Insa Flachsbarth

German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)

More than 10 years after the surge in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in developing countries following the spike in agricultural commodity prices in the late 2000s, the Land Matrix Initiative has taken stock of the “global land rush” and its socio-economic and environmental impacts. Our findings draw on evidence from the Land Matrix database...

The literature that addresses the role of institutions in bilateral trade is extensive. However, research that link institutional quality to specific products and their different levels of value addition is lacking. In this study, we look into institutional quality, based on three indicators from the World Bank's world governance indicators, and it...

GlobalG.A.P. compliance has often become a key requirement for farmers to access high-value global markets. Yet, the global spread of certification is highly uneven among countries. We assess the drivers and dynamics behind these unequal patterns, applying panel data regressions. Findings show that global agricultural trade networks remain relevant...

In global agricultural value-chains, private food standards are proliferating. Yet, their trade effects remain poorly understood. This paper assesses the effect of GlobalGAP certification on exports of apples, bananas and grapes. We estimate a structural gravity model using a global dataset of certified producers and the share of certified land are...

Some rural regions of Peru showed remarkable rates of poverty reduction and inequality reduction between 2004 and 2012, while others lagged behind. Using microsimulation-based decompositions, we analyse the driving forces behind these trends, finding that rural poverty and inequality reductions are mainly attributable to increasing labour incomes i...

One of humanity's major challenges of the 21st century will be meeting future food demands on an increasingly resource constrained-planet. Global food production will have to rise by 70 percent between 2000 and 2050 to meet effective demand which poses major challenges to food production systems. Doing so without compromising environmental integrit...

Trade of agricultural commodities has grown significantly in most Latin American countries (LAC) over the last two decades. However, after the international food price surges in 2006-08 and 2011-12 concerns about food access of the poor arose. Within a panel framework containing six LAC (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru), we used...

This chapter shows the strong links between water, agriculture and the economy in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC). Both green and blue water are vital for LAC's economies and for its food security. Awareness of LAC's virtual water trade volumes and water footprints alone will not solve the local or global water problems. However, the awareness ga...

Water and food security are tags used widely yet hiding very different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. This chapter looks at what these concepts mean for Spain and across scale linkages due to globalisation. Since food production and access is largely guaranteed in Spain, food security here is linked to the idea of guarant...

The increasing demand of feed crops for livestock production has made Brazil one of the world's leading soybean producers and exporters. This paper reviews the trends in water and land requirements needed to produce Brazilian soybean over the last decade (2002-2008), and attempts to evaluate the environmental impacts ascribed to its production. We...

International agricultural trade has been growing significantly during the last decade. Many countries rely on imports to ensure adequate food supplies to the people. A few are becoming food baskets of the world. This process raises issues about the food security in depending countries and potentially unsustainable land and water use in exporting c...

International agricultural trade has been growing significantly during the last decade. Many countries rely on imports to ensure adequate food supplies to the people. A few are becoming food baskets of the world. This process raises issues about the food security in depending countries and potentially unsustainable land and water use in exporting c...

Adaptation to climate-change impacts requires understanding of where impacts are to be expected and what their magnitude may be. Adaptation funds are only a limited resource for helping affected parties in coping with climate-change impacts. The application of suitable methods helps to determine the recipients of adaptation aid. A quantification of...