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Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Water contamination can be equally damaging. In Guatemala, for example, contamination of the Pasión River with the pesticide malathion, used on palm oil plantations, killed thousands of fish and affected 23 species of fish. This in turn deprived 12,000 people in 14 communities of their primary source of food and livelihood.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 72j
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Develop the necessary legal structure in order to protect resources directly related to the right to access adequate and nutritious food, such as water sources, access to land and seed production;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, the 2014 report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change addresses the impacts of climate change on people in the context of food security, health, access to water and personal security, noting that the poor and marginalized are most vulnerable.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The exclusive focus on increasing agricultural production has also had severe environmental impacts. The twentieth-century "Green Revolution" technological package combined the use of high-yielding plant varieties with increased irrigation, the mechanization of agricultural production and the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and pesticides. Thanks to State support in the form of subsidies and marketing, this was effective in increasing the production volumes of major cereals (particularly maize, wheat and rice) and of soybean. The Green Revolution was an attempt to meet the challenge as it was framed at the time: to ensure that increases in agricultural productivity would match population growth and the dietary transition facilitated by rising incomes. It led, however, to an extension of monocultures and thus to a significant loss of agrobiodiversity and to accelerated soil erosion. The overuse of chemical fertilizers polluted fresh water, increasing its phosphorus content and leading to a flow of phosphorus to the oceans that is estimated to have risen to approximately 10 million tons annually. Phosphate and nitrogen water pollution is the main cause of eutrophication, the human-induced augmentation of natural fertilization processes which spurs algae growth that absorbs the dissolved oxygen required to sustain fish stocks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The threat posed by climate change to fresh water supplies, combined with the overuse of water in agriculture, is having a detrimental impact on food security. The consequent effects on food production are significant, putting the livelihoods of rural communities and the food security of city dwellers at risk. With the global population expected to increase to 9.5 billion by 2050, the world's food calorie production will need to increase by 68 per cent in order to meet growing demand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Freshwater sources include rainwater, surface water and groundwater, all of which are crucial to food security. When rainfall is insufficient, agriculture relies on irrigation. As some 40 per cent of all irrigation relies on groundwater sources, climate-induced impacts on the sustainability of groundwater sources have a tremendous impact on the potential for food production.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Sustainability is defined in connection with the notion of adequate food or food security, implying that food will be accessible for both present and future generations. Food sustainability and security are also dependent on an adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care, to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Water is also an important aspect of transportation, which affects the distribution of food and income generation. This in turn has an impact on the livelihoods of individuals and therefore their ability to purchase food. Climate change puts additional pressure on water resources on the supply side. It also increases demand for water to sustain crop and livestock production increases in a progressively warming climate as well as having a tremendous impact on fisheries as a result of changes to water flows and temperatures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Pesticides also present a serious threat to drinking water, particularly in agricultural areas, which often depend on groundwater. While it can take several decades before pesticides applied in fields appear in water wells, high levels of herbicides in agricultural areas have already caused health problems for some communities. For example, in the United States of America, where over 70 million pounds of atrazine are used annually, runoff into water supplies has been linked to increased risk of birth defects. While atrazine was banned in the European Union in 2004, some European countries still detect it in groundwater today.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Impacts of decreased water quality as a result of climate change are also gender differentiated. Children and pregnant women are more physically vulnerable to waterborne diseases and their role in supplying household water and performing domestic chores makes them more vulnerable to developing diseases, such as diarrhea and cholera, which thrive in degraded water. Decreased water resources may also cause women's health to suffer as a result of the increased work burden and reduced nutritional status. For instance, in Peru following the 1997-98 El Niño events, malnutrition among women was a major cause of peripartum illness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- In rural areas, women and girls spend the majority of their time engaged in subsistence farming and in the collection of water and fuel. As a result of flooding, droughts, fires and mudslides, these tasks become more difficult. Water shortages and depletion of forests require women and girls to walk longer distances to collect water and wood. In Senegal and Mozambique, women spend 17.5 and 15.3 hours respectively each week collecting water. In Nepal, girls spend an average of five hours per week on this task. In rural Africa and India, 30 percent of women's daily energy intake is spent in carrying water. Depletion of land and water resources may place additional burdens on women's labour and health as they struggle to make their livelihoods in a changing environment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development also acknowledges the critical importance of advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls to realize sustainable development. Many of the climate-related SDGs include gender-specific targets, including those related to ownership and control over land and access to new technology (SDG1), women small-scale food producers (SDG2), and water and sanitation (SDG6). These goals provide a mandate for advancing gender equality and women's empowerment across all areas of climate change action.