Jahrgang 2011

Focus 5/2011: Price trends on world agricultural markets
Just three years after the 2007/2008 food price crisis, prices for staple foods and agricultural commodities are on the rise again. There is cause for concern about food security. The authors in this issue of Rural 21 have explored the following questions: What are the reasons for the new price increases? How are affected countries and the international community of states reacting to it? How can future food (price) crises be prevented? Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 4/2011: Sustainable tourism
More than 220 million people – that is seven percent of the world’s working population – make a living in the tourism sector, and every day, around three billion US dollars is earned here. Thus the travel industry is contributing more than ten percent of the global gross national product. Even though a major share of this money remains in the industrialised countries (more than half of all international travels take part in Europe), the branch plays a considerable role in the countries of the South: For every third developing country, tourism is the principal source of foreign exchange; for just under half of the Least Developed Countries, tourism is among the top three sources of export earnings. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 3/2011: Food security initiatives – a quality check
The global food price crisis in 2007/2008 shook the world. The issue of food security and hunger has again acquired top priority, and so has headed the agenda at the G8 and G20 summits for the last three years. Numerous initiatives have been set in motion and the international community has been urged to develop an action plan for global food security. There have been demands for the United Nations to reform its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and to revive the Committee for Food Security, giving it new, more effective functions. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 2/2011: Responsible use of forests
The forests of our globe play a major role in protecting the climate and the environment. They are both an important natural source of energy and resource for innumerable wood products and home to an immense biodiversity. For decades now, warnings have been issued against uncontrolled logging and its disastrous impacts particularly in the Brazilian Amazon, in south-east Asia and central Africa. How can humankind sustainably exploit the forests and at the same time protect and preserve them? This focus issue of Rural 21 provides some answers. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 1/2011: People on the move
Since 2008, it is estimated, for the first time in history, over half of the world’s population has been living in urban centres. What are the consequences? What does this mean for the rural regions and those staying at home? What are the impacts on agricultural production and food security? In addition to facts and figures on international trends, our focus in this edition illustrates the intricate links between migration and demographic change, tradition and modernity, cities and urban regions. Erfahren Sie mehr