89
6 Food Security in the Context of Fisheries and Aquaculture…
After a long history of UN deliberations and communications on the inclusion of
food as a human right among others, a clear exposition of the right to food was
agreed in 2002 under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights: “the right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child,
alone or in community with others, has the physical and economic access at all
times to adequate food or means for its procurement”. However, as Haddad and
Oshaug ( 1998 ) warned, the human rights approach to food security can be a blunt
set of tools. Human behaviour sometimes ignores human rights, as well as the environmental uncertainties and risks that attend food production.
The dif fi culties of governing and funding food production and distribution often
make it very dif fi cult to ful fi ll all rights to food. One cannot eat rights, just as one
cannot eat money. It is little use having a right to food, if the basis for its provision,
a healthy food-producing ecosystem, has been irreversibly compromised. Parties to
International Conventions that should have helped to sustain the contributions of
fi sh to food security (e.g., the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and
the Convention on Biological Diversity) emphasize their rights under those conventions rather than their obligations, especially those for the conservation of fi sheries
ecosystems.
Moore reviewed progress of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) in following a right-to-food and rights-based approach to food
security, de fi ning the latter as: “…recognition that all people have a legal right to
adequate food and to be free from hunger, and (taking) this right as a focus for
actions” ( 2005 , 141). FAO ( 2002 ) has continued to make huge contributions towards
achieving food security; for example, publishing standard methods for assessing
food deprivation, and establishing the Right to Food Forum and information service
( www.fao.org/righttofood/ ).
FAO regards food insecurity as: “A situation that exists when people lack secure
access to suf fi cient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and
development and an active healthy life. It may be caused by the unavailability of
food, insuf fi cient purchasing power or the inappropriate distribution or inadequate
use of food at the household level. Food insecurity, poor conditions of health and
sanitation and inappropriate care and feeding practices are the major causes of poor
nutritional status. Food insecurity may be chronic, seasonal or transitory.” Within
the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty
and Hunger, Target 1.c. is to “halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of
people who suffer from hunger” ( www.un.org/millenniumgoals ).
De fi nitions of Food Security
The FAO de fi nition of food security is used widely and is accepted here: “Food
security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to
suf fi cient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences
for a healthy and active life” (FAO 1996 , 2). However, applying this broad de fi nition
6 Food Security in the Context of Fisheries and Aquaculture…
After a long history of UN deliberations and communications on the inclusion of
food as a human right among others, a clear exposition of the right to food was
agreed in 2002 under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights: “the right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child,
alone or in community with others, has the physical and economic access at all
times to adequate food or means for its procurement”. However, as Haddad and
Oshaug ( 1998 ) warned, the human rights approach to food security can be a blunt
set of tools. Human behaviour sometimes ignores human rights, as well as the environmental uncertainties and risks that attend food production.
The dif fi culties of governing and funding food production and distribution often
make it very dif fi cult to ful fi ll all rights to food. One cannot eat rights, just as one
cannot eat money. It is little use having a right to food, if the basis for its provision,
a healthy food-producing ecosystem, has been irreversibly compromised. Parties to
International Conventions that should have helped to sustain the contributions of
fi sh to food security (e.g., the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and
the Convention on Biological Diversity) emphasize their rights under those conventions rather than their obligations, especially those for the conservation of fi sheries
ecosystems.
Moore reviewed progress of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) in following a right-to-food and rights-based approach to food
security, de fi ning the latter as: “…recognition that all people have a legal right to
adequate food and to be free from hunger, and (taking) this right as a focus for
actions” ( 2005 , 141). FAO ( 2002 ) has continued to make huge contributions towards
achieving food security; for example, publishing standard methods for assessing
food deprivation, and establishing the Right to Food Forum and information service
( www.fao.org/righttofood/ ).
FAO regards food insecurity as: “A situation that exists when people lack secure
access to suf fi cient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and
development and an active healthy life. It may be caused by the unavailability of
food, insuf fi cient purchasing power or the inappropriate distribution or inadequate
use of food at the household level. Food insecurity, poor conditions of health and
sanitation and inappropriate care and feeding practices are the major causes of poor
nutritional status. Food insecurity may be chronic, seasonal or transitory.” Within
the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty
and Hunger, Target 1.c. is to “halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of
people who suffer from hunger” ( www.un.org/millenniumgoals ).
De fi nitions of Food Security
The FAO de fi nition of food security is used widely and is accepted here: “Food
security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to
suf fi cient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences
for a healthy and active life” (FAO 1996 , 2). However, applying this broad de fi nition