Changing of the Guards this evening
The former secretary general of the commonwealth bidding farewell at Malborough house in London
REVOLUTION NEEDED TO MEET COMING FOOD DEMANDS, SAYS PAPER
Tuesday 22 April 2008
A revolution in agriculture will be needed to meet a projected 50 per cent increase in demand for food by 2030, says a new briefing paper published today by Chatham House. Further, the question of ‘fair shares’ is likely to emerge as a significant global issue as a burgeoning ‘global middle class’ consumes more grain by eating more meat and dairy products. Crucially, this process will take staple foods out of the purchasing power reach of the world’s poorest people.
Recent national concerns over soaring prices have already led some countries to reduce exports and others to try to build up stocks - creating a ‘feedback loop’ that is feeding on itself to drive up prices still further. In the medium to longer term, ‘scarcity trends’ – climate change, energy, land and water – could further limit the supply-side response.
The paper, Rising Food Prices: Drivers and Implications for Development by Dr Alex Evans, argues that it is vital to make sure that the urgent does not crowd out the essential in discussions of global food strategies. Immediate action on humanitarian assistance needs to be matched by a sustained effort to invest in shared awareness between policymakers of what needs to be done to achieve ‘the feeding of the ten billion’.
Dr Alex Evans said: ‘While the current focus on humanitarian aid is welcome, we need to be thinking now about the long term too – especially how to grow food supply and make sure that the process benefits rural poor people. What we’re seeing now is just the start of a multi-decade challenge: feeding a global population set to approach ten billion by 2050, in the face of climate change, tighter energy supply, and growing competition for land and water resources.’
He added: ‘How we frame and perceive the issue matters enormously. If the prevailing narrative is a Malthusian story of insufficiency, then the risk is of self-fulfilling prophecy - if for example fears that there isn’t enough to go around lead to countries panic-buying food for stockpiles, pushing prices up even more. Instead, we need to see this as a transition to a new, stable state of affairs. Feeding a world population of ten billion people in 2050 won’t be easy, but it can be done with forethought, collective action and if we don’t panic.’
Notes to editors:
Rising Food Prices: Drivers and Implications for Development by Dr Alex Evans is published today by Chatham House.
Dr Alex Evans is a non-resident fellow at the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) at New York University, where he runs CIC’s work on climate change and global public goods. From 2003 to 2006, Alex worked as Special Adviser to Hilary Benn MP, then UK Secretary of State for International Development. Prior to joining DFID in 2003, Alex worked in a range of other climate and energy-focused roles, including as the head of the climate and energy research program of the Institute for Public Policy Research (2002-3), at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a specialist on emissions trading (2002), as communications director at the Global Commons Institute (2000-2) and as a political consultant on climate and energy policy (1998-9). He also co-edits http://www.mailcasts.net/584751/6596/559/804818, the global risk and foreign policy blog.The paper is published as part of a joint project on the international implications of rising food prices being undertaken by Chatham House and CIC, which will culminate in the publication in the summer of a strategic assessment for policymakers of the drivers, implications and policy requirements of rising food prices. www.chathamhouse.org.uk/research/global_trends
EVENTS
Transatlantic Slave Trade seminar
25 April 2008
The Recovered Histories project at Anti-Slavery International is holding a seminar on the 'Transatlantic Slave Trade and its legacies' to bring together a wide range of groups and organisations which are working on these issues.
Friday 25 April 2008
Museum in Docklands, London
Download a registration form and send to Recovered Histories project, Anti Slavery International, Thomas Clarkson House, The Stableyard, Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL, or phone 020 7501 8937.
