1. Food Politics in Pacific Island Countries
Elizabeth Guhl
Mentored by Dr. Feryal Cherif
Political Science Department

2. There’s a common misconception that obesity only plagues developed countries like the US, and that developing countries instead deal with infectious health concerns and undernourishment.
However, it is a covert reality that the obesity epidemic has hit hardest in the Pacific region, as can be seen by 11 out of 21 Pacific Island Countries being represented on this list, and notably where 8 Pacific nations surpass any developed country the 1st being the US.
The presence of both infectious disease and noncommunicable disease associated with obesity like diabetes makes the Pacific an interesting region to study due to its unique case of a “double burden of disease”.

3. Colonial Globalization
Sovereign Pacific
Island Nations
Colonial Globalization
Neoliberal
Globalization
Mid 1980s
Shift in
Food Environments
Obesity
and
NCDs
So how did conditions in the Pacific come to be this way?
While past research has emphasized a regional genetic predisposition to fat retainment, the general consensus of modern research has been that a shift in food environments was triggered after the onset of a second wave of globalization that pushed trade liberalization.

4. Energy (Calorie) and Fat Increases In Food Supplies Per Day, 1963-2000
Seeing as trade liberalization is not likely to leave the int’l political agenda, my research question is how can Pacific Island countries address the rising rates of noncommunicable disease as a result of cheap food imports in an international setting?

5. Changing Food Environments and Health
Traditional
Subsistence farming (Murray 139)
Food Security
Traditional food (Snowdon 152)
Starchy staples, fish
“Strong, muscular, and mostly of good health” (Hughes and Lawrence 299)
Post Neoliberal Globalization
“Dietary colonialism” (Curtis 38)
Dependence on food imports
Low quality processed foods (Snowdon 152)
High in fat, high in calories
40% of the Pacific’s 9.7 million has been diagnosed with a noncommunicable disease (WHO)
NCDs account for 3/4 of all deaths in the Pacific (WHO)

6. Research Question:
How can Pacific Island countries address the rising rates of noncommmunicable disease as a result of cheap food imports in an international setting?
Seeing as trade liberalization is not likely to leave the int’l political agenda, my research question is how can Pacific Island countries address the rising rates of noncommunicable disease as a result of cheap food imports in an international setting?

7. Plans for Summer Research
Case study: Samoa
Recent admission to the WTO (2012)
Contact their representatives from the WHO and WTO offices
Contact legislators on local level policies that are being drafted
My plan for the summer would be to conduct survey research on the political elite in Samoa due to their 41.6% obesity rate, but also their unique character, in the past banning cheap meat imports and their recent repudiation of the law in order to join the WTO in 2012.
Such a case study would give insight on if/how PICs can/intend to effectively address the shift in food environments domestically while participating in global community objectives

8. References
Curtis, Michael. "The obesity epidemic in the Pacific Islands." Journal
of Development and Social Transformation 1.1 (2004):
Hughes, Robert G., and Mark A. Lawrence. "Globalisation, food and
health in Pacific Island countries." Asia Pacific journal of clinical
nutrition 14.4 (2005): 298.
Murray, Warwick E. "The second wave of globalisation and agrarian
change in the Pacific Islands." Journal of rural studies 17.2 (2001):
Snowdon, Wendy, et al. "Processed foods available in the Pacific
Islands." Globalization and health 9.1 (2013): 1.
"WHO | Pacific Islanders Pay Heavy Price for Abandoning Traditional Diet." WHO.
World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 14 Dec
As I continue to research the shift in food environments and trade policies concerning food imports in the Pacific during the semester through UROP, my tentative plan for the summer would be to conduct research in Samoa due to their 41.6% obesity rate, but also their unique character - previously banning cheap meat imports and their repudiation of the law in order to join the WTO in 2012
Such a case study would give insight on if/how PICs can/intend to effectively address the shift in food environments domestically while participating in global community objectives

9. Mahalo Nui Loa
Ethics
WHO v. WTO