Food Security In The High North

This book explores the challenges facing food security, sustainability, sovereignty, and supply chains in the Arctic, with a specific focus on Indigenous Peoples. Offering multidisciplinary insights and with a particular focus on populations in the European High North region, the book highlights the importance of accessible and sustainable traditional foods for the dietary needs of local and Indigenous Peoples. It focuses on foods and natural products that are unique to this region and considers how they play a significant role towards food security and sovereignty. The book captures the tremendous complexity facing populations here as they strive to maintain sustainable food systems – both subsistent and commercial – and regain sovereignty over traditional food production policies. A range of issues are explored including food contamination risks, due to increasing human activities in the region, such as mining, to changing livelihoods and gender roles in the maintenance of traditional food security and sovereignty. The book also considers processing methods that combine indigenous and traditional knowledge to convert the traditional foods, that are harvested and hunted, into local foods. This book offers a broader understanding of food security and sovereignty and will be of interest to academics, scholars and policy makers working in food studies; geography and environmental studies; agricultural studies; sociology; anthropology; political science; health studies and biology.

Food insecurity presents a serious and growing challenge in Canada’s northern and remote Aboriginal communities. In 2011, off-reserve Aboriginal households in Canada were about twice as likely as other Canadian households to be food insecure. Finding lasting solutions will require the involvement not just of policy-makers but of those most affected by food insecurity: people living in the North. In recognition of this problem, the Minister of Health, on behalf of Health Canada, asked the Council of Canadian Academies to appoint an expert panel to assess the knowledge of the factors influencing food security in the Canadian North and of the health implications of food insecurity for northern Aboriginal populations. The Expert Panel on the State of Knowledge of Food Security in Northern Canada found that food insecurity among northern Aboriginal peoples requires urgent attention in order to mitigate impacts on health and well-being. Aboriginal Food Security in Northern Canada: An Assessment of the State of Knowledge offers policy-makers a holistic starting-point for discussion and problem-solving. It also provides evidence and options to researchers and communities engaging in local responses.

Food Security Governance in the Arctic-Barents Region provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the major food security and safety challenges faced in the Arctic region. The authors address existing gaps in current knowledge of the coordination and implementation of legal framework and policy that affects the Arctic. The volume is unique in its focus on the Barents region, an area of northern Europe containing Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The region has a population of approximately 5.2 million, including indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. The authors offer a balanced and systemic review of the role of traditional foods in this region, along with an overview of the regulatory tools and institutions that govern food security. Food security and safety in the –Arctic-Barents region is connected to and impacted by transformations from both inside and outside the area. Climate change, globalization and human activities affect the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food. The result of these transformations has an impact on the food security and safety for both indigenous and non-indigenous individuals and communities. The authors, by highlighting these challenges, reveal the importance of having harmonized policies and legal tools in place in order to strengthen food security and safety in the Barents region. The book forms part of the main outcome of the Academy of Finland’s ongoing project on Human Security as a promotional tool for societal security in the Arctic: Addressing Multiple Vulnerability to its Population with Specific Reference to the Barents Region (HuSArctic). Researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders will find the book to be an important contribution to the promotion of policies and strategies on food security.

This book looks at food security from a socio-economic perspective. It offers a detailed and systematic examination of food security from its historical backgrounds, concepts and measurements, to the determinants and approaches to achieve food security. The book also introduces the key challenges and root causes of food insecurity. Through country-specific cases, the book highlights instances of both successful and disastrous national food security management and their outcomes. The invaluable learning experiences of these countries shed light on food security practices, and the straightforward demand-supply framework effectively guides readers in understanding food security issues. This is an essential resource for anyone who is keen to learn more about food security, particularly researchers and university students who are new to the field. The book endeavours to help us reflect on the current phenomenon and strategize better for the future.

This book examines what sovereignty and security mean in an Arctic region that is changing rapidly due to the intersection of globalization, climate change, and geopolitical competition.

A review of 120 studies published since 2006 was undertaken to examine the relationship between food insecurity at the household or individual level and the following nutrition indicators: child stunting, child wasting, low birth weight, exclusive breastfeeding of infants < 6 months of age, anaemia in women of reproductive age, child overweight and adult obesity. While there is some evidence of a direct association between food insecurity and stunting for children in lower-middle and upper-middle income countries, evidence of links between food insecurity and either child wasting or overweight is almost absent, with the exception of an association with overweight among girls in middle- and high-income countries. The obesity–food insecurity link is most predominant among women in high-income countries, while it is almost absent in men. In addition, food insecurity increases the risk for low birth weight in infants and anaemia in women. Methodological concerns that pose challenges for valid comparison of results relate to study design, data analysis techniques, use of different indicators of household/individual food security and malnutrition, and the limited availability of high-quality micro-level data from large-scale surveys. Most studies report correlation rather than causal associations between food insecurity and nutrition indicators; longitudinal micro-level data from large-scale surveys can help establish causal association and capture the dynamic nature of food insecurity. Food insecurity emerges as a predictor of undernutrition as well as overweight and obesity, highlighting the need for multisectoral strategies and policies to combat food insecurity and multiple forms of malnutrition.

Food security is high on the political agenda. Fears about societal insecurity due to food price increases and hunger, grave scenarios regarding the effects of climate change and general uncertainty about the impacts of investments in biofuels and so-call “land grabbing” on food prices and availability have meant that food security is now recognised as being a multifaceted challenge. This book is unique in that it will bring together analyses of these different factors that impact on food security. This volume will describe a range of different perspectives on food security, with an emphasis on the various meanings that are applied to food security “crisis”. The challenges to be reviewed include market volatility, climate change and state fragility. Analyses of responses to food security crises and risk will cover rural and urban contexts, arenas of national policy formation and global food regimes, and investment in land and productive technologies. This book is unique in two respects. First, it takes a step back from the normative literature focused on specific factors of, for example, climate change, agricultural production or market volatility to look instead at the dynamic interplay between these new challenges. It helps readers to understand that food security is not one discourse, but is rather related to how these different factors generate multiple risks and opportunities. Second, through the case studies the book particularly emphasises how these factors come together at local levels as farmers, entrepreneurs, consumers, local government officials and others are making key decisions about what will be done to address food security and whose food security will be given priority. The book will explore how food production and consumption is embedded in powerful political and market forces and how these influence local actions.