GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY SPEAKER

Tammara Soma is a food system planner and a Doctoral candidate in urban planning at the University of Toronto with a specialization in food waste. She has extensive experience in food justice advocacy, having worked with organizations such as Sustain Ontario and FoodShare Toronto. She has also worked in the public sector with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Greenbelt Section and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Her community service includes serving as a member of the steering committee of Food Secure Canada, and she was one of the founding members of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council (serving as its Vice-Chair from 2009 to 2010). Tammara is also the Co-Founder of the Food Systems Lab, which aims to work with private, public and community organizations to find solutions to Canada’s food waste problem.

Tammara Soma

GII STUDENT WORK

Per the roadmap presented at the Global Ideas Institute Launch, this year’s program contains two critical elements of student engagement as we approach the mid-way point. Details about these two areas of engagement can be found below: 1. Interview with Community-Based Organization Deadline: January 16, 2017 Following the November 30th GII session, students are tasked with identifying an organization in their community that is addressing food security and coordinating a one-hour interview. During the interview, students should aim to gather information about how the organization is approaching the issue of food security, what successes and challenges they have seen, and any insights they can share about what makes a solution effective. Students should plan their specific line of questioning using the enclosed interview guide: Overview Interview Guide 2. Initial Student Pitch Deadline: January 16, 2017 At the January 16th GII session, students will present a two-minute pitch of their initial idea. This pitch session will replace the typical two-minute mentor workshop, following the GII lecture. The students will pitch to a food security expert and receive initial feedback. Details on the student pitch are outlined below:

What should my pitch contain?

1. What aspect of food security are you aiming to address with your solution? 2. Why? 3. What region will you focus on for the implementation of your solution? (Note: students must select a specific community/population group in either Canada or India for the implementation of their solution.) Who is the target audience? Students will be pitching to an expert working in the area of food security. They should consider this as an opportunity to gain feedback on their focus area, and rationale at this mid-way point of the GII program. Do I require any materials for the student pitch? No. Students will not have access to a screen for PowerPoint or visuals for this pitch. Students should treat this as an “Elevator Pitch”, a catchy 2-minute verbal pitch. Does the entire team need to present the pitch? No. Students may select 1 or more team members to deliver the pitch. Team members who do not chose to deliver the pitch itself will be given an opportunity to speak during the expert feedback portion of the pitch session.

to be Completed by January 16, 2017

GII 2017-2018 ROADMAPG

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While it is important to ensure that solutions to food insecurity are tailored at specific areas and communities, it is possible to construct a general framework to help us think about the factors leading to food insecurity around the world.1

The list of causes of food insecurity is long and multifaceted: they range from political instability, war and civil strife, macroeconomic imbalances and trade dislocations to environmental degradation, poverty, population growth, gender inequality, inadequate education, and poor health. All, however, can be related in some fashion to two basic causes: insufficient national food availability and insufficient access to food by households and individuals.

1 This information is from: Lisa C Smith, Amani El Obeid, and Helen Jensen, “The Geography and Causes of Food Insecuri-ty in Developing Countries” Agricultural Economics 22 (2000) 199-215.

A conceptual framework for understanding the global-national-household-individual linkages related to food security can be seen in the previous column.

Global and national food availability stand at the most macro level of the food security ‘equation’. Global food availability is determined by total world food production. In any given year, national food availability is determined by a country’s own food production, its stocks of food, and its net imports of food (imports minus exports), including food aid..Closer to food security is household and individual access to food. Access to food may be gained through (1) production or gathering of food, (2) purchase of food on the market with cash income, and/or (3) receipts of in-kind transfers of food (whether from other private citizens, national or for-eign governments, or international institutions).

A household’s expenditures of full income for achieving food security compete with expenditures on other basic needs (e.g. health care, housing, and basic education) as well as non-necessities. A household or individual unable to meet all basic needs can be considered to be in absolute poverty. Within households, individual food access is influenced by intrahousehold food distribution decisions.

