Global Food Security Governance: The Committee for World Food Security, Comprehensive Framework for Action and the G8/G20

Abstract

This chapter analyzes key, recent institutional developments in global food security governance. These include the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the negotiation of the Comprehensive Frame for Action (CFA), and the emergence of the Group of Eight (G8)/Group of Twenty (G20) as a multilateral food security forum. These institutional developments share a common origin: they were direct responses to the 2008 global food crisis. These three institutions are playing new and significant roles in global food security governance. However, they diverge significantly with respect to their memberships, authority and sources of legitimacy. These differences increasingly matter as these institutions increasingly interact with one another in the global policy and political arena. A critical challenge is how the relationship between these three institutions should be mediated, particularly with respect to the coherence and legitimacy of global food security governance in an era of unprecedented world hunger.