Global Food Systems in Crisis: A Human Rights Approach

Abstract

The current structure of global governance is not capable of solving rising hunger and malnutrition given the adverse impact of recent multiple crises, including recurrent famine threats, excessive capital concentration, climate change, increasing pressure on natural resources, economic shocks, and disruptions to global food supply chains caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. There are two dominant views about how to respond in the face of a broken system of global food governance. One dominant view is a production-oriented, neo-liberal market model that supports globalised food systems. The second is a human rights-based approach that promotes the right to food, including women’s rights and the rights of food workers and peasants. This chapter argues that transformation of global food systems will not be achieved unless the substantive and procedural principles of the human rights system are integrated into global food governance. It examines, among others, several global food crises, the limitations of the current structure of global governance, the legal and political developments of the right to food, and recommendations for the transformation of global food systems to achieve a sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable system.