UN: Climate change may intensify food crisis

Nairobi - The United Nations Tuesday warned that the global food crisis could be intensified dramatically by climate change as environment ministers from across the world gathered in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. A report presented to over 100 environment minsters at a meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said that by 2050 there could be 25 per cent less food produced worldwide. Food prices could rise by as much as 50 per cent within a few decades, causing even more misery for the poor, who can spend up to 90 per cent of their income on food, the report said. According to the report, fish stocks have been greatly depleted and climate change events such as the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas will impact the irrigation systems for up to half of Asia's rice and grain production. 'We need a Green revolution in a Green Economy but one with a capital G,' said UN Under Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. 'We need to deal with not only the way the world produces food but the way it is distributed, sold and consumed, and we need a revolution that can boost yields by working with rather than against nature,' he added. Steiner pointed out the report showed how much food is wasted, from fish discarded at sea to food thrown out in the supermarket and in people's homes. 'Over half of the food produced today is either lost, wasted or discarded as a result of inefficiency in the human-managed food chain,' he said. Losses and food waste in the United States are as high as 50 per cent, almost one third of all food bought in Britain is not eaten and almost half of Australia's landfill is comprised of discarded food, the report said. 'There is evidence within the report that the world could feed the entire projected population growth alone by becoming more efficient while also ensuring the survival of wild animals, birds and fish on this planet,' Steiner said.