Post by Queue on Nov 18, 2011 0:51:30 GMT -5
Adverse environmental factors are expected to drive up world food prices by up to 30-50 per cent in the coming decades, the latest United Nation’s Human Development Report has warned.
Food production must rise to meet the demands of growing populations, but the combined environmental effects of land degradation, water scarcity and climate change will restrict supply, the report says adding that income poverty and malnutrition could worsen if the prices of key staples rise.
The poor spend a large share of their income on staple foods, and to survive, they sacrifice nutrition and eat less. Research in India has shown that climate change could lead to a sharp drop in land productivity for some 17 per cent of farmers, particularly in cereals production, but effects on consumption would be muted, as most rural households derive their income largely from wage employment. Poor in urban areas would pay more for food as will wage earners and net consumers in rural areas.
The report also cautions that the progress in recent decades on human development was now threatened by environmental factors. The report forecasts an increase of human development index by 19 per cent in 2050 over today as a baseline scenario, which assumes limited changes in inequality, environmental threats and risks. Under the environmental challenge scenario, risks get intensified.
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