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NTS Bulletin

NTS Bulletin November 2013

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A publication of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

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Issues:

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NTS NEWS

Planning for Asian food security towards 2025

By Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)
Singapore

Higher investment in the agricultural and food sectors, food price stability and regulatory barriers are among the key issues for Asia, according to experts at a recent meeting to discuss the region’s food security priorities.

Organised by the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), the Inception Meeting for the International Conference on Asian Food Security (ICAFS) 2014 was a focused effort to craft a more robust agenda for the forthcoming conference.

‘Our aim is for ICAFS 2014, using a thinking horizon of 2025, to facilitate outcomes that will shape Asia’s policy approach to the realities of the region’s food security challenges,’ emphasised Professor Paul Teng of the Centre for NTS Studies.

The focus of the October inception meeting was thus on identifying both the shifts that may impact food security in Asia and the policy and technology interventions that would need to be examined more closely.

To facilitate that, discussions were structured around key factors and trends influencing Asia’s food security landscape, among them rapid urbanisation, decline in farming population, the yield gap in staple crop production, and growth in demand for food. Also among the working themes are issues related to degradation of arable land, water and soil, and the impacts of climate change; ASEAN economic integration; and agricultural innovation and financing.

Representatives from government, the private sector and international organisations brought their insights, experiences and diverse perspectives to the table, and several specific areas were identified for further discussion at ICAFS 2014: (1) defining avenues to create policies that facilitate private investments in agriculture research and development, logistics and infrastructure; (2) exploring in greater depth the use of stockpiling and food stocks as instruments to maintain price stability; (3) developing the interface between government, the private sector, smallholder farmers and civil society to reach national productivity goals, specifically through the provision of agricultural extension services and induction into climate-smart agricultural practices; and (4) identifying obstacles and pathways towards the harmonisation of regulatory frameworks. ICAFS is set to be held in August 2014 in Singapore.

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CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY AND NATURAL DISASTERS

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

While there is much concern over loss of forest and possible social conflicts as a result of palm oil production, there is still keen interest from government and industry to expand this industry. This brief therefore examines methods to change legal classifications of land to support sustainable palm oil production.

This report reflects on lessons learned from three years of work building and testing capacities to reduce forest carbon emissions across nearly 15.5 million hectares of the world’s most important tropical forests and links these to a new vision for REDD+.

This series of eight videos were produced with the aim of contributing to improvements in knowledge management (KM) processes in international organisations. Filmed during recent training courses conducted in Vienna, they cover key KM essentials – its features, elements and approaches – and feature insights from KM leaders from the non-profit and corporate sector.

Events & Announcements

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ENERGY AND HUMAN SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

For the period 2010 to 2035, Asia-Pacific’s energy needs are projected to grow more than the global average. Energy demand would increase more in the residential, commercial, agricultural and fishery, and transport sectors; and less in the industrial sector. Most of the electricity would be generated from coal and natural gas, with nuclear power gaining more prominence in India and China. Carbon dioxide emissions could increase to 22,113 million tons but improving energy efficiency could reduce emissions by 27.6 per cent.

Oil production has increased by 25 per cent over the last two decades and, contrary to what is commonly assumed, global oil reserves are 60 per cent higher than in 1993. Accordingly, this survey concludes that the main fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – are ‘plentiful and will last for decades’. As for other energy sources, it sees a mixed future for nuclear energy as developed countries begin to phase it out and developing countries seek to establish it; while renewable energy is unlikely to contribute significantly to energy supply in the foreseeable future.

Events & Announcements

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FOOD SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

This report includes the updated estimates of undernourishment and the progress towards the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs) and the World Food Summit hunger targets. The report also presents a broader list of indicators that aim to capture the multidimensional nature of food insecurity, its determinants and outcomes. It focuses on six countries, revealing a mixed picture of progress and setbacks.

According to this report, Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores continue to vary considerably across countries; and South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara are still home to the highest GHI scores. Overall, however, there has been progress since 1990, with 23 countries having significantly reduced their hunger scores (by 50 per cent or more).

Events & Announcements

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HEALTH SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

This article highlights that antibiotic resistance has potentially catastrophic economic, social and political consequences. It examines the paucity of incentives to conserve antibiotics and lack of initiatives to develop new antibiotics. It also discusses the merits of a one-health approach and calls for a globally coordinated and innovative multi-stakeholder approach.

