Food Security: Food Trade Regime And Food Aid Regime

This article examines the implications of the linkage between two international regimes for food security. The WTO food trade regime influences Members' trade policies affecting food-related entitlements and may thus have an impact on food security, while the changing trade environment has undermined the traditional role of the world food aid regime in food security. Many developing countries, especially least developed and net food-importing countries may face more food difficulties than before, at least in the short term. It appears that different international regimes could produce incoherent effects on food security, even if they neither contain conflicting rules nor impose competing obligations on member States. The major reason for this situation maybe lies in the fact that food security is a complex issue involved with various factors and that a certain international regime designed to achieve a specific objective sometimes does not take into account all of these factors. Therefore, institutional cooperation and coordination are needed to redress adverse effects that may result from incoherence between international regimes. Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved, Oxford University Press.