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, adopted in 2014, States recognized that the root causes of malnutrition were complex and multidimensional. They include social, economic, political and cultural determinants. Poverty, social exclusion, gender inequality, low socioeconomic status and lack of control over productive resources, for example land-grabbing and seed patenting, are all major contributors to malnutrition. Similarly, malnutrition is aggravated by poor sanitation and the absence of safe drinking water and adequate housing, as well as a lack of education, health and social protection services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- The underlying causes of malnutrition are complex and multidimensional, and access to nutritious food is often a key indicator of socioeconomic inequality. Women and children are particularly sensitive to malnutrition, while poverty, gender inequality and lack of access to adequate sanitation, health and education services are aggravating factors. Today's food systems, which are dominated by industrial production and processing, as well as trade liberalization and aggressive marketing strategies, are fostering unhealthy eating habits and creating a dependence on highly processed, nutrient-poor foods. Unequal access to and control over resources, as well as unsustainable production and consumption patterns, which lead to environmental degradation and climate change, also contribute to the malfunctioning of food systems.3
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Developing countries are increasingly subject to dispute procedures brought by private companies. For example, high water prices and poor water quality following the privatization of the water supply in the Bolivian town of Cochabamba, culminated in protests against Aguas de Tunari, a subsidiary of the United States firm Bechtel. The Government succumbed to public pressure and reversed the decision to privatize, which prompted the company to bring the Government before ICSID. The case posed the fundamental question of whether the property rights of the company could trump the rights to food and to access water and sanitation. In the end, civil society pressure led to a settlement and, as a result, Bolivian water laws were amended with the 2009 Constitution guaranteeing the right to access to water.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Hydropower is presented as a climate-friendly option and a way to increase water storage infrastructure. However, hydropower can also create conflicts between water for energy and water for agriculture. For example, indigenous communities have raised serious objections to the hydroelectric plant in the Alta Verapaz region in Guatemala owing to violations of environmental and human rights norms. The affected people allege that they were never consulted, as required by Guatemalan law and the rules of the clean development mechanism registration process. Another example is the Barro Blanco Hydroelectric Power Plant Project in Panama. It has significantly affected the Ngabe Bugle people who live alongside the Tabasara River. Construction commenced despite evidence that it would impact cultural and religious sites and access to medicinal plants highly valued by the Ngabe people.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Other examples of reallocation of resources for the benefit of clean energy at the expense of food security are cleaning coal and constructing dams for the generation of hydroelectric power. Cleaning coal requires large amounts of water that could otherwise be used for irrigating arable land, while the construction of dams for hydroelectricity may affect water supply for agricultural activities downstream and also flood land that could otherwise be used for food production. Indeed, any mitigation and adaptation policies that affect water resources must carefully consider competing water uses and the various implications for food security. Measures that mitigate one type of adverse impact could exacerbate another.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Water scarcity and more frequent droughts are also expected in arid regions. If urgent additional climate change mitigation efforts are not initiated, heavy rainfall and resulting flooding could destroy entire crops as well as food stores and may affect agricultural land due to sedimentation. More frequent and intense extreme weather events will also complicate the logistics of food distribution during emergencies. In the short term, climate change is set to increase natural hazards, with more significant risks leading to environmental degradation over time.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- In 2008, the Human Rights Council adopted its first resolution on human rights and climate change (resolution 7/23). As a result, OHCHR was requested to conduct an analytical study on the relationship between climate change and human rights (A/HRC/10/61). Subsequently, resolutions 10/4 and 18/22 were adopted in 2009 and 2011, in which the Council emphasized that climate change had a range of negative impacts on the human rights to life, adequate food, the highest attainable standard of health, adequate housing, self-determination, development and safe drinking water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Public works programmes are designed to provide employment to families who have no other source of income; remuneration is usually in the form of cash (cash-for-work) or food (food-for-work), or a combination of both. Because the work is demanding and the wages are low (or payment is made in the form of food items), only those in genuine need, who have run out of other options, may seek to enter these programmes, which are therefore self-targeting. Public works programmes may serve to create physical infrastructure (such as irrigation