“Empowerment” as efficiency and participation: gender in responsible agricultural investment principles

Amidst global concern over the state of transnational large-scale agricultural investments, several efforts have been made to set global standards for “responsible agricultural investment.” While these efforts have received mixed reviews from the international community, very little attention has been paid to the gendered language of these principles. Through examining two separate sets of agricultural investment principles – one created by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank, and the other by the United Nations Committee on World Food Security – this article finds that, despite different processes and participants in the creation of these principles, they nonetheless share a language of “empowerment” targeted at women and marginalized groups. However, in contrast to early feminist discourses of empowerment, these principles instead perpetuate the notion that empowerment is to be found through efficiency, productivity and participation in land and labor markets. This article takes a critical look at this language of economic empowerment in each set of principles, and points to the dangers of equating efficiency, productivity and participation with feminist empowerment. By not acknowledging the broader gender dynamics of agricultural governance and markets, these discourses risk deepening existing inequalities rather than moving toward meaningful social change.     

论全球气候治理中FAO援助机制的嬗变及中国应对

《巴黎协定》明确了"自下而上"型的温室气体贡献目标,因此,应对气候变化更需包括FAO在内的多元主体予以共同治理。事实上,FAO已将援助发展中国家应对粮食安全的传统工作范围延伸至应对气候变化领域,但客观而言,其仍存在国际合作模式僵化、机构设置与整体目标不匹配、行动能力不强、工作透明度不高等一系列问题。对此,FAO宜在自身改革和治理中更突出应对气候变化工作的重要地位,加强与《联合国气候变化框架公约》体系的互动与衔接,创建发展中国家关于气候变化和粮食安全的数据库。同时,作为最大的发展中国家、农业大国和温室气体排放大国,中国亦应积极参与全球气候治理进程,推动应对气候变化机制的完善,并创新农业发展战略和碳融资方案。     

基于MODIS数据中国土地覆盖制图分类系统研究

土地覆盖变化是全球变化研究中的一个重要内容,而建立标准的土地覆盖分类系统又是研究土地覆盖变化的前提,它影响分类结果的表达形式,决定土地覆盖数据的应用领域。本文利用FAO的土地覆盖分类系统(LCCS)结合MODIS数据的识别能力建立了中国基于MODIS土地覆盖制图分类系统,最终得到21种土地覆盖类型及各类型的标准定义、制图代码。为利用MODIS数据进行全国的土地覆盖相关研究提供依据。结果表明LCCS能针对不同分类目的、数据制定灵活的分类系统。