The global food crisis
We are already now starting to see riots and protests around the world that have been triggered by the lack of resources. And unfortunately this is a sight we will see more and more of in the future.
People are protesting in Haiti, Argentina, Cambodia, Indonesia, Egypt, Bolivia, Senegal and Yemen because of rising food costs or because they can’t even buy any food – cause there isn’t any.
The FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, warns that the crisis is much worse than previously thought. According to a new report released earlier this month 37 countries around the world are currently facing food crises.
FAO urges “all donors and International Financing Institutions to increase their assistance or consider reprogramming part of their ongoing aid in countries negatively affected by high food prices”.
Sir John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, warns that the rising food price threatens global security and will undermine already weak governments.
“We are seeing a new face of hunger. We are seeing more urban hunger than ever before. We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it.”
The food prices are rising due to many different things that are linked together like a huge global ecosystem.
When our global population grows at record speeds the demand for food and other resources also grows.
And when the oil reserves shrink the price on gas and oil rises and makes it harder to sustain our global trade system. Farmers must pay more for their gas to their tractors and equipments and shipping the food around also costs more due to the rising fuel costs.
At the same time farmers face climate changes (that our addiction to oil have created) that reduces their harvests.
Now we are even trying to satisfy our oil addiction and car-fetish by replacing the oil with different biofuels (that are overall worse than the oil).
The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) Scientific Committee recently called for the suspension of EU’s target to increase the share of biofuels used in transport to 10% by 2020. The committee calls for a new, “comprehensive scientific study on the environmental risks and benefits of biofuels” before any targets should be set.
The rising demand for meat is also a part of the problem.
But no matter how much we try to stop our unsustainable food and resource system and move over to a more local and sustainable system the food crisis will still remain a big issue around the world, now and further ahead in the future.
Now maybe the only thing that can save us is the rationing of greenhouse gas emissions as well as our provisions, especially the meat, worldwide.
Image Credit: UN World Food Programme. Photo by Giuseppe Bizzarri.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
[...] The comment was made during an emergency summit in Switzerland where the UN discusses ways to tackle the global food crisis. [...]