Stating
that prices are 29% higher than one year ago, with increases of 15%
over the past four months alone, the World Bank has issued an alarm as
it notes that food costs currently are only 3% lower than the peak
prices of June 2008, when food riots had erupted across the developing
world.
The largest recent increases have been seen in global
wheat prices, which doubled from June 2010 to January 2011, while the
price of maize jumped a sharp 73%, and higher prices placed on sugar and
cooking oils, as well as vegetables in China and India, and beans in
some African nations.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - Managing Director, World Bank Group (M):
According to our research at the World Bank, the recent food price
hikes have thrown another 44 million people into extreme poverty. I feel
we've now entered a danger zone.
VOICE: The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization has indicated that the recent upward direction
in prices has come from a combination of factors, including increased
consumption of meat and dairy products, speculative trading, soil
erosion, food crops used for biofuels, and decreased or failed harvests
due to climate change effects such as water scarcity.
Prolonged
widespread drought in northern China, for instance, caused wheat crop
failures that recently sparked concerns about the impact on global food
prices. If China were ever to have to import a large amount of wheat,
global prices for the grain would surge and add to the strain already
being felt worldwide.
Shanghai-based agriculture analyst Lief
Chiang of Rabobank noted that not only China's drought, but also other
disasters in late 2010 have driven up global wheat prices, such as
floods in Australia, drought in Russia and an unusually early frost in
Canada.
Our thanks, World Bank and United Nations for these
reports alerting us to the potential crisis of escalating food prices
and global food security. Let us work together to implement solutions
that ensure sustainable food supplies for all who are in need.
During
an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong, Supreme Master Ching Hai
addressed the interrelated issues of food production and climate change,
explaining the cost-saving solution for both areas. A lot of the news
today is not very good due to the effects of global warming. We hear
about glaciers melting, water becoming more scarce, rising food
shortages, rising food prices with over one billion people going hungry
every day, and so forth. The food prices are getting higher and higher
nowadays.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : As
it has already been mentioned, recent research shows that more than 50%
of emissions, which heat up our planet, which put our lives in danger,
are from the livestock industry.
Now, the meat industry is not a
very lucrative business, with very high production costs for
electricity, water, and grains that have to be wasted to produce the
same amount of so-called “food,” which is replaceable and better. We
have better food than meat.
I don't know how difficult can it be
to replace a piece of meat with a piece of tofu, or a piece of
vegetable protein. It looks the same, it tastes even better, is cheaper
any way, and good for your health.
The solution is at hand for
each and every one of us, which is simply to forego animal products and
become vegan - one small change; it's no big deal.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22833625~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22833439~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hhQGc78Ws
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