Rural 21 (Englische Ausgabe)

“Rural 21 – The International Journal for Rural Development” widmet sich seit über 50 Jahren den Fragen der ländlichen Entwicklung in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländern. Neben den 17 Nachhaltigkeitszielen (SDGs) der Vereinten Nationen bis 2030 stehen thematisch Landwirtschaft, Klimawandel, Forstwirtschaft, Nahrungssicherheit, Armutsbekämpfung, Gesundheit und Bildung, natürliche Ressourcen und Umweltschutz im Mittelpunkt. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 2/2023: Agrifood prices, food security and the role of trade

Following the Russian Army’s invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, food prices soared up world-wide in next to no time. Not only did the Food Price Index of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reach an all-time high, fertiliser and energy prices leapt up across the world, too – with the well-documented consequences for food production and supply in many countries, above all in those of the Global South. That the wheat price has now, some 15 months later, returned to its pre-war level – despite the war’s going on and the Ukrainian grain exports having collapsed – shows that the world markets seem to be more resilient than expected.

In this edition, our authors take a look at the complex relations which – alongside the obvious shocks and crises – are behind price formation on the international agrifood markets. They analyse what triggered the major food price spikes in past years and how the food crises then and today differ from each other. Special attention is given to the role of speculation and the growing corporate concentration in the food chain, be it the seeds, farming machinery, agrochemicals or commodity trade sector.

Historically, there has been a pronounced correlation between international food and fertiliser prices. Our authors show what long-term fertilisation strategies could look like – strategies that make farmers and the economies independent of price developments on the international fertiliser markets and above all enhance the yields and labour productivity of smallholders.

 

 

 

 

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Focus 1/2023: Energy – time for change

In addition to causing anxiety over global food security, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put the issue of energy security right at the top of the political agenda. In combination with a fear of supply bottlenecks, the dramatic fossil fuel price hikes have given new impetus to a transition to low-carbon energy sources – which is urgently needed anyway given global warming. In November last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that overall capacity of renewables is to almost double world-wide in the coming five years. Then these “clean” energy carriers could replace coal as the biggest source of electricity generation. From 2022 to 2027, the IEA is reckoning with power produced from renewable sources amounting to 2,400 gigawatts (GW) – a volume corresponding to China’s total power generating capacity. China, the USA and India are set to be the biggest drivers of renewable energy development, the IEA continues. And they are precisely the countries responsible for the largest shares world-wide of CO₂ emissions (China: 33 %; USA: 13 %; India: 7 %). The latest edition takes a look at this change in global energy flows, the challenges which are currently emerging for Africa in particular in the energy sector and the role which the Global North plays in this context.

 

 

 

 

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Focus 4/2022: Financing sustainable agri-food systems

Not only since the UN Food Systems Summit in September 2021 has the urgent need for a transformation of our agri-food systems been beyond question if SDG 2 – ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 – is not to get completely out of reach. However, the current world-wide bleak economic prospects are certainly not making the mobilisation of the resources this essentially requires any easier.

Alongside budget constraints, financial institutions sticking to their old patterns of behaviour are responsible for the urgently needed investments in the sustainable transformation of our agri-food systems having either failed to materialise or not being on target. Wrong incentives, not considering externalities in setting food and agricultural prices, lobbyism and not adequately prioritising the money available are further reasons. This edition shows you the approaches which science and development cooperation, financial institutions and the private sector regard as having proven promising in rebuilding our agri-food systems in line with the Agenda 2030 and making them resilient in the long term.

 

 

 

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Focus 3/2022: Rural development in times of pandemics 

For merely three years, the corona pandemic has held sway of our lives, with what are now more than 6.5 million deaths reported globally and millions of people who have fallen into poverty. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the global economy fell into its deepest recession since World War II. Over 90 per cent of economies saw their gross domestic product fall, by a global average of 3.3 per cent in 2020.

Extensive macroeconomic relief measures helped the world economy to achieve a slight recovery in 2021. However, this positive trend has again been nullified by the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The World Bank estimates that global growth, still at 5.7 per cent in 2021, will have dropped to 2.9 per cent by the end of the year.

Even though we are not yet able to assess the long-term impacts of the pandemic today, insights so far paint a rather sobering picture. Existing social and economic inequalities have become further aggravated, and the world’s goal of ending hunger and poverty is getting further and further out of reach.

 

 

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Focus 2/2022: Healthy soil – healthy people – healthy planet

We cannot live without healthy soil and land. It is on these resources that we produce most of our food and build our homes. We need them to provide clean water and precious plant nutrients, to conserve biological diversity and to cope with climate change. And they form the basis for the livelihoods of millions of people. But despite such known facts, these valuable resources are in a dire state. A third of all soils world-wide are already degraded, and each year, further huge expanses of fertile land go lost.