WHAT LEADS TO FOOD INSECURITY?

KEY VULNERABILITIES

Related to Food Insecurity

Environmental

Polar SystemsHigh exposure to sea-level rise and costal flooding including storm surge of people, economic activity and infrastrucure in low-lying coastal zones, small island developing states (SIDS), and other small islandsMountain areas (landslide, erosion, water cycle perturbation, shift of ecosystems)Coastal and SIDS fishing communities depending on ecosystem servicesWarm water coral reefs and respective ecosystem services for coastal communitiesAlready degraded areas (land degradation, droughts, not having recovered from ex-treme events)Areas facing water scarcity and irregular supplies, or constraints on increasing suppliesPoorly endowed farmers in drylands or pastoralists with insufficient access to drinking and irrigation waterAreas having suffered diminution of genetic poolsPopulations and infrastructure exposed to novel hazards and lacking historical experi-ence with those hazardsMonoculture-based systems (pests and diseases, drought)

Economic

Populations with limited ability to compensate for losses in rainfed systems and pastoral systemsPopulations prone to conflict over natural resourcesSocieties susceptible to loss of provisioning, regulation and cultural services from terres-trial ecosystemsUndernourished and malnourished populationsPoorer populations in urban and rural settings; includes particularly farmers who are net food buyers and people in low-income, agriculturally dependent economies that are net food importers

Social

Marginalized rural population with multidimensional poverty and limited alternative livelihoodsLimited ability to cope and adapt due to marginalizaztion, high poverty and culturally imposed gender rolesLimited ability to cope among the elderly and female-headed householdsCountries in protracted food security crisis

Institutional

Areas with inadequate water services and infrastructuresLack of capacity and resilience in water management regimesInappropriate land policy (including lack of tenure systems)Misperception and undermining of pastoral livelihoods. Insufficient local governmental attention to disaster risk reductionOverly hazard-specific management planning and infrastructure design, and/or low forecasting capability

The problemAccording to the United Nations, India has a quarter of the global hunger burden amounting to nearly 195 million undernourished people. Nearly 47 million or 4 out of 10 children in India are not meeting their full human potential because of chronic undernutrition or stunting.2

Beyond undernourishment, India also faces high rates of other forms of malnutrition. Obesity and related health issues are a health issue amongst certain sectors of the population, and micronutrient deficiencies are pervasive.3

While the prevalence of malnutrition has decreased in recent years, India’s economic growth as a country has not led to the expected improvement in this area.4

India, as a country, generally has sufficient levels of national food supply to accommodate the needs of its citizens. However, despite the availability of food, individual and household accessibility to food supplies is lacking. As such, India suffers from an acute problem in terms of food and nutrient accessibility.5

Extant government initiativesIn 2013, India’s Parliament passed the National Food Security Act in order to address the issue of food insecurity in the country. This legislation led to the implementation of a number of programs such as child nutrition programs and maternity benefits.

A program known as the Targeted Public Distribution System has developed into a pillar of the government initiative. This program aims to provide roughly two

2 United Nations in India, “Nutrition and Food Security”, online: <http://in.one.un.org/un-priority-areas-in-india/nutri-tion-and-food-security/>.3 Sudha Narayanan, “Food Security in India: The Imperative and Its Challenges”, Asia & The Pacific Policy Studies, 12 Janu-ary 2015.4 Ibid.5 Ibid.6 United Nations in India, supra note 2.7 PRS Legislative Research, “Food Security in India”, 16 October 2017, online: <http://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/?tag=-food-grains>.8 Narayana, supra note 3.9 United Nations in India, supra note 2.

thirds of the Indian population, and particularly the poorest sectors of the population, with subsidized foodgrains.6 This program has shown some success, but there is still much room to improve the state of food security in India.

