The 21st Brussels Policy Development Briefing will be on 'Geopolitics of Food' and will take place on the 2nd of February 2011 (8h30-13h00).Feeding the world is not anymore just a question of increasing agricultural production and trade but a political question. In a globalised world, the complexity of issues involved in the global food system is increasing, the linkages between sectors influencing and being influenced by agriculture and the relations amongst actors are becoming key. The food, fuel and financial crisis, the effects of climate change and global policies have and will have an impact on the food production and future type of agriculture. In this changing context, what are the consequences for the ACP agriculture and what future for the most vulnerable farmers? What new policies and what global aid architecture would be needed?
For more information please see our Brussels Briefing homepage or contact: boto@cta.int or lopes@cta.int

European Parliament (Strasbourg):
-17/20th of January: European Parliament Plenary Session
European Council (Brussels):
-18th of January: Economic and Financial Affairs Council
ACP Secretary (Brussels):
-18th of January: Bureau of the Committee of Ambassadors
-20th of January: Subcommittee on Sustainable Development

For more information please consult the calendar on our webpage http://brussels.cta.int

Our video guest this week is Dr Janny Vos, Head Business Development Europe, CABI. We met Dr Vos at the exhibition stand of CABI during the European Development Days 2010, in Brussels. She speaks about the importance of information and scientific knowledge to find out solutions to those problems farmers experience daily on the ground.

The EU's humanitarian aid capability should be stepped up, by creating a European civil protection force, boosting funding and ensuring a clear division of labour between military and humanitarian bodies in crisis areas, says Parliament in a resolution voted on Tuesday. The recent tragedies in Haiti and Pakistan once again demonstrated that the effectiveness, speed, co-ordination and visibility of the EU's disaster response tools need to be improved.  They also once again highlighted the need to create a European rapid reaction capacity, say MEPs, who call on the Commission to present a proposal to establish a European civil protection force, as advocated by Michel Barnier following the 2004 tsunami in south-east Asia.

To secure supplies of affordable food, the EU must have a strong farm policy that discourages food commodity speculation and helps more young farmers to start up, said the European Parliament on Tuesday. With worldwide demand growing and 16% of EU citizens below the poverty line, access to food is an increasingly important issue.