Joachim Von Braun

Published in 1999, the book is the proceedings volume of the 23rd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, held in Sacramento, California, in August 1997. It continues the series of triennial IAAE conferences.

Published in 1999, the book is the proceedings volume of the 23rd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, held in Sacramento, California, in August 1997. It continues the series of triennial IAAE conferences.

Die Nordrhein-Westf lische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der K nste ist eine Vereinigung der f hrenden Forscherinnen und Forscher des Landes. Sie wurde 1970 als Nachfolgeeinrichtung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft f r Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen gegr ndet. Die Akademie ist in drei wissenschaftliche Klassen f r Geisteswissenschaften, f r Naturwissenschaften und Medizin sowie f r Ingenieur- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften und in eine Klasse der K nste gegliedert. Mit Publikationen zu den wissenschaftlichen Vortr gen in den Klassensitzungen, zu ffentlichen Veranstaltungen und Symposien will die Akademie die Fach- und allgemeine ffentlichkeit ber die Arbeiten der Akademie und ihrer Forschungsstellen informieren.

Despite technological advances in agriculture, nearly a billion people around the world still suffer from hunger and poor nutrition while a billion are overweight or obese. This imbalance highlights the need not only to focus on food production but also to implement successful food policies. In this new textbook intended to be used with the three volumes of Case Studies in Food Policy for Developing Countries (also from Cornell), the 2001 World Food Prize laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen and his colleague Derrill D. Watson II analyze international food policies and discuss how such policies can and must address the many complex challenges that lie ahead in view of continued poverty, globalization, climate change, food price volatility, natural resource degradation, demographic and dietary transitions, and increasing interests in local and organic food production. Food Policy for Developing Countries offers a "social entrepreneurship" approach to food policy analysis. Calling on a wide variety of disciplines including economics, nutrition, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, medicine, and geography, the authors show how all elements in the food system function together.

Land degradation is increasingly considered as a global problem. The extent of degraded and degrading areas adversely impacts on large numbers of people and leads to significant social and economic costs, thus raising the questions: In which way is it worth taking action against land degradation? Where and when should action take place, and what are costs related to certain actions? For policy makers it is important to know the social and economic costs linked to the current and future status of land degradation. A conceptual framework that allows comparing the costs of action against land degradation versus the costs of inaction is provided in this book. The applicability of the framework is illustrated with case studies and prepares the ground for a global assessment on the costs of land degradation.