For six years, Hilal Elver was the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. She also happens to be Bluedot Institute student Juliet Falk’s grandmother. Juliet wanted to learn more about her grandmother’s career and how climate change and food security are inextricably linked. The two explore Elver’s expansive history in the sphere of worldwide food systems, and, as the first female Rapporteur, Elver discusses her objective of highlighting the essential role women play in the global food dynamic.
“The Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) has estimated that providing an individual with a healthy and nutritious diet costs about $5.50 per day, a sum beyond the means of half the world's population. Therefore, many developing countries have turned to the cheaper alternative of importing food. But an increased reliance on food corporations puts people at the mercy of corporate price gouging, and in times of economic disaster or even global disaster like the Covid pandemic, there is often very little economic support for consumers.”
Bluedot Living periodically showcases student work from the Bluedot Institute: a non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to supporting students and their teachers in creating local, solution oriented projects that address the environment and climate change.