World Food Security

D. JOHN SHAW was associated with the United Nations World Food Programme for over thirty years, almost from the start of its operations in 1963, latterly as Economic Adviser and Chief of its Policy Affairs Service. He was also a Consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Bank. Previously, he was a postgraduate in Agricultural Economics at the University of Oxford, UK, Senior Lecturer in Rural Economy at the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and Fellow in Agricultural Economics and a founder member of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. He has written extensively on development, food security and food aid issues and now serves on the International Editorial Board of the journal Food Policy.

'With masterly attention to detail and sources, John Shaw traces the twists and turns of the evolving story of world food security. The strength and originality of Shaw's account is its comprehensiveness, never losing the storyline but bridging the macro and the micro, commodity agreements and global reserves, human rights and early warning systems and the roles of all the UN agencies involved. This fascinating account provides another piece in the jigsaw of the UN's contributions to economic and social governance over the last 60 years and the lessons to be drawn for facing the challenges of the years ahead.' - Professor Sir Richard Jolly, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, and the UN Intellectual History Project, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA 'Hunger and under-nutrition provide the graphic images which drive an oft-stated passion for international development - by politicians and ordinary citizens. Why, then, are hunger reduction targets so often missed? John Shaw reminds us that passion and commitment need to be complemented with the hard grind of policy and institutional change. His authoritative history illustrates the frustrations, but also the hope. Hunger in the world is falling partly because we have acted collectively to make it so.' - Simon Maxwell, Director, Overseas Development Institute, London, UK

• PART I: 1945-70: EARLY ATTEMPTS: FAO'S PIONEERING WORK FAO's Origins Food Surpluses: Historical Background World Food Board Proposal International Commodity Clearing House A World Food Reserve National Food Reserves in Developing Countries International Commodity Agreements Freedom from Hunger Campaign The Development of Food Aid PART II: 1970-90: THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS OF THE 1970S AND ITS AFTERMATH World Food Crisis World Food Conference 1974 International Undertaking on World Food Security An International Grain Reserve System International Emergency Food Reserve Global Information and Early Warning System International Trade, Stability and Agricultural Adjustment World Food Council ILO World Employment Conference 1976 Food Entitlement Pragmatism and Politics World Bank Perspective Food Subsidies PART III: THE 1990S AND BEYOND: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES International Development Strategy for the 1990s International Conferences World Summit for Children 1990 UN Conference on Environment and Development 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment 1992 International Conference on Nutrition 1992 World Conference on Human Rights 1993 World Conference on Overcoming Global Hunger 1993 International Conference on Population and Development 1994 World Summit for Social Development 1995 A 2020 Vision for Food Agriculture and the Environment 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women 1995 World Food Summit 1996 World Agricultural Trade: WTO and the Doha Declaration UN Millennium Summit 2000 International Conference on Financing for Development 2002 World Summit 2005 PART IV: ASSESSMENT: THE GRAVEYARD OF ASPIRATIONS Redefining the Concept of Food Security Dimensions of Poverty Future Action