Preface

This publication is based on the activities of the Food-Energy Nexus Programme (FEN) of the United Nations University (UNU) which took place between 1983 and 1988. As is the custom with the UNU, most of this research was done by researchers associated with various universities or research centres around the world. In this case, considerable work was done by researchers in third world countries in order to promote South-South co-operation in the fields studied.

We wish to express our gratitude to the many people who contributed in various ways to FEN and to acknowledge the institutional support of the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. At the same time, we assume entire responsibility for any misinterpretations or omissions that may be apparent in the following chapters. For more detailed information, readers are referred to Appendices I and 11, which reprint the descriptions of FEN programme activities and publications found in its final report.

We hope that this complementary analysis of FEN concepts will contribute to the preparatory process for the second United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in 1992 by helping to identify future research, development, and implementation activities for the sustainable production of, and more equitable access to, the basic human needs of food and energy.