contributes nearly a quarter of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.19

Farming Practices

The reliance on a few food groups is not the only reason behind the impending food

security problems. The approach to farming within many developing states relies on aggressive

deforestation that gives rise to monoculture large scale farming which in turn generates 10% of

greenhouse gases.20The agricultural practices also rely on outdated production processes such as

the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and plowing which is degrading the planet’s soils while also

releasing copious amounts of carbon dioxide. A switch to plant-based food sources could make

accessible 11 million square miles of land food production. While a plant based production

system has its drawbacks, the opportunity cost to a meat based system is far lower. Researchers

have found that a reduction in the consumption of beef across developed states could aid the

sustainability of global food output. Likewise, a large portion of the meat industry is subsidized

by government agencies. Allowing prices to reflect the actual cost of production would aid in a

16 Wallace-Wells, David. 201917 Ibid18 Ibid19 Ibid20 Ibid

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reduction in demand for meat. Alternatively, a tax on red meat similar to a carbon tax can also

curb demand for this costly and environmentally destructive food source. In addition to dietary

changes and cutting food waste, the IPCC argues that a rapid shift away from conventional

industrial farming methods toward regenerative techniques such as agroforestry, polyculture, no-

till farming, and organic approaches would go a long way toward restoring soils, sequestering

carbon from the atmosphere, improving long-term yields, and making crops more resilient to

climate change.21

The fallout

In April 2019 the European Union and the FAO published a report which stated that 113

million people across 53 countries experienced adverse food security problems in 2018 alone.22

Nearly two-thirds of those facing acute hunger are in just 8 countries: Afghanistan, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. In

17 countries, acute hunger either remained the same or increased. Climate and natural disasters

pushed another 29 million people into acute food insecurity in 2018. Thirteen countries

(including North Korea and Venezuela) are not in the analysis because of data gaps. In order to

avoid the impending global food crisis states must act to curb unsustainable land management. 23

One important strategy is to increase the efficiency of how we produce food by increasing the

amount of food per hectare of land, per kilo of nitrogen and per liter of water. A second strategy

is to reduce the excessive demand on resources created by resource-intensive food.

Global Food Security Crisis Within the Context of COVID-19

21 Ibid22 International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri). “2019 Global Food Policy Report:

Synopsis,” 2019. 23 Ibid

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COVID-19 has caused health and economic crises across the world. In the midst of

lockdowns, travel restrictions, people working from home, millions of workers being laid off

their jobs, etc., the world’s food production has also changed as a result of this pandemic.

Experts indicate, for instance, that the effect of COVID on food security has been felt in all four

pillars of the issue: availability, access, utilization, and stability.24 Although COVID is affecting

food security through disruptions to availability, shifts in consumer demand, and food price

instability, the most direct and severe of these impacts has been on accessibility. 25

These negative effects are not the same across the world; developing countries will face

harsher circumstances adapting to the new world reality and the shrinking global economy. The

World Bank predictions for the 2020 global economy reflect this trend. The IMF estimates that

the global economy shrunk by 4.4% in 2020. The organisation described the decline as the worst

since the Great Depression of the 1930s.26

It is difficult to estimate the impact of the pandemic on global poverty and food

insecurity due to lack of up to date household surveys for most countries. Nevertheless, estimates

can be made based on model simulations. Estimates indicate that between 90 to 150 million were

close to falling or perhaps had already fallen into extreme poverty in 2020 as a result of the

pandemic, the majority of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.27 It is

24 Swinnen, Johan and John McDermott. “COVID-19: The Impact on Global Food Security.” Agricultural Economics Society and European Association of Agricultural Economists. Pp: 26.25 Ibid.26 Jones, Lora, Daniele Palumbo, and David Brown. “Coronavirus: How the pandemic has changed the world economy.” BBC News. March 4th, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225 27 Laborde, David, et al. 2020. “COVID-19 risks to global food security: Economic fallout and food supply

chain disruptions require attention from policymakers.” International Food Policy Research Institute.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/369/6503/500.full.pdf. Pp: 501.

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important to note that although there is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding these estimates,

these reflect a substantial increase in extreme poverty worldwide.28

In terms of the global food security crisis, these numbers indicate a dreary reality. As

indicated in the report by the World Bank, this economic crisis is the primary driving force for a

major shift from more nutritious food towards cheaper but less nutritious foods at a global

scale.29 Therefore, it is also important to consider these trends through a political economic lens,

analyzing the different impact that the pandemic has had and will continue to have for people of

different income groups all around the world.

The World Bank forecasts that the global economy will shrink by more than 5 per cent this year, which would be the deepest recession since World War II. Laborde et al. (2020) predict that for every percentage point of global 28 Ibid.29 Ibid.

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economic slowdown, the number of people living in poverty would increase by 2 to 3 per cent worldwide. They estimate that, in the absence of strong interventions in developing countries, with such a global economic recession this year the number of people in extreme poverty could increase by up to 150 million, most of which would be in Africa and South Asia

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The World Bank forecasts that the global economy will shrink by more than 5 per cent this year, which would be the deepest recession since World War II. Laborde et al. (2020) predict that for every percentage point of global economic slowdown, the number of people living in poverty would increase by 2 to 3 per cent worldwide. They estimate that, in the absence of strong

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interventions in developing countries, with such a global economic recession this year the number of people in extreme poverty could increase by up to 150 million, most of which would be in Africa and South Asia

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