6. Farming futures

Author(s):  
Paul Brassley ◽  
Richard Soffe

National governments as well as international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization all have an interest in agriculture. So too do numerous non-governmental organizations, pressure groups, and charities. ‘Farming futures’ first considers some of the arguments around agricultural policy. It then goes on to look at some of the most important questions that agricultural policymakers currently have to think about: what will be the impact of climate change? What is the impact of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and are they safe to use? Will we be able to meet the demand for food by the world’s growing population?

1983 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.A. Keenleyside

Prior to 1947, India, despite its dependence upon Great Britain, was represented in most of the bonafide international conferences and organizations that evolved especially during the inter-war years. For example, India participated in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Washington Conference on Naval Armaments of 1921, the London Naval Conference of 1930, the Disarmament Conference of 1932 and the annual inter-war conferences of the International Labour Organization. In addition, India was represented in two important international organizations of the inter-war period—the British Commonwealth, in whose deliberations it was included from 1917 onwards and the League of Nations, of which it was a founding member. For a variety of reasons; Indians involved in the independence movement disassociated themselves from and were critical of official Indian diplomacy conducted through the major international conferences and institutions of the world community and tended to attach greater importance to those non-governmental organizations in which the voice of nationalist India could be fully heard—that is to the deliberations of such bodies as the League Against Imperialism, 1927–1930, the Anti-War Congress of 1932, the World Peace Congress of 1936 and the International Peace Campaign Conference of 1938. Nevertheless, despite the nationalist antipathy for official Indian diplomacy, an examination of such governmental institutions as the League of Nations from the perspective of nationalist India is still important in order to understand some aspects of independent India's foreign policy and more specifically its approach to international organization. Further, even though Indian delegations to the League were unrepresentative, there were subtle ways in which they reflected national Indian opinions and exhibited specifically Indian traits, so that a study of the official Indian role is useful in drawing attention to what were to prove to be some of the earliest and most persisting elements of independent Indian diplomacy via such bodies as the United Nations. It is thus the purpose of this article first to explore nationalist Indian attitudes towards the League (especially the reasons for opposition to the organization), second to analyze the extent to which the official Indian role in the League reflected nationalist Indian concerns, and third to comment upon the impact of the League of Nations on independent India's foreign policy, especially its role in the United Nations.


2008 ◽  
pp. 2379-2395
Author(s):  
Peter J. Smith ◽  
Elizabeth Smythe

This chapter examines how information technologies have been used by non-governmental organizations to contest economic globalization. The chapter uses as case studies the failed attempt to negotiate the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (1995-1998) and the failed effort to launch a new round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization ministerial meetings in Seattle 1999. We do not take the simplistic view that non-governmental organizations were solely responsible for defeating the MAI, or stopping further trade negotiations, but rather use these cases to examine how Internet technology contributed to the capacity of groups to communicate, to quickly mobilize and widely disseminate critical information, outside the control of national elites.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.I Khamidov

Since January 2020, the world faced one of the largest outbreaks of human history that coronavirus (Covid-19) began spreading among countries across the globe. Plenty of research institutes developed insights and estimations regarding the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture and food security system. The UN estimations indicate that more than 132 million people around the world may have hunger due to the economic recession as a result of the pandemic. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is pushing forward the strategies in order for increasing food supply in developing countries and providing assistance to food producers and suppliers. World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that the pandemic may not finish by the end of 2020 and countries should be prepared for longer effects within 2021. In this regard, ensuring food security as well as sufficient food supply would be one of the crucial aspects of policy functions in developing countries.


Author(s):  
Joseph M. Siracusa

‘Diplomacy in the age of globalization’ discusses the diplomatic challenges faced by globalization. The diplomacy of the global economic system ranges from the activities of transnational corporations to the interventions of global economic intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), particularly the World Trade Organization. These all have important diplomatic webs that operate both within and outside the traditional diplomatic system. This is also true of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which play a significant role in filling service gaps in the provision of education, health and welfare, disaster relief, and small-scale infrastructure development left by governments with insufficient resources or insufficient political will.


1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-468
Author(s):  
Ineke Boerefijn ◽  
Koen Davidse

In this article, the authors deal with the impact of the World Conference on Human Rights (WCHR) on the supervision of the implementation of human rights, one of the main topics on the agenda of the WCHR. Within the framework of the United Nations, various procedures have been developed regarding the international supervision of human rights norms. Procedures have been established on the basis of treaties as well as on the basis of resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights. Many contributions were made on this issue to the WCHR, from inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations as well as independent experts. Submissions concerned the strengthening of existing mechanisms, as well as the creation of new mechanisms. After describing developments initiated by the relevant supervisory bodies themselves, the authors examine to which extent the WCHR gave an impetus to the strengthening of the current machinery, through further enhancing and expanding treaty-based supervision and through strengthening the position of independent experts mandated by the Commission on Human Rights. Next, the authors examine whether the WCHR gives room for the creation of new mechanisms, such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights.


1954 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-560

In the foreword to the annual report on the state of food and agriculture, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (Cardon) noted that 1953 had marked a turning point in the postwar food and agriculture situation. The growth of world production had caught up with the world growth of population, and during 1953/54 production had oontinued to expand. No essential change in this line of development was predicted for the crop year 1954/55. Two major problems, Dr. Cardon stated, confronted FAO: 1) how to reduce existing agricultural surpluses without imbalancing world trade in agricultural commodities, and 2) how to ensure continued agricultural expansion in selected products and countries so as to raise the level of world nutrition as a whole.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 304-309
Author(s):  
Shristy Poddar ◽  
Sumit Bharti ◽  
Kavitha S Sharma

The dynamic development of the microfinance business has been advanced by market powers as well as by cognizant activities of national governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and the benefactors who view microfinance as a successful device for killing neediness. The incredible push behind this immense and expanding support for microfinance showed that national monetary and social effects are noteworthy and it should be analysed all the more intently.   Self Help Group (SHG) provides microfinance services for people in rural regions so they can use the capital for small business, productive work and become financially stable and independent. In this article, we have described the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation its impacts on people and society. Here we have explained, the main purpose of this article is to present Microfinance and how it can be useful for poor people and the reduction of unemployment.


2011 ◽  
pp. 272-307
Author(s):  
Peter J. Smith ◽  
Elizabeth Smythe

This chapter examines how information technologies have been used by non-governmental organizations to contest economic globalization. The chapter uses as case studies the failed attempt to negotiate the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (1995-1998) and the failed effort to launch a new round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization ministerial meetings in Seattle 1999. We do not take the simplistic view that non-governmental organizations were solely responsible for defeating the MAI, or stopping further trade negotiations, but rather use these cases to examine how Internet technology contributed to the capacity of groups to communicate, to quickly mobilize and widely disseminate critical information, outside the control of national elites.


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