Harnessing the Multilateral Patent and Plant Variety Protection Regimes to Advance

The nature of food security as part of the right to food is confirmed in Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which recognizes “adequate food” as included in “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family.” 8 The right to food is described more in General Comment No.12 of the United Nations Committee o. [...] Sustainable agriculture is the efficient production of safe, high quality foodstuffs in a manner that protects and improves the natural environment; the social and economic conditions of farmers, their employees and local communities; and safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species.15 The importance of sustainable agriculture to food security was highlighted by the United Nations (UN). [...] C) targets of halving the number of hungry and undernourished by 2015.55 With the exception of Ghana, West African countries ranked in the bottom 20 of the 113 countries assessed in the 2016 Global Food Security Index.56 This makes attaining food security a priority for development in the region. [...] 1.2.4 Relevance of the EU-ECOWAS EPA Formed in 1975 by fifteen countries,69 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the major regional alliance regulating trade with the aim of advancing the economic, social and cultural interests of the people and countries in West Africa.70 The original agreement was revised and replaced in 1993 by the Revised ECOWAS Treaty, in which sixteen We. [...] It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies.”110 As a concept, food sovereignty critiques capitalist food chains, the privatization of resources used in agriculture (e.g., seeds and water), and related,.