(London, 10 October, 00:01 GMT) As the global population hits 7
billion this month, ActionAid has today warned that a triple crisis of
climate change, depleted natural resources and rocketing food prices,
could dwarf the world’s ability to feed them all.
Based on new research in 28 poor countries, ActionAid’s report On the
Brink: Who’s best prepared for a climate and hunger crisis? reveals
which poor nations are most prepared for this triple crisis and which
are perilously close to the brink. The 10 countries ranked most
vulnerable – DRC, Burundi, South Africa, Haiti, Bangladesh, Zambia,
India, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Rwanda – account for nearly a
quarter of the world’s population.
Countries most ready to face the triple crisis include Brazil, Malawi,
Rwanda, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
ActionAid warns that the world is coming to the end of an era of cheap
food; that large scale agriculture has depleted the natural resources
that sustained it; and that food prices – driven by rich nations’
insatiable demand for biofuel and food commodities – will continue to
rise, unless urgent action is taken.
ActionAid’s Chief Executive Joanna Kerr said:
“Children born at the end of this month will join millions facing a
unique ‘trilemma’, never before witnessed in history.
“How sustainable our expanding population is will depend entirely on
how we tackle the interlocking crisis of climate change, dwindling
resources and rocketing food prices.
“This year’s famine in East Africa was a harrowing example of how
overexploited ecosystems, erratic weather and soaring food prices when
left unchecked have catastrophic consequences for poor people.
“We urge world leaders meeting at the G20 next month to scale up
investment in women and small farms in poor countries, deliver the
climate cash promised to help poor people adapt to climate change and
eliminate the biofuel targets that are driving land grabs in Africa,
Asia and the Americas.
“With 78 million more children to feed each year by 2050, there is not
a minute to lose.”
ActionAid’s key findings reveal that:
· At least 10 countries, accounting for more than 1.5 billion
of the world’s population, are highly vulnerable to a climate-related
food crisis. Overall, climate change could add another half a billion
people to those facing chronic hunger around the world by 2050. Every
rural community surveyed across Africa, Asia and the Americas said
that erratic and extreme weather was crippling their ability to feed
themselves.
· Unsustainable farming practices and an unprecedented rush
from foreign investors to control resources such as minerals, oil,
biofuel and water, could leave millions of the poorest people without
enough arable land to produce food. In Africa alone, over 6 million
hectares of degraded farmland must be regenerated to meet the demand
for food from a population set to double by 2050.
· A dangerous new era of high food prices is set to push 44
million more people into poverty. The demand for biofuel – produced
from wheat, corn, soybean and sugarcane – means that food prices will
keep rising unless rich countries find alternative sources of energy.
Brazil scored top of ActionAid’s preparedness survey by announcing
US$10 billion to support small scale farms, enshrining the right to
food in its constitution and making national plans to climate proof
its agriculture. Rwanda has set an ambitious 25 year plan to reverse
land and forest degradation. And Malawi is promoting organic
fertilisers, building up a nation-wide system of food reserves and
drafting a national adaptation plan to help rural communities cope
with climate shocks.
ActionAid urges world leaders meeting at next month’s G20 to put the
triple crisis at the top of the agenda. It is calling for: greater
investment in small farms in poor countries where the majority of poor
people’s food is grown; immediate delivery of the climate cash needed
to help poor farmers climate-proof their agriculture; binding cuts in
rich countries’ carbon emissions; the creation of a system of
pan-regional food reserves and the immediate elimination of biofuel
targets that are driving land grabs in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
ENDS