Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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Ms. Naomi Hull

Member since
Organization: University of Sydney
Country: Australia
Field(s) of expertise:
I am working on:
My PhD thesis has the aim to raise the visibility of infant and young child feeding and make ‘first-food’ security a core component of thinking, research, and policy action in global food security responses.

Naomi Hull is a Registered Nurse with a Master of Public Health (Nutrition). Currently, Ms Hull is undertaking a PhD at the University of Sydney that aims to Advance Global Food Security for Infants and Young Children. As well as being the National Coordinator for the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), Australian team, Ms Hull is a peer breastfeeding counsellor, and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). Her work strives to see women and babies supported to breastfeed and for the recognition of breastfeeding as a valuable strategy for public health and food security for infants and young children.

This member contributed to:

    • I am the National Coordinator of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative Australia. This submission is on behalf of the WBTiAUS and colleagues.

      WBTi Australia is a coalition of individuals and organisations established in September 2017. Its primary aim is to change the way breastfeeding is protected, promoted and supported in Australia by:

      • assessing the status of, and benchmarking the progress in implementation of, the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Australia using the standardised tool of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi)
      • engaging with relevant stakeholders in the process of assessment
      • communicating the results of the assessment to key decision-makers and stakeholders

      WBTiAUS has prepared two country assessments published in 2018 and 2023, and its assessment score is the international benchmark for the 2019 Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy. 

      Response to questions

      Do you agree with the guiding principles indicated above?

      Yes

      Should the objectives include mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples food and knowledge systems, and lessons learned from them, for the benefit of all, or solely for the benefit of Indigenous Peoples as rights holders?

      No comment

      What are the challenges related to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Access and Benefit Sharing when widely promoting and/or mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples food and knowledge systems?

      The use of Indigenous Peoples food and knowledges requires free, prior and informed consent (as per the (World Bank, 2016)) and fair and equitable benefit sharing with First Nations peoples (as per the Convention on Biological Diversity and its associated Nagoya Protocol).

      For First Nations peoples to profit from their extensive knowledge of Country, food, and medicine, they first need adequate protection. We recommend putting in place legislative requirements such as the Nagoya Protocol that will protect Indigenous knowledges and enable communities to leverage this knowledge.

      How can the report ensure the inclusion of marginalized groups, sustainability, and protection against commercialization risks for Indigenous Peoples' food and knowledge systems?

      A recent submission to the Australian Parliamentary inquiry into economic self-determination and opportunities for First National Australians considered the issue of protecting indigenous intellectual property rights regarding traditional foods, found here - https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=e9f66bda-d19f-4319-865e- 746f590dc860&subId=757029

      This did not consider the issues regarding patents over human milk components by the commercial milk formula industry, which marginalizes breastfeeding women even while human milk products generate large profits and surpluses for market enterprises.

      However, it pointed to traditional food and medicine practices as a source of opportunity as well as food security for indigenous communities and called for suitable infrastructure investments and intellectual property law reforms to protecting traditional knowledge in each State and Territory’s biodiscovery legislation and support development of a native foods and medicines industry.

      Comparable issues of basic infrastructure provision and recognition of the intrinsic value of women’s traditional knowledge on infant and young child feeding could also be considered, alongside investments in birthing and breastfeeding support systems with high rates of return to health systems and communities.

      How should oral knowledge and traditions be documented and referenced in the development of the report?

      Oral knowledge and traditions should be documented in ways which respect and do not devalue or minimize indigenous knowledge, and protect indigenous knowledge from being appropriated or controlled by outsiders such as through inappropriate exploitation of copyright or patents (29).

      Suitable documentation and referencing systems have been developed and recommended, which we support https://subjectguides.nscc.ca/apa-7-ed/CitingTraditionalKnowledge . Sensitivities around sharing indigenous knowledge must also be recognised and the wishes of the indigenous owners heeded.

      What dimensions linked to Indigenous Peoples’ agency, e.g., in governance issues, could be addressed?

      see Gall et al above.

      Are there important/relevant policy papers and instruments missing from the foundational documents list?

      no comment

      Could you please indicate relevant references that should be taken into account?

