Can a Territorial Based Approach Improve Food Availability and Food Access in Lebanon Today?

Abstract

The level at which Food Security should be governed has been largely debated in the literature: some argue that food security should involve the government only while others see that every actor from farm to fork should be involved in the decision-making process, and every person should have his or her voice heard. Often, food subsidies policies as well as agricultural policies encouraging more food production drive the food system yet do not respond to local needs. In addition to this, most of the available policies do not tackle food security using a territorial based approach. Because every country has different local challenges, and every geographic area within a country needs a more focused approach to food security, I aim to explore how a territorial based approach to food security might increase food availability and food access in Lebanon. I aim to explore what hinders municipalities from delivering services and see other context where local governments have been proven effective in achieving a better food security. The project has three goals: 1) Identify key challenges in achieving food security in Lebanon; 2) Explore if food security is better governed by local governments globally; 3) Explore how municipalities can implement tailored territorial based, multisectoral, bottom-up interventions to improve food security. This study will be based on an extensive focused literature review combining information from the following sources: peer reviewed articles, international organizations reports and publications from reliable journals as well as food security briefs and projects submitted on the AUB food security portal, highlighting the current food security status worldwide. This project also aims to explore strategies adopted by different countries concerning food security as well as publications from countries where local governments have been shown to improve food security by adopting territorial based approaches to finally be able to make recommendations for Lebanon. The project’s findings suggest that adopting a Territorial-based approach and Decentralization has been effective in enhancing Food Security in Malawi, Philippines, Brazil, and in Latin America and draws on these findings to propose a model to be adopted by Lebanese Municipalities, while keeping in mind the political limitations.