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World Food Program Predicts International Crisis

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 10:45 CDT

Speaking Tuesday at summit in London, Josette Sheeran, executive director at the World Food Program, referred to a “silent tsunami” of hunger in many developing countries across the globe.

Rising fuel prices and unpredictable weather and demand have all become factors leading to the first global food crisis since World War II.

"What we are seeing now is affecting more people on every continent," Sheeran said.

Sheeran co-hosted a series of talks along with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and lawmakers.

"Tackling hunger is a moral challenge to each of us and it is also a threat to the political and economic stability of nations," Brown said.

The price of food staples have seen drastic increases in recent months. The price of rice, for example, has more than doubled in just the last five weeks.

These changes have caused deaths in Cameroon and Haiti, while sparking civil unrest.

"We are going through a very serious crisis and we are going to see lots of food strikes and demonstrations," Said Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

President Bush authorized $200 million in urgent aid . Britain pledged an immediate $59.7 million on Tuesday.

Sheeran is calling for $500 million in emergency funding to alleviate the stress incurred by the global food crisis.

Those in the crowds on the street demand swift, powerful action, but experts say solutions will be slow, costly and complicated.

As many as 100 million people could be forced deeper into poverty, says Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rising food costs threaten overshadow efforts made toward the goal of cutting world poverty in half by 2015.

"Now is not too soon to be thinking about the longer-term solutions," said Alex Evans, a former adviser to Britain's Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

Evans added that the answer would not be in looking for new plots of land for crops.

"It's almost like new oil or gas fields; they'll tend to be the hardest to reach places, that need new roads and new infrastructure to be viable," he said.

Evans recommends that nations begin to rethink their stance on biofuels, since the land requirement for development of ethanol is driving food prices even higher.

Prime Minister Brown agreed, stating that the production of biofuels needs to be urgently re-examined.

Lawrence Haddad, an economist and director of Britain's Institute of Development Studies, said food price increases should have been foreseen.

"The fact no one has previously made the link between agriculture and poverty is quite incredible," he said.

The answer could be found in genetically modified crops, Haddad said. Some have been shown to be resistant to drought conditions, and could be more efficient in developing nations.

"The solutions are more nuanced than we previously thought," said Haddad.

Some experts predict other countries could follow the example of Pakistan, which has revived the use of ration cards for subsidized wheat.

Other analysts say that people in the West, China and India will need to consume less meat, and waste less food overall.

“Citizens in the West, China and India must realize that the meat on their plate and biofuels in their expensive cars carry a cost for those in the developing world,” Evans said.

"Much of the world is waking up to the fact that food does not spontaneously appear on grocery store shelves," said Sheeran.

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On the Net:

World Food Program

Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports

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