-
-
Poor Haitians resort to eating dirt
This is an awful tragedy that this goes on and we spend billions and even trillions on a stupid senseless war
-
World forests 'threatened by food, fuel demands'
The world's forests will be gobbled up by an escalating demand for fuel and food unless steps are taken to hand the people who live in them greater rights, two reports published here Monday said.
The US-based Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an international coalition of forest governance and conservation groups, warned that widespread deforestation would make climate change more severe.
It would also push the billion or so people dependent on forests further into poverty and trigger conflicts, the coalition's reports said.
The international community must work to empower poor forest-dwellers if the loss of forest and its consequences are to be avoided, the RRI concluded.
The world will need a minimum of 515 million more hectares (1.27 billion acres) by 2030, in order to grow food, bio-energy and wood products, said the reports.
This is almost twice the amount of available land and equal to an area 12 times the size of Germany, the RRI said.
"Arguably we are on the verge of a last great global land grab," said RRI co-ordinator Andy White.
"Unless steps are taken, traditional forest owners, and the forests themselves, will be the big losers.
"It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."
* * * * *
More at link The world's forests will be gobbled up by an escalating demand for fuel and food unless steps are taken to hand the people who li... more -
Food crisis could destroy progress in Africa
LONDON, England (AP) -- Rising global food prices threaten to destroy years of economic progress in Africa and drive 100 million people into poverty, a high-profile international panel said Monday.
Real progress in Africa now risks being undone by the food crisis, says a high-profile international panel.
The Africa Progress Panel also said wealthy countries are likely to fail in their promise to deliver billions more in aid to the continent by 2010.
"Africa has made substantial progress in recent years," said former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who chairs the panel.
"However, the current food crisis threatens to reverse many of the hard-fought gains that have been made," he said.
"With 100 million people on the brink of abject poverty, the cost of food will not be measured in the price of wheat and rice, but in the rising number of infant and child deaths across Africa."
The panel was formed last year to focus world leaders' attention on the continent and monitor progress toward meeting ambitious aid commitments. Its 11 members include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof.
In its annual report, the panel called on leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations to "urgently fund shortfalls against their targets to double assistance to Africa by 2010."
The July 2005 G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, garnered commitments to increase foreign aid by $50 billion a year by 2010 -- with half of that going directly to Africa -- and to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted poor nations.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in April that foreign aid by major donor countries slumped in 2007 as debt-relief plans tapered off and amid a global economic downturn in Japan and some other rich nations.
The Africa Progress Panel concluded that despite increases in assistance by some countries, "the G-8's commitment to double assistance to Africa by 2010 is not likely to be fulfilled." It said current commitments fell $40 billion short of the Gleneagles target.
The panel called on the G-8 countries -- U.S., Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada -- to tackle the food crisis and promote trade, infrastructure and governance reforms when they meet in Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7-9. LONDON, England (AP) -- Rising global food prices threaten to destroy years of economic progress in Africa and drive 100 million peopl... more -
charity organization managar on rising food prices
This is a part of the interview with the manager of Caritas - a polish charity organization. He's name is Łukasz Sidorowicz.
Here's what the manager is saying:
Where we do get the food? Well, partly we buy it, actually we buy most of it, that is the way it works. First we need to raise the money, then go to the store and purchase the products. Some of the products are delivered directly to us, but we still have to pay. We need large quantities of food to run our soup kitchens. There are basic staple foods which we use to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but we also prepare food packages for those who need help but are unable to come to our soup kitchens, or maybe just need help occasionally, for the holidays. There are also others, who simply don’t have anything to eat, and they come to us for help.
The rising food prices are affecting us. We are trying to find the cheapest places to buy food. Every year we feel the difference in the prices, especially the price of meat, which is the most desired product. The prices are constantly on the rise—there is no time when they would just remain stable. You many not notice it form day to day, as it happens gradually, there are no drastic changes overnight, but still the prices are rising. Something as basic as bottled water, which is a must during the hot days of the summer, is more expensive every year (NOTE: in Poland tap water is not potable, and also there is no conditioning in most places, so hot summers mean a need for a lot of bottled water). The prices of all products are rising: milk, other staple foods which we use to prepare our meals This is a part of the interview with the manager of Caritas - a polish charity organization. He's name is Łukasz Sidorowicz. ... more -
UN plan to increase food supplies
Global food production must be doubled by 2030 and farmers in poor countries better supported, a UN summit on the current food crisis has concluded.
Leaders from 181 countries made the commitment in Rome at the close of a three-day summit on food shortages.
They also agreed to bolster humanitarian interventions to help deal with shortages and soaring prices.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned up to $20bn (£10.2bn) a year was needed to alleviate the crisis.
Government representatives and aid agencies welcomed the concluding statement as a signal that agriculture - particularly the support of small farmers in the developing world - was now firmly back on the agenda.