This article argues that substantial gaps in health research and development (R&D) remain, especially in low- and middle-income countries where there is low investment to improve data. It suggests the establishment of a global observatory on health R&D, to enable adequate financing for priority areas, target areas with low resources and improve investment decisions through avoiding duplication.

This report looks at the progress on achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) related to tuberculosis (TB), and identifies several priorities going forward: (1) reaching missed cases; (2) addressing multi-drug resistant TB as a public health crisis; (3) accelerating response to TB/HIV; (4) increasing financing to close resource gaps; and (5) ensuring rapid uptake of innovations.

Events & Announcements

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INTERNAL AND CROSS-BORDER CONFLICT

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

This article reviews current practices in criminalising sexual exploitation and abuse committed by peacekeepers in host countries and highlights the difficulties in pursuing accountability. It notes that little progress has been made despite increasing focus on this issue. It also discusses the key recommendations in an expert report released by the UN and attempts to fill in the gaps in the report.

This article examines how special representatives of the UN Secretary-General have used their experience in the field to influence peacekeeping-related norm change processes in the UN system. Cote d’Ivoire and Afghanistan are case studies.

Events & Announcements

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TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

The Global Slavery Index ranks 162 countries using a combined measure of three factors: estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population, a measure of child marriage, and a measure of human trafficking in and out of a country. The countries with the highest numbers of enslaved people are India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Taken together, these countries account for 76 per cent of the estimated 29.8 million in modern slavery.

Seventy per cent of the companies surveyed as part of this report were victims of a fraud attack in 2013, up from 61 per cent in 2012. The companies faced on average 2.3 different types of fraud that affected 1.4 per cent of revenue. One in ten companies surveyed reported that fraud cost their companies over 4 per cent of revenue. The theft of physical assets was the most common type of fraud, with 28 per cent of companies falling victim to it.

This report investigates the flow of ransom money paid out to Somali pirates operating in the Indian Ocean. It observes that between USD339 million and USD413 million were taken in ransom from the hijacking of ships off the coast of Somalia and the Horn of Africa between 2005 and 2012. Much of this was used to fuel a range of criminal activities globally. The report calls for coordinated international action to address the issue, and it sets out how the flow of illicit money from the Indian Ocean can be disrupted.

Events & Announcements

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WATER SECURITY

News & Commentaries

Selected Publications

This paper surveys a range of innovative private-sector activities in water that are predominantly, though not exclusively, driven by multinational companies in the food and beverage sector. It recommends that private-sector engagement be based on principles such as transparency, institutional accountability, and investment geared towards equitable and sustainable outcomes.

Hydroelectric dams are widely seen as detrimental to fish species. This handbook, however, notes that it is perfectly possible for rivers to produce more fish and more electricity at the same time. By understanding the needs of migratory fish and controlling the flow of the river to accommodate their lifestyle, breeding success can be improved. At the same time, by adapting and improving turbine capacity and making it more flexible, more energy can be produced.

This article describes how the productivity of many lands has been dramatically reduced as a result of soil erosion, accumulation of salinity, and nutrient depletion. It argues that great civilisations have fallen because of failure to prevent the degradation of the soils on which they were founded and warns that the modern world could suffer the same fate.

Events & Announcements

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Terms of Use:

You are free to publish this material in its entirety or only in part in your newspapers, wire services, internet-based information networks and newsletters and you may use the information in your radio-TV discussions or as a basis for discussion in different fora, provided full credit is given to the author(s) and the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). Kindly inform the publisher (NTS_Centre@ntu.edu.sg) and provide details of when and where the publication was used.

About the Centre:

The Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, based in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), was inaugurated by Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan in May 2008. The Centre maintains research in the fields of Climate Change, Food Security, Energy Security, Health Security, as well as Internal and Cross-border Conflict. It produces policy-relevant analyses aimed at furthering awareness and building capacity to address NTS issues and challenges in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The Centre also provides a platform for scholars and policymakers within and outside Asia to discuss and analyse NTS issues in the region.

The Centre is the Coordinator of the ASEAN-Canada Research Partnership (2012–2015) supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. It also serves as the Secretariat of the initiative.

In 2009, the Centre was chosen by the MacArthur Foundation as a lead institution for its three-year Asia Security Initiative (2009–2012), to develop policy research capacity and recommend policies on the critical security challenges facing the Asia-Pacific. It is also a founding member and the Secretariat for the Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia).

More information on the Centre can be found at www.rsis.edu.sg/nts.


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