Drivers of food insecurity in IndiaThe drivers of food insecurity in India are diverse. The government initiatives are positive but not without problems. Government distribution of the food is subject to significant levels of theft during transportation, and there are other issues related to fraud and improper identification of program beneficiaries at the final stage of food provision.7 There are also concerns that food is not being distributed equitably within the households that it reaches. Furthermore, the government initiatives are primarily targeted at minimizing undernourishment, but do not combat overconsumption or micronutrient deficiencies.8

There are also a number of more general problems. Food costs in the country are rising quickly and have outpaced household income growth. Other problems include slowed agriculture growth, the effects of climate change, and land degradation. For example, large areas of farmland in the country have become barren due to the improper use of fertilizers.9

Structural issues related to poverty and income inequality also remain ever-present drivers of food insecurity in the country.

FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA

Regional Focus

October 13 – Introduction to Food Security

GII Challenge Brief

November 2 – What is Complex Problem-Solving?

Mandatory reading:“Feeding the World Into the Future – food and nutrition security: the role of food science and technology” Jenny Tian, Brian Bryska and Rickey Yada, Frontiers in Life Science, 05 May 2016.

“Food Security” Richard Hodson, Nature, 27 April 2017.

“Nutrition: A world of insecurity” Julie Gould, Nature, 27 April 2017.

Recommended reading:2017 Global Food Policy Report International Food Policy Research Institute, 2017.

Food Security: Everybody’s BusinessSophie Healy-Thow, Tedx Youth, 10 February 2016.

November 30 – Food Security in Canada

Mandatory reading:Nutrition and Food SecurityUnited Nations in India.

India’s National Food Security Act (NFSA): Early ExperiencesRaghav Puri, LANSA Working Paper Series 14, 2017.

Hunger in a Time of Plenty: The Curious Case of Indian Food SecurityNeeta Lal, The Wire, 30 August 2016.

Recommended reading:India’s NFSA: Fiscal Assessment and Implementation ChallengesRajiv Ranjan, FIIB Business Review, June 2016.

Food Security: How to ensure no one sleeps with an empty stomach Alka Parikh, Mumbai University, TEDxDAIICT, 08 August 2016. 

December 14 – Food Security in India

Mandatory reading: Food Insecurity in CanadaPROOF: Food Insecurity Policy Research.

READING LIST

Topic Date Reading themeIntroduction to Food Security and GII

October 13 Challenge Briefing

What is Complex Problem-Solving?

November 2 Food Security – A complex problem

Food Security Globally November 30 Food Security in India

REACH December 14 Food Security in Canada

Case Studies: Failed Solutions January 16 Failed solutions

Expert Panel Q&A February 20 Innovative solutions

Behavioural Economics March 6 Food security and decision-making

Polishing your Pitch March 27 Pitching and Presentations

Final Symposium April 13

There’s a Food Security Crisis in Canada and It’s Worse Than You ThinkRebecca Tucker, VICE, 07 December 2015.

Food Insecurity in Community Food Programs among Low-income Toronto FamiliesSharon Kirkpatrick and Valeria Tarasuk, Canadian Journal of Public Health, 100:2, March 2009

Conceptualizing Food Security for Aboriginal people in CanadaElaine Power, Canadian Journal of Public Health, 99:2, March 2008.

January 16 – Failed Solutions

Mandatory reading:Why Big Data Hasn’t Yet Made a Dent on FarmsEliot Brown, Wall Street Journal, 15 May 2017.

Lessons in Scaling and FailingAnjali Sharker, Shameran Abed and Christian Seelos, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2016.

Learning From FailureEric Nee, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 18 February 2015.

Failing Up for Social Enterprise SuccessEpaminondas Farmakis, Devex, 15 August 2014.

February 20 – Solutions at Scale

Mandatory reading:FoodShare’s Good Food Programming: Hubs Within a HubCassie Wever, 2015.

This Woman Has Been A Leader in Toronto Food SecurityWayne Roberts, Torontoist, 3 October 2016.

Case Study: Reuters Market LightPeter McNally, Mobile for Development Impact, October 2014.

Recommended reading:

Connected Farming in IndiaRML AgTech Ltd, 17 June 2015.