      See above

      What best practices, ethical standards, and strategies for addressing climate change should be highlighted in the report?

      It can be argued that investments in enabling breastfeeding are carbon offsets. A recent paper in the Bulletin of the WHO argued for better systems of measurement of productivity to include non-market production including breastfeeding and breastmilk (30).

      As commercial milk formula has adverse environmental impacts, reduces adaptability and resilience and generates 10-14 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions for every kilogram of powder (31) (9) (11) (10), strategies for reparations should include funding for measures to increase breastfeeding as investment in carbon offsets (30).

      Climate change presents an opportunity for redress and empowerment of Indigenous communities to lead climate action planning based on their intimate traditional and historical knowledges of Country. Best-practice principles to facilitate this are outlined in the Climate Change and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Discussion paper, these include:

      1. Building adaptive capacity of communities by restoring basic rights to adequate housing and access to Country and its resources;
      2. Place-based adaptation and mitigation planning given the diversity of Indigenous cultures, as well as the diversity of climate impact.
      3. Establishing equitable power relationships and co-governance arrangements at multiple levels to provide Indigenous communities more certainty and control in protecting Country;
      4. Centering and leveraging the valuable biocultural knowledge of Indigenous people with appropriate intellectual and cultural property protection;
      5. Building respectful, trusting partnerships to share and weave together Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to inform innovative adaptation and mitigation;
      6. Providing sustainable resourcing and program flexibility to support innovation and long-term monitoring and evaluation; and
      7. Establishing geographic and intersectoral networks for collaboration, sharing and learning about experiences to build sustainable effective climate action strategies.

      Which best practices or strategies to promote cross-cultural understanding should be highlighted in the report?

      Australia has been developing a number of strategies to remedy the harms to indigenous breastfeeding. This includes the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy, as well as specific programs relevant to the needs of indigenous women.

      Are the previous legal documents such as Prior and Informed Consent, enough in light of this evolution of thinking about Indigenous People’s knowledge, or do they need to be revised?

      No comment

      References
      1. World Bank. 2016. Available from: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/health/breastfeeding-smart-investment-reaching-sustainable- development-goals.
      2. Victora CG, Bahla, R., Barros, A., Franca, G. et al Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect. The Lancet. 2016;387(10017):475-90.
      3. Eaton SB, Pike MC, Short RV, Lee NC, Trussell J, Hatcher RA, et al. Women's reproductive cancers in evolutionary context. Q Rev Biol. 1994;69(3):353-67.
      4. Chowdhury R, Sinha B, Sankar MJ, Taneja S, Bhandari N, Rollins N, et al. Breastfeeding and maternal health outcomes: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Acta paediatrica. 2015;104:96-113.
      5. Smith JP, Baker P, Mathisen R, Long A, Rollins N, Waring M. A proposal to recognize investment in breastfeeding as a carbon offset. Bull World Health Organ. 2024;102(5):336-43.
      6. United Nations. Joint statement by the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Food, Right to Health, the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in law and in practice, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in support of increased efforts to promote, support and protect breast-feeding Geneva2016 [Available from: https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2016/11/joint-statement-un-special-rapporteurs-right- food-right-health-working- group#:~:text=Breastfeeding%20is%20a%20human%20rights,as%20safe%20and%20nutritiou  s%20foods.
      7. Oot L, Mason F, Lapping K. BRIEF - The First-Food System: The Importance of Breastfeeding in Global Food Systems Discussions 2021 [Available from: https://www.aliveandthrive.org/en/resources/the-first-food-system-the-importance-of- breastfeeding-in-global-food-systems-discussions.
      8. Smith JP, Lande B, Johansson L, Baker P, Bærug A. The contribution of breastfeeding to a healthy, secure and sustainable food system for infants and young children: monitoring mothers' milk production in the food surveillance system of Norway. Public Health Nutrition. 2022;25(10):2693-701.
      9. Andresen EC, Hjelkrem AR, Bakken AK, Andersen LF. Environmental Impact of Feeding with Infant Formula in Comparison with Breastfeeding. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(11).
      10. Pope DH, Karlsson JO, Baker P, McCoy D. Examining the Environmental Impacts of the Dairy and Baby Food Industries: Are First-Food Systems a Crucial Missing Part of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems Agenda Now Underway? Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(23).
      11. Karlsson JO, Garnett T, Rollins NC, Röös E. The carbon footprint of breastmilk substitutes in comparison with breastfeeding. J Clean Prod. 2019;222:436-45.
      12. Sellen DW. Comparison of infant feeding patterns reported for nonindustrial populations with current recommendations. J Nutr. 2001;131(10):2707-15.
      13. Van Esterik P. Right to food; right to feed; right to be fed. The intersection of women's rights and the right to food. Agriculture and human values. 1999;16(2):225-32.
      14. Baker P, Santos T, Neves PA, Machado P, Smith J, Piwoz E, et al. First-food systems transformations and the ultra-processing of infant and young child diets: The determinants, dynamics and consequences of the global rise in commercial milk formula consumption. Maternal & Child Nutrition. 2020;17(2):e13097.
      15. Blainey G. The story of Australia's people: The rise and fall of ancient Australia2015.
      16. Gracey M. Historical, cultural, political, and social influences on dietary patterns and nutrition in Australian Aboriginal children. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2000;72(5):1361s-7s.


