Professor at the University of Louvain and College of Europe, Natolin, Poland. Visiting Professor, Columbia University. Member of the Global Law School Faculty, New York University. UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food (1 May 2008- 1 May 2011). This text is an excerpt from a speech by Olivier De Schutter to the conference “A Tale of Four Hungers” at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, 12 December 2011.