Food Systems Governance

Sustainability and food production represent a major challenge to society, with both consumption and supply sides posing practical and ethical dilemmas. This book shows that food governance issues can occur in many ways and at many points along the food chain. The risks and impacts, particularly with the increasing globalisation of food systems, are often distributed in unequal ways. It is the role of law to form the pivot around which these issues are addressed in society in the form of food governance mechanisms. The chapters in this book address a range of issues in food governance revolving around questions of justice, fairness, equality and human rights. They identify different issues regarding inequality in access and control over food governance. Some address generic governance and institutional issues across a range of international contexts, while others present case studies, including from Argentina, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, UK and West Africa. The book offers directions for reform of the law and legal institutions to mitigate the dangers of inequality and promote greater fairness in food governance.

Amanda Kennedy is an associate professor and the Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law, University of New England, Australia. Jonathan Liljeblad is a lecturer at the University of New England Law School, Australia. He was a Fulbright Scholar, Myanmar (2014-15).

1. Introduction: Food Systems Governance: Challenges for Justice, Equality and Human Rights Amanda Kennedy and Jonathan Liljeblad 2. Food System Governance: A Systematic Literature Review Otto Hospes and Anke Brons 3. Food Sovereignty: Governance and Exclusion in an Alternative Social Movement Kristal Jones and John T. Eshleman 4. Seed Sovereignty and Inequality: An Analysis of Seed Systems and Their Impacts on Small-Scale Farmers Elise Wach 5. Transnational Legal Processes of the Right to Food: Lessons Learned from Papua, Indonesia Irene I. Hadiprayitno 6. Foucault's Evaluation of the UN Call for Human Rights in Global Food Governance Jonathan Liljeblad 7. Sustaining Food Production in the Anthropocene: Influences by the Regulation of Crop Biotechnology Mark Perry 8. Plant Genetic Resources Interdependence: Re-integrating Farmers into the Global Food System Chidi Oguamanam 9. Contaminated Land Law of China: A Possible Way to Achieve Food Safety? Xiaobo Zhao 10. Life-Cycle Regulation of Food Safety in China: A Legal Perspective Qin Tianbao and Wei Lele