The New Geopolitics of Food: Report launch webinar

Originally held on 13 May 2026

Available in EN | FR | ES | PT

How to stabilise food prices in a volatile world

As geopolitical tensions drive food price volatility, what will it take to build more resilient, self-reliant food systems?

This webinar marked the launch of IPES-Food’s special report The New Geopolitics of Food: Navigating policies for resilient self-reliance. The discussion explored how wars, trade disruptions, energy shocks, climate change, and rising geopolitical tensions are reshaping global food security and exposing the fragility of food systems built on dependence on global markets and just-in-time supply chains.

Speakers examined how repeated shocks are driving rising food prices, growing debt, and increasing vulnerability – particularly for low-income import-dependent countries and vulnerable communities.

Building resilient self-reliance

Drawing on lessons from India, West Africa, Canada and Norway, the webinar highlighted practical policy tools that can help countries stabilise prices, protect access to food, and reduce exposure to volatility. These include strategic food reserves, supply management, stronger local and regional food systems, and agroecological transition.

The discussion also explored the report’s central concept of resilient self-reliance: strengthening domestic and regional food systems while reducing dependence on volatile global markets and ensuring farmers and communities can better withstand future shocks.

Speakers

• Jennifer Clapp (IPES-Food panelist & professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada)
• Mamadou Goïta (IPES-Food panelist & executive director of the Institute for Research and Promotion of Alternatives in Development (IRPAD))
• Shalmali Guttal (IPES-Food panelist & senior analyst (and former executive director) at Focus on the Global South)
• Thin Lei Win (food systems journalist, Thin-Ink & Lighthouse Reports)

The was held in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation.