Food security: a priority for the Inter-American social protection network.

The OAS Secretary General, the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Hunger-Free Latin America and Caribbean Initiative (ALCSH) are collaborating to use the tools of the Inter-American Social Protection Network (IASPN) to promote cooperation on social protection policies and programs for food security.

Social protection is a key element in the fight against hunger. An integrated social protection system makes it possible to ensure adequate and dignified living conditions for a population, strengthen the autonomy and capacities of citizens for their social and economic inclusion, and consolidate an institutional scheme of guarantees for the realization of the human right to adequate food and nutrition. Today, the biggest obstacle to that goal in the region is social inequality.

In 2011, 52.5 million people--the equivalent of 9 percent of the population--experienced hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. Rising food prices and the persistence of price volatility threaten the progress made thus far in the area of food security, raising the risk of increasing poverty levels and reducing access to food for...