schemes, wells or rural roads) or to deliver environmental services (for instance hillside terracing or other landscape arrangements to facilitate the capture of rain water or the planting of trees) that contribute to long-term development aims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- School-feeding programmes can also make a significant contribution to improving access to education for girls, with impacts ranging from 19 to 38 per cent in increased female school attendance, according to certain cross-country studies. The provision of take-home rations to pupils can be particularly effective in this respect, especially where markets are unreliable or prices of essential food commodities highly volatile, or where the capacity of the schools to provide meals is limited. In Pakistan, the provision of take-home rations to girls attending school for at least 20 days a month made overall enrolment grow by 135 percent from 1998-99 to 2003-04. In Afghanistan, school enrolment has increased significantly since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, though - due to cultural norms, lack of sanitation facilities and the security situation - the enrolment of girls in schools as compared to boys remains very low (at 0.35 in 2008). WFP seeks to bridge this gap by distributing a monthly ration of 3.7 litres of vegetable oil to girls, conditional upon a minimum school attendance of 22 days per month. In Malawi, the introduction into the school-feeding programme of take-home rations of 12.5 kg of maize per month for girls and double orphans attending at least 80 per cent of school days led to a 37.7 per cent increase in girls' enrolment. In Lao People's Democratic Republic, where girls' enrolment can be very low, particularly in rural areas and within some ethnic groups, pupils receive a take-home family ration of canned fish, rice and iodized salt as an incentive for parents to send them to school. From 2002 to 2008, enrolment rates in primary schools benefiting from the programme increased from 60 percent to 88 percent for boys and from 53 percent to 84 percent for girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Various programmes have proven to be effective in removing some of these obstacles. Bangladesh launched the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) in 1993; ten years later, as it entered its second phase, the project covered one quarter of rural Bangladesh and now benefits almost one million girls across the country in more than 6,000 schools. FSSAP provides a stipend to girls who agree to delay marriage until they complete secondary education, for a total cost to the programme of about US$121 per year per person; and it has improved sanitation facilities in schools. It has spectacularly succeeded in improving girls' school attendance rates.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Assessing a decade of progress on the right to food 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The right to food seeks to ensure access to adequate diets. Although access is necessary for individuals to be adequately nourished, it is not the only requirement. Obviously, food availability is also required (which necessitates appropriate functioning of markets to ensure that foodstuffs can travel from the producers to the markets and from food-surplus regions to food-deficit regions). Access to health-care services and sanitation, as well as adequate feeding practices, are also essential. In this regard, the right to food is also closely connected to the right to health and to what is described as adequate "utilization".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The quality of working conditions in the fish-processing industry also raises concerns, although conditions have improved since developed countries imposed higher sanitation and hygiene standards. In a 2004 study, FAO showed that, for 9 of the 11 countries surveyed, fish workers were paid close to the minimum wage and often received much lower than the average per capita income for the country. In Chile, for example, the area home to most fish processing factories was also the area with the lowest per capita income levels. Moreover, high levels of seasonal and informal work exist in the processing sector, meaning that many workers are not employed on full-time contracts with basic labour benefits, such as sick pay, pension or maternity leave. In part owing to the many fish-processing firms in the sector, workers often fail to unionize and to enter into collective bargaining.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Fisheries and the right to food 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- For small-scale fishers in developing countries, increased demand in foreign markets may open up opportunities. In Sri Lanka, fishers targeting species for overseas markets, such as tuna, shrimp and lobster, have much higher incomes than those involved in fisheries for local markets. In other cases, however, where small-scale fishers sell fish destined for overseas markets, middlemen or fish-processing factories may pay relatively low prices, only marginally higher (or even the same) than those paid by local markets and consumers. In a study of fish trade in India, it was noted that fishers had little information on the prices paid for fish for export and relatively few actors controlled the supply chain and points of final sale. Although there are promising counter-examples, small-scale fishers generally face considerable obstacles, such as competition from larger firms and tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, including difficulties in meeting the stringent hygiene and sanitation standards demanded by importing countries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Crop breeding and agroecology are complementary. For instance, breeding provides new varieties with shorter growing cycles, which enable farmers to continue farming in regions where the crop season has already shrunk. Breeding can also improve the level of drought resistance in plant varieties, an asset for countries where lack of water is a limiting factor. Reinvesting in agricultural research must consequently mean continued efforts in breeding. However, agroecology is more overarching as it supports building drought-resistant agricultural systems (including soils, plants, agrobiodiversity, etc.), not just drought-resistant plants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
26 shown of 26 entities