"For the first time agriculture has been put at the centre of the world stage. For years it has been on the periphery," South Africa's Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana told the BBC.
The summit participants stated that the reality of 862 million people worldwide continuing to be malnourished was wholly unacceptable given the resources available.
SUMMIT OUTCOME
Target doubling of global food production by 2030
Focus on aid to small farmers in developing world
Give an extra $1.2bn (£613m) in food aid to 75 million people in 60 nations
No agreement on possible need to limit biofuel production
Biofuel high on agenda
Lesotho tackles crisis
Tortilla prices put pressure on poor
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, said the adoption of a final declaration was "a sign that the international community is speaking with one voice".
But the summit, which was threatened to be overshadowed by the controversial presence of invited heads of state including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, was not without its critics, says the BBC's Stephanie Holmes in Rome.
Representatives from non-governmental organisations complained they were excluded from discussions.
ActionAid's food and hunger policy adviser, Magda Kropiwnicka, said the concluding statement lacked concrete proposals.
"There are no quantifiable financial commitments. Apart from the existing UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) funds, no money has been given to address the key problem of boosting capacity," she said.
But Oxfam's Alexander Woolcombe told the BBC News wesite that the very recognition of agriculture's role is a vital step.
"There needs to be more focus on agriculture, not less, and we finally seem to be getting recognition of that." Global food production must be doubled by 2030 and farmers in poor countries better supported, a UN summit on the current food crisis ... more -
Food Fight: Greater PGH Community Food Bank, deleted scenes.
Hey everyone,
Here's two really nice moments from my interview with Joyce Rothermel, the CEO for the Greater PGH Community Food Bank, which didn't make it to the rough rough cut that I posted earlier. Hey everyone, ... more -
Soaring living costs cloud U.N. climate talks
By Gerard Wynn
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - U.N.-led climate talks began in Germany on Monday on a global warming pact, facing a challenge from critics who say climate measures are partly to blame for high food and energy prices.
The meeting is the second in a series of eight which aim to secure a global climate deal by the end of next year in Copenhagen, to come into force after the first round of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
The talks coincide with swelling public concern about high energy and food prices. This is coupled with criticism that policies to cut greenhouse gases -- especially support for biofuels, as well as carbon taxes and emissions trading -- could make matters worse.
Racing food prices have sparked riots in developing nations such as Haiti and a record oil price has hurt motorists, prompting protests and blockades in Europe. These events, together with an economic slowdown, threaten to distract attention from climate change.
"They're absolutely right to worry about food and energy costs but not addressing climate change would probably increase both," the U.N.'s climate chief Yvo de Boer told Reuters on Monday, referring to crop damage from droughts and higher energy bills swelled by inefficiency.
De Boer rejected the suggestion that carbon-cutting biofuels should be banned, after driving up food prices by using food crops such as corn in the United States to make an ethanol alternative to gasoline.
"I think biofuels are a very important part of the solution," he said.
"If corn on a large scale leads to food shortages and an increase in food prices that's a concern but my assessment is that's not happening, on a large scale. The best solution would be for us all to become vegetarians," because grains are used to feed cattle, added the head of the UN climate agency (UNFCCC). By Gerard Wynn ... more -
Biofuel land demand puts peasants at risk: report
The rise of biofuels is not only adding to the global food price crisis but also poses a risk for peasants, pushed off their land to make way for energy crops, a report prepared for this week's food summit said.
The use of food such as maize, palm oil and sugar to produce fuel has been blamed in part for record high commodity prices which are driving millions of people into hunger, and will be a key issue discussed by world leaders at the Rome summit.
Condemned as a "crime against humanity" last year by the then U.N. food rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, critics of biofuels say they divert nutrition away from mouths and into fuel tanks and compete for land that should be used to grow food.
Both the United States and the European Union have policies promoting the use of biofuels as alternatives as a way to reduce reliance on crude oil.
The report, published on Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that hosts the three-day summit from Tuesday, flagged up several social and environmental risks of biofuels, but said they were not the main cause of the food crisis.
"Recent hikes in world food prices have not been caused primarily by biofuels," it said, listing the main reasons for the price hikes as poor harvests, low stocks and rising demand in Asia for food and fodder.
By Robin Pomeroy
Reuters The rise of biofuels is not only adding to the global food price crisis but also poses a risk for peasants, pushed off their land to m... more -
Crisis talks on global food prices
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 through hunger as food prices soar. The historic pric... more -
UN: Biofuel production 'criminal path' to global food crisis
Fiery Jean Siegler, a very old friend of mine and one of the smartest and most courageous men I have ever met (and who is the UN's Special Rapporteur on the right to food), speaks out emphatically about the disastrous effects of using food crops to produce biofuels has on the world food situation - especially for the poorest people and countries. Fiery Jean Siegler, a very old friend of mine and one of the smartest and most courageous men I have ever met (and who is the UN'... more
-
related topics
World Food Crisis
Contributors (33)
World Food Crisis
