Global Food Crisis to Make 100 Million People Starve

Rising food prices that have already caused rebellions in several developing countries will likely to push more than 100 million people worldwide into deep poverty, World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced at the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.

For many people, the surge in food prices over the last three years has made basic food unaffordable and this situation is going to be even worse. Food riots that took place in Haiti last week is one of the examples of what is going to happen in other countries around the world.

Prices on such food as rice, corn and wheat that remained stable for many years have risen by over 180 percent. The crisis mostly affects low-income countries in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. The increasing poverty that pushes many people to react with a protest and violence has already led to numerous deaths.

Recently, there have been numerous conflicts in several countries like Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Instability caused by starvation and poverty will afflict more than 33 countries, which may also help radical Islamic movements get support from them.

The food crisis has undermined all the efforts made to reduce poverty in recent years and this crisis will be more severe than financial crisis.

Global food crisis is a result of the growing population and the reduction of arable land. Climate changes also add to the loss of agricultural land. More and more arable lands were turned into pasture for livestock and raising cattle is a profitable business. The rising oil prices push many countries to grow energy crops that can be used to make biofuels. Civil wars also lead to a high number of incapacitated people who cannot produce food but need it for survival.

Robert Zoellick repeated his call for 500 million U.S. dollars from donor governments for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy" to fight with food crisis.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the New Deal at the joint meeting last weekend.

# Comments

Apr 22, 2008 06:06 PM » posted by: Unknown

If we stopped eating meat, there would be a lot more grain and land for farming. The amount of grain it takes to make one pound of beef could feed 40 people. It's time to stop averting the "annoying vegetarian argument" and face the facts: eating meat deprives others of valueable food.

Think about it. Is your burger really worth it?

Apr 21, 2008 08:00 PM » posted by: Jerry Scovel

Food, energy and water are the only wealth that matters, until this simple fact is
widely accepted there can be no solution to the food crisis. It is my contention that
the governments will never take a logical approach to the food crisis because it is
unprofitable (the poor have a negative value to them) and the corporations will not
allow it. Any solution will have to come from the billions of people worldwide that
are not members of the elite.

The problem is atmospheric carbon, the solution is water, some places have
too much and others too little. If we pump the water from areas that have
too much water to the arid regions for irrigation we could actually lower
the concentration of atmospheric carbon. I offer as proof the NOAA CO2 chart
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/carbonlevels/ the chart clearly shows
that CO2 levels drop by 6 ppm every northern hemisphere summer. I attribute
this to the fact that more vegetation is growing during the northern
hemisphere summer. At the rate of 6 ppm per year it would take about 18
years to reach the carbon level set in 1750 AD, after that a certain amount
of carbon would have to be added to the atmosphere to keep the carbon level
at that point. If carbon were allowed to drop below a set limit it would
trigger an ice age.

Cheap rafts made from waste plastic bottles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island could collect rainfall from the
oceans and produce energy at the same time. There are millions of square
miles of arid land (expanding daily) that could be used to grow vegetation
if only enough pure water were made available, the rafts could supply all
the water needed. Since the rafts would cover millions of square miles of
ocean they would lower the water temperature and provide a breeding
sanctuary from overfishing.

The reclaimed desert areas would provide small farms for refugees and the
homeless. Since the islands can be made at almost no cost using simple hand
tools there would be jobs for billions of third world workers and ensuring
that they have good food, clean water and adequate housing. If the rich
nations do not want to give up their lifestyle then they had better take
notice of the world around them and fix the problem.

Apr 15, 2008 06:23 AM » posted by: snsuresh

god! cant scientist workup to stop this?

Apr 15, 2008 06:23 AM » posted by: snsuresh

god! cant scientist workup to stop this?

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