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U.N. Raises Concerns as Global Food Prices Jump
Abstract
UNITED NATIONS — With memories still fresh of food riots set off by spiking prices just two years ago, agricultural experts on Friday cast a wary eye on the steep rise in the cost of wheat prompted by a Russian export ban and the questions looming over harvests in other parts of the world because of drought or flooding. Food prices rose 5 percent globally during August, according to the United Nations, spurred mostly by the higher cost of wheat, and the first signs of unrest erupted as 10 people died in Mozambique during clashes ignited partly by a 30 percent leap in the cost of bread. "You are dealing with an unstable situation," said Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist at the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "People still remember what happened a few years ago, so it is a combination of psychology and the expectation that worse may come," he added. "There are critical months ahead." The F.A.O. has called a special session of grain experts from around the world on Sept. 24 to address the supply question. Given that the fields stretching out from the Black Sea have been the main source of a huge leap in wheat trade over the past decade, the fluctuating weather patterns and unstable harvests there will have to be addressed, he said. It is an issue not limited to Russia alone. Harvest forecasts in Germany and Canada are clouded by wet weather and flooding, while crops in Argentina will suffer from drought, as could Australia's, according to agricultural experts. The bump in prices because of the uncertainty about future supplies means the poor in some areas of the world will face higher bread prices in the coming months. Food prices are still some 30 percent below the 2008 levels, Mr. Abbassian said, when a tripling in the price of rice among other staples led to food riots in about a dozen countries and helped topple at least one government.
... It is the actions of many different actors – individuals , communities, local governments through to national governments – that lead to maladaptations when considered in their totality. A good example at the international scale occurred in the (northern) summer of 2010, when Russia experienced its hottest summer on record which, together with a drought which is estimated to be the worst in 50 years, led to devastating forest fi res throughout late July and August (MacFarquhar 2010 ). Wheat yields were reduced by 20–30%, leading the Russian government to ban wheat exports, fi rst until the end of 2010 and, subsequently, until the results of the 2011 harvests were known. ...
This is an introductory chapter of Climate Adaptation Futures, a book that seeks to expose and debate key issues in climate change adaptation, and to report the current state of knowledge on adaptation. Many challenges surround the definition and implementation of successful adaptation, which this book seeks to address. To explore these challenges, selection of papers have been taken from the First International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation 'Climate Adaptation Futures.' This chapter begins with a discussion of five principal challenges for adaptation. It then outlines the content of the book. The chapters of the book are mapped onto the five challenges, so that those who wish to explore in greater depth can do so.
... This was highlighted by recent events resulting from the worst drought recorded in at least 50 years in the Black Sea Region (Kolesnikova 2010), principally Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. This region not only produces roughly 30 % of globally commercialized wheat but satisfies the major part of world wheat demand (MacFarquhar 2010). In August 2010, Russia announced that it had lost about 30 % of its wheat harvest due to elevated temperatures and drought (Kramer 2010), and imposed export restrictions which extended to the 1st of July, 2011 (Gorst and Blas 2011). ...
Wheat is one of the main sources of calories and protein of the world’s population and therefore the pathogens that cause rust diseases of the crop are a real threat to food security. Besides the continuous evolution of rust pathogens which repeatedly results in overcoming the resistance of commercial varieties throughout the world, plant breeders are also now challenged by the impacts of global climatic changes. Agricultural practices will need to keep pace with the intensification of sustainable food production in order to face the challenge of feeding a world population estimated to reach about nine billion by 2050. Contemporary wheat breeding has increasingly focused on the future, culminating in the emergence of a global partnership for breeding new wheat varieties with resistance to rust pathogens. Plant breeding now employs a wide range of both long-established and frontier technologies aimed at achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of ending hunger and extreme poverty (MDG1), while concurrently promoting environmental sustainability (MDG7) through global partnerships for development (MDG8).
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