Extremely
dry weather aggravated by recent wildfires has adversely affected
growing conditions in the normally flourishing Black Sea region, also
known as the “bread basket” of the area.
As a result, both
Russia and Ukraine, the world’s fourth and sixth largest wheat
exporters, respectively, have announced export bans to conserve national
food supplies.
With the drought in Russia being the worst in a
century, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated that the effects
may be so severe that the export ban will need to extend beyond the
year’s end.
He went on to state that the grain crop forecast
could fall to as low as 60 million tons, down from the previous week’s
75 million ton forecast. The affected growing regions are currently not
planning to sow seeds for the winter 2010 crops this autumn, which
normally amounts to 40% of the country’s grain harvest, and will focus
on spring 2011 crops later instead.
Winter grain sowing is also
being delayed in Ukraine, where high temperatures and absence of rain
have parched the soil’s sowing layer. Officials have also stated that
grain surpluses from prior years may need to be used to help to avoid
internal food shortages.
Our appreciation, Your Excellency and
governments of Russia and Ukraine for your efforts to cope with this
serious situation affecting not only Russia but global food supplies.
Let
us all act in more sustaining ways to protect food security worldwide,
including a foremost shift to the environmentally restoring organic
vegan diet.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has often expressed concern
about climate change impacts on global food production, as discussed in
a 2009 videoconference in Togo.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Sudan – just to name a
few – are experiencing worsened droughts that make it difficult to plant
crops, thus adding to food shortages and prices rising.
Add to
this, desertification and deforestation that further degrade the land.
Increased temperatures mean erratic rainfall – either too little or too
much at a time – so we have ravaging floods that drown the crops and
fires that burn the forest.
These impacts of climate change
increase food insecurity and the food crisis. It is best if government
leaders can be part of the solution. They can assist in helping people
to understand why it is so important to make the change to the veg diet.
So let us try our best to help remind and encourage our leaders to do something.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18fbaae2-a3de-11df-9e3a-00144feabdc0.html http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=7942539&rf=true http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/08/13/black-sea-drought-threaten-crops/
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