       

      1. Holmes W, Phillips J, Thorpe L. Initiation rate and duration of breast–feeding in the Melbourne Aboriginal community. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health. 1997;21(5):500-3.
      2. Smith JP, Cattaneo A, Iellamo A, et al. Review of effective strategies to promote breastfeeding: Sax Institute; 2018.
      3. COAG Health Council. Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy: 2019 and Beyond. Canberra, Australia2019.
      4. Gribble KD, Gallagher M. Rights of Children in Relation to Breastfeeding in Child Protection Cases. The British journal of social work. 2014;44(2):434-50.
      5. Gribble KD. Supporting vulnerable women in mothering through skin-to-skin contact, proximity and breastfeeding: Part 1 Research. Breastfeeding Review. 2024;32(2):6-18.
      6. Mitchell F, Walker T, Hill K, Browne J. Factors influencing infant feeding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families: a systematic review of qualitative evidence. BMC public health. 2023;23(1):297.
      7. Tomori C, Palmquist AEL. Racial capitalism and the US formula shortage: A policy analysis of the formula industry as a neocolonial system. Frontiers in Sociology. 2022;7.
      8. Renfrew MJ, Kent G, Smith JP, Baker P, Salmon L. Inquiry, Critical and Emerging Issues for Food Security and Nutrition addressed the importance of including infants and young children in food security frameworks. Committee on World Food Security HLPE; 2016.
      9. Baker P, Smith JP, Garde A, Grummer-Strawn LM, Wood B, Sen G, et al. The political economy of infant and young child feeding: confronting corporate power, overcoming structural barriers, and accelerating progress. Lancet. 2023;401(10375):503-24.
      10. Maudrie TL, Nguyen CJ, Wilbur RE, Mucioki M, Clyma KR, Ferguson GL, et al. Food Security and Food Sovereignty: The Difference Between Surviving and Thriving. Health Promot Pract. 2023;24(6):1075-9.
      11. Lemke S, Delormier T. Indigenous Peoples' food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Matern Child Nutr. 2017;13 Suppl 3(Suppl 3).
      12. Balakrishnan R, Elson D, Heintz J, Lusiani N. Maximum available resources and human rights. Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ: The State University of New Jersey. 2011.
      13. Oruç P. Documenting Indigenous oral traditions: Copyright for control. International Journal of Cultural Property. 2022;29(3):243-64.
      14. Smith JP, Borg B, Nguyen TT, Iellamo A, Pramono A, Mathisen R. Estimating carbon and water footprints associated with commercial milk formula production and use: development and implications of the Green Feeding Climate Action Tool. Front Nutr. 2024;11.
      15. Smith JP. A commentary on the carbon footprint of milk formula: harms to planetary health and policy implications. International Breastfeeding Journal. 2019;14(1):49.
      See the attachments: