tagged w/ Starvation
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"A report by the UN's Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the body for rich nations, the OECD, said prices will fall, but only gradually.
It said the current price spike was higher than previous records, partly due to bad weather ruining crops.
But factors, such as rising biofuel demand, will keep future costs high.
The FAO said speculators were also to blame for volatile commodity markets."
Oh no. This is awful. Food prices have already more than doubled over the last two years and US aid to the UN isn't set to come until October.
: ("A report by the UN's Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the body... more
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World leaders will meet next week to discuss how to stop the deaths of millions through hunger as food prices soar. The historic price spikes in the cost of staple foods has caused unrest and riots in 36 countries this year, with more expected to follow as experts predict the food import bill for developing countries to rise 40%.
The summit, hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation will discuss establishing a global food fund and a set of international guidelines for cultivating biofuels, which have been blamed for diverting various resources away from food production.
Gordon Brown has suggested that decreasing the subsidies paid to European and American farmers, which amounts to $1bn a day would go a long way to lowering food prices and supporting farmers in the third world. $1bn sure seems a lot of money subsidise western farmers when millions cannot eat.
FAO's assistant director general, Hafez Ghanem said "Food is no longer the cheap commodity that it once was. Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854 million people ... We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people."World leaders will meet next week to discuss how to stop the deaths of millions... more
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Pardon
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4 years ago
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This year's poor rains have nearly killed Bizunesh.
Bizunesh is 3 and weighs less than 10 pounds. "There is nothing ... I beg for milk," her mother says.
The rangy 3-year-old weighs less than 10 pounds, or 4 kilograms. Her long limbs, weak and folded like a praying mantis, cannot carry even her slight weight. She cannot speak. She doesn't want to eat. Health officials say she is permanently stunted.
Bizunesh -- whose name, sadly, means "plentiful" -- is one of untold numbers of children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia.
"She should be bigger than this," said her mother Zewdunesh Feltam, rocking the listless child. "Before there was maize, different kinds of food. But now there is nothing ... I beg for milk from my neighbors."
The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition -- and called the crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."
The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains -- nearly double the number who needed help last year. An additional 5 million of Ethiopia's 80 million people receive aid each year because they never have enough food, whether harvests are good or not.This year's poor rains have nearly killed Bizunesh.
Bizunesh is 3 and weighs... more
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Six million children in Ethiopia are at risk of acute malnutrition following the failure of rains, the UN children's agency, Unicef, has warned.
More than 60,000 children in two Ethiopian regions require immediate specialist feeding just to survive, Unicef says.
The situation is expected to worsen in the next few months as crops fail. Aid agencies in Ethiopia say they are short of funds as donors concentrate on the emergencies in China and Burma.
The WFP estimates it needs to raise $147m (£75m) to tackle Ethiopia's needs. The UN estimates it currently has a shortfall of 180,000 tonnes of food - and presently has no promises to meet this target.
Six million children in Ethiopia are at risk of acute malnutrition following the... more
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An aid charity has warned that 30,000 Burmese children face starvation due to the delay in distributing international aid in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
Save the Children said that under-fives living in the Irrawaddy delta were already "acutely malnourished" when the cyclone hit on May 2 and it believed some children in the stricken areas of Burma may now be dying from lack of food.An aid charity has warned that 30,000 Burmese children face starvation due to the... more
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Nearly one million people starved to death when a murderous famine gripped North Korea in the 1990s. Now, the most backward, isolated country in the world may be about to see history repeat itself.
According to diplomats, United Nations officials and a variety of non-government organizations, North Korea stands yet again on the brink of a major food shortage.
"The prospect of hunger related deaths in the next few months is approaching certainty," says Marcus Noland, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute and co-author of a just released study raising alarms about the prospect of renewed famine.
In fact, one Seoul-based NGO, the Research Institute for North Korean Society, asserts that there have already been a handful of people in small, agricultural villages who have died from starvation.
Nearly one million people starved to death when a murderous famine gripped North Korea... more
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Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.
The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world's poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution.
Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food... more
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Rostam
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4 years ago
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As many as 300,000 people may have died in the five-year conflict in Darfur, a dramatic increase over earlier estimates of 200,000, a top U.N. official said on Tuesday.As many as 300,000 people may have died in the five-year conflict in Darfur, a... more
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"We drive, they starve" is the powerful opener to this article about how the rise in global hunger is partly down to an increase in desire for ethanol fuels that are traditionally seen as a more environmentally friendly option. Instead of feeding people, grain harvests are being used for fuel and the Telegraph reports that the situation is reaching its political and moral limits.
According to the UN it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That's enough to feed a child for a year. Unless the biofuel policy is halted, the UN warns there will be violent bloodshed, adding "People won't be sitting dying of starvation, they will react."
(In the picture above, a demonstrator eats grass in front of a UN peacekeeping soldier during a protest against high food costs. Om nom nom)."We drive, they starve" is the powerful opener to this article about how the... more
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richjm
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4 years ago
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ABC News asks reporters around the world to analyze the global food crisis. It shows different case studies of nations and what factors contribute to large amounts of people fighting for food. It's a great quick summary. However, I urge you to look more in depth.
ABC News asks reporters around the world to analyze the global food crisis. It shows... more
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Feeding the world is a tall order, and the UN has admitted that in trying to do that, they're 'fighting a losing battle.' According to a statement released yesterday, the UN no longer has enough money to keep global malnutrition at bay this year, particularly as the dramatic upward surge in world commodity prices continues.
"With voluntary contributions from the world's wealthy nations, the WFP feeds 73 million people in 78 countries, less than a 10th of the total number of the world's undernourished. Its agreed budget for 2008 was $2.9bn (£1.5bn). But with annual food price increases around the world of up to 40% and dramatic hikes in fuel costs, that budget is no longer enough even to maintain current food deliveries."
In other words, this huge budget deficit means that millions more face starvation.Feeding the world is a tall order, and the UN has admitted that in trying to do that,... more
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The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is accepting the participation of You Tube user in its Congress Center viewing and answering the significant suggestion to what companies or individuals must do in order to make the World a better place in 2008.
Most of the conflicts we have in the World today is caused by economic inequality and its consequences.
The idea that corporation, which in many aspects decide the way other human beings and the environment are treated, are considering to take in consideration opinion and ideas of single individuals, like you and I, make me feel quiet optimist about the possibilities of a future with fair way of living for all!
So, it's up to you! You've up to January 27, 2008 to address them!
Make your voice be heard!!!
The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is accepting the participation... more
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Biofuels are driving up the cost of food, making it difficult for poor people to eat, "Biofuel production could push food prices up as much as 20-40% according to The International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington." As we convert more of our food source to fuel, starvation will continue to rise.
Biofuels are bad for the environment. Rain forests are leveled for crops. Only a small percentage of biofuels can actually be considered renewable. Pesticides and GMO corn are used heavily for ethanol.
Biofuels will not reduce our need for foreign oil significantly, "If, in 2006, we had dedicated the entire US corn crop to ethanol production we would have replaced only 12% of the gasoline we used." Biofuels are driving up the cost of food, making it difficult for poor people to eat,... more
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13,000 relief workers are in Darfur, and a billion dollars are spent annually, but malnutrition rates are on the rise. Last year there were 12.9 percent "acutely malnourished" Darfurians, now there are 16.1 percent.
Apparently the United Nations has been aware of the situation for months, but the conditions on the ground continue to plague aid workers as attacks on them are up 150 percent. Moreover, the refugee camps are full as more and more are trying to find escape from genocide.
The most adversely effected are children ages 6 months - 29 months.
13,000 relief workers are in Darfur, and a billion dollars are spent annually, but... more
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MBARARA, Uganda -- At the AIDS clinic here, the stories are brutal. A young cattle herder, infected with H.I.V. along with his wife, tells me that all four of their children died before turning 3.
A mother of five, also infected, reports that after her marriage she was forced to have sex with her husband's three brothers, in accordance with tribal tradition.MBARARA, Uganda -- At the AIDS clinic here, the stories are brutal. A young cattle... more
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1. Humanitarian crisis in war torn Somalia
2. Political and Economic Turmoil Sparks Health-Care Crisis in Zimbabwe
3. Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Spreads As New Drugs Go Untested
4. Expanded Use of Nutrient Dense Ready-to-Use Foods Crucial for Reducing Childhood
Malnutrition
5. Civilians Increasingly Under Fire in Sri Lankan Conflict
6. Conditions Worsen in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
7. Columbia's civil war and it's effect on civilians
8. Humanitarian Aid Restricted in Myanmar
9. Civilians Caught Between Armed Groups in Central African Republic
10. As Chechen Conflict Ebbs, Critical Humanitarian Needs Still Remain1. Humanitarian crisis in war torn Somalia
2. Political and Economic Turmoil Sparks... more
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Mexico, China, and Argentina are reporting riots for food. International grain stores are depleted since consumption has outpaced production for the last five years. This situation is expected to get worse over the next couple of years. Grain prices such as wheat, corn, and soy hit historical highs last week. Wheat, which normally hovers around $4.00 a bushel was over $10.00. Several factors are causing the food shortage: Increasing demand (China can afford to by the worlds food supply three times over); biofuels are eating up former food sources; and global warming is creating draught situations in previously fertile lands. Mexico, China, and Argentina are reporting riots for food. International grain stores... more
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About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically modified ingredients and is not labeled. The biotechnology industry is spending $50 million a year to convince us that this technology is our only hope for feeding the world and saving the environment. Family farmers are disappearing at an astonishing rate as people continue to go hungry both here and abroad.
Using hilarious and disturbing archival footage and featuring interviews with farmers, scientists, government officials and activists, FED UP! presents an entertaining, informative and compelling overview of our food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it.
The movie is broken into four parts, averaging 20 minutes each.About 70% of the food we eat contains genetically modified ingredients and is not... more
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