Agricultural Policies

Periodical

Trade Liberalization, Food Security and the Environment: The Neoliberal Threat to Sustainable Rural Development

Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 14 (2004)

This article examines the historic and contemporary roots of chronic malnutrition and environmental degradation in the developing world. It chronicles the patterns of trade and production that contribute to this problem from the colonial period until the present, and analyzes the role of contemporary trade, aid and development practices in ameliorating or exacerbating the problem. The article argues that the neoliberal economic reforms imposed on developing countries through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) exacerbate hunger and environmental degradation by reinforcing pre-existing inequities in the global trading system that relegate many developing countries to the export of primary agricultural commodities as a means of generating the revenue with which to purchase food and manufactured goods. This economic specialization erodes food security by depressing domestic food production and by subjecting the export earnings needed to finance the import of food and other necessities to fluctuating world market prices for agricultural commodities and to the declining terms of trade for agricultural products. This economic specialization also degrades the environment by replacing bio-diverse agro-ecosystems with monocultures that require massive application of pesticides and fertilizers.

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