We know that the only way to reverse this trend is with a paradigm shift – away from a resource-intensive mode of production and towards a resource-friendly mode considering the planetary boundaries while placing our global agricultural and food systems on sustainable foundations. Our authors and interview partners share examples of global and national initiatives and policies as well as research insights and practical examples addressing this topic with you.

 

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Focus 1/2022: Land-sea interactions

The increase in anthropogenic activities at the interface between land and sea is having a severe impact on coastal ecosystems and their services. And this is also affecting the livelihoods of coastal communities, which are already especially hard-hit by the effects of climate change. It is all the more important to find governance structures that consider the interdependencies between land and sea and allow proper management of possible externalities.

 

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Focus 2/2021: Tailwind for sustainable artisanal fisheries

In mid-June 2021 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was officially launched by the UN General Assembly. It follows the UN Decade on Biodiversity, which closed with the sobering assessment that none of the targets which the international community had set itself on world-wide conservation of biodiversity, the so-called Aichi Targets, had been fully achieved. On the contrary, never before has species extinction progressed as rapidly as during the last 100 years. And this is happening despite our all being fully aware that biological diversity and its related ecosystem services – such as food, clean water, clean air and natural ingredients of medicines, to name just a few – are essential for the survival of humankind.

When the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration draws to a close, we will also have reached the target year of Agenda 2030, the year by which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ought to have been achieved. All of us know that the majority of these Goals cannot be reached if the current pace of biological extinction is not slowed down. And since the corona pandemic at the latest, it has become unambiguously clear just how closely the well-being of humans and that of nature are linked. So it is high time for us to rethink and completely revise our relationship with nature.

One opportunity for this comes up this year’s October, when the international community gathers in Kunming, China, at the 15^th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to negotiate a new global biodiversity framework. What do we expect from these talks? We couldn’t put it better than Christian Schwarzer, Founding Member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, who said at the recent European Development Days: “I want you to fight for biodiversity as if the life of your beloved family were at stake.”

 

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Focus 2/2021: Food systems, nutrition and the SDGs

In mid-June 2021 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was officially launched by the UN General Assembly. It follows the UN Decade on Biodiversity, which closed with the sobering assessment that none of the targets which the international community had set itself on world-wide conservation of biodiversity, the so-called Aichi Targets, had been fully achieved. On the contrary, never before has species extinction progressed as rapidly as during the last 100 years. And this is happening despite our all being fully aware that biological diversity and its related ecosystem services – such as food, clean water, clean air and natural ingredients of medicines, to name just a few – are essential for the survival of humankind.

When the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration draws to a close, we will also have reached the target year of Agenda 2030, the year by which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ought to have been achieved. All of us know that the majority of these Goals cannot be reached if the current pace of biological extinction is not slowed down. And since the corona pandemic at the latest, it has become unambiguously clear just how closely the well-being of humans and that of nature are linked. So it is high time for us to rethink and completely revise our relationship with nature.

One opportunity for this comes up this year’s October, when the international community gathers in Kunming, China, at the 15^th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to negotiate a new global biodiversity framework. What do we expect from these talks? We couldn’t put it better than Christian Schwarzer, Founding Member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, who said at the recent European Development Days: “I want you to fight for biodiversity as if the life of your beloved family were at stake.”

 

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Focus 2/2021: Biodiversity

In mid-June 2021 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was officially launched by the UN General Assembly. It follows the UN Decade on Biodiversity, which closed with the sobering assessment that none of the targets which the international community had set itself on world-wide conservation of biodiversity, the so-called Aichi Targets, had been fully achieved. On the contrary, never before has species extinction progressed as rapidly as during the last 100 years. And this is happening despite our all being fully aware that biological diversity and its related ecosystem services – such as food, clean water, clean air and natural ingredients of medicines, to name just a few – are essential for the survival of humankind.

When the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration draws to a close, we will also have reached the target year of Agenda 2030, the year by which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ought to have been achieved. All of us know that the majority of these Goals cannot be reached if the current pace of biological extinction is not slowed down. And since the corona pandemic at the latest, it has become unambiguously clear just how closely the well-being of humans and that of nature are linked. So it is high time for us to rethink and completely revise our relationship with nature.

One opportunity for this comes up this year’s October, when the international community gathers in Kunming, China, at the 15^th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) to negotiate a new global biodiversity framework. What do we expect from these talks? We couldn’t put it better than Christian Schwarzer, Founding Member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, who said at the recent European Development Days: “I want you to fight for biodiversity as if the life of your beloved family were at stake.”

 

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