UN sets up food crisis task force - Political Forum

J.Locke777 · 04-29-2008, 11:39 PM

Quote:

BBC

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is setting up a task force to tackle the global food crisis.
Mr Ban said the world faced "widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale" because of soaring food prices.
He said the priority was to feed the hungry by closing a $755m (£380m) funding gap for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) this year.
He urged donor countries to make more money available now.
The WFP believes 100 million people are currently going short of food.
It says only 62% of the $755m it needs to feed them has been pledged so far, and, of that, only $18m has actually been received.
Supporting farmers
The task force, to be chaired by Mr Ban, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank.

In the long term we need to address the challenges caused by climate change
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

"The first and immediate priority issue that we all agreed was that we must feed the hungry," Mr Ban said after a meeting of agency heads in the Swiss capital, Bern.
"Without full funding of these emergency requirements, we risk again the spectre of widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale."
Mr Ban said it was essential to support farmers in poor countries who were producing less because of the high cost of fertilizer and energy, and to this end he said the task force hoped to:

offer $200m financial support to farmers in the worst affected countries to boost food production
set up a $1.7bn programme to help countries with a food deficit to buy seeds

For its part the World Bank said that it would:

double its lending for agriculture in Africa over the next year
consider providing quicker and more flexible financing for poor countries

Mr Ban said Africa could double its production of food in a few years with an annual investment of $8-10bn.

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The BBC's Alastair Leithead visits a World Food Programme service near Kabul
He also called on the international community to "urgently address trade-distorting subsidies in developed countries, and the ongoing Doha trade round.
"But also in the long term we need to address the challenges caused by climate change," Mr Ban added.
The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, who also attended the meeting in Bern, urged countries not to use export bans to protect food stocks.
"These controls encourage hoarding, drive up prices and hurt the poorest people around the world who are struggling to feed themselves," he said.
His comments came as India decided to tax exports of basmati rice as it tries to control domestic inflation, Reuters news agency said.
India banned exports of non-basmati rice in March.
Renting fields
The prices of staple foods including rice, grain, oil and sugar are all at least 50% higher than they were this time last year. HAVE YOUR SAY The task force can recommend and formulate a strategy, but the solution lies in the world wide campaign and efforts at every country level Asif Chaudhary, Lahore, Pakistan

On Tuesday the Beijing Morning newspaper reported that China might lease fields in Latin America, Australia and the former Soviet Union to replace farmland lost to urban and industrial development.
Meanwhile in Washington, US President George W Bush said he was "deeply concerned" by high food prices at home and abroad.
He said that diverting corn for the production of biofuels had only accounted for 15% of the rise in prices, which had otherwise been caused by weather, energy prices and increased demand.
"It's in our national interest that we - our farmers - grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us," he added.
Mr Bush said the long-term solution would be to switch to cellulosic ethanol, which uses grasses or other non-food sources to produce fuels. He also said he had made a proposal to Congress on buying food from local farmers so that countries could become "self-sustaining".

BBC NEWS | Europe | UN sets up food crisis task force

From a first glance, this appears to be a good thing. We'll have to wait and see to find out if it is a viable solution to the food crisis. Please share your comments/critiques on the UN action. Also, if you have any ideas to help people with thier food troubles, do share them.

Wheeldog · 04-30-2008, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.Locke777

BBC NEWS | Europe | UN sets up food crisis task force

"On Tuesday the Beijing Morning newspaper reported that China might lease fields in Latin America, Australia and the former Soviet Union to replace farmland lost to urban and industrial development."

From a first glance, this appears to be a good thing. We'll have to wait and see to find out if it is a viable solution to the food crisis. Please share your comments/critiques on the UN action. Also, if you have any ideas to help people with thier food troubles, do share them.

The operative term is "....farmland lost to urban and industrial development." All-too-often the land lost to development is the most productive land. It is land with ready access to water and transportation systems. Once that former crop land is converted to urban or industrial use it is virtually lost forever insofar as food production is concerned. Leasing land in other countries is not really replacing the lost soil. From a cumulative basis, an acre of productive soil taken for development, regardless of where it may be, means that there is that much less for the world overall. Also, leasing foreign lands for food production increases the consumption of fossil fuels required in moving the crops to markets. Overall, it appears to be a desperate and marginally productive program.

discoman · 04-30-2008, 06:40 PM

I hate to alarm you all, but this entire Food shortage situation will only get worse before it gets any better.
One of the four horsemen of the Apocalyspe , was said to be hunger and famine.This is the bgining of the End my freinds.Beutiful freinds the end.This is the end.

Wheeldog · 04-30-2008, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by discoman

I hate to alarm you all, but this entire Food shortage situation will only get worse before it gets any better.
One of the four horsemen of the Apocalyspe , was said to be hunger and famine.This is the bgining of the End my freinds.Beutiful freinds the end.This is the end.

I do not think it is the end, at least in a literal sense. However, it is the beginning of the end of life as we have known it for the past fifty years. Shopping malls, plates filled with fresh fruit and vegetables in the winter, pleasure trips on airplanes, driving private autos, air conditioning, central heating, constant access to electricity, eating at resturants, designer clothes, etc. will become artifacts of a past glory. Food will take on a new meaning and never again be taken for granted. Life will become much more local. The population will level out and then decline over the coming decades. Read, World Made By Hand, by James Kunster.

discoman · 06-06-2008, 07:30 PM

The UN has the worlds Nations with food shortages ,primed for the next phase.Which will be the implementation of the One World Government.