Monday
Apr282008
World Food Crisis
Monday, April 28, 2008 This evening I was planning on editing and sharing my notes from Dr. Susan I. Barr's excellent session on Canada's Food Guide presented at the Dietetics in Action education day. But about an hour ago I received an email message from Avaaz.org that convinced I should learn more about the global food crisis -- NOW. I am reproducing the message here word-for-word so that you can follow the links (Avaaz backs up the statements with published sources) and decide whether you want to sign the petition. I did.
Dear friends,
Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here's why -- we're plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million more people are at risk of starvation right now[1]. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, becoming unaffordable for 90% of citizens[2]. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come.
We need to act now -- before it's too late. As Ban Ki-Moon holds a high-level UN meeting on the crisis, we're launching an urgent campaign with African foreign minister and human rights campaigner Zainab Bangura. Click below to see Zainab's video message and add your name to the food crisis petition -- we need to raise 200,000 signatures by the end of this week to deliver a massive global outcry to leaders at the UN, G8 and EU:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php
The prices of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice have almost doubled, and the crisis is slipping out of control -- so we're calling for immediate action on emergency food aid, speculation and biofuels policy, while asking forthcoming summits to tackle deeper problems of investment and trade.[3]
The global food crisis touches and connects us all, creating a tsunami of hunger for the poor and damaging economies and squeezing citizens in the rich world too. But solutions are on the horizon if leaders act fast [4] -- sign the petition at the link below now, then forward this email and ask friends and family to do the same:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php
With hope,
Paul, Galit, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Mark, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team
Sources:
1. BBC: "How to stop the global food crisis": http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7365798.stm
"The New Economics of Hunger", Washington Post, 27 April 2008 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602041_pf.html
2. Zainab Bangura, Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone, video message to Avaaz members http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/9.php
3. Chinese news citing World Bank figures: http://www.cctv.com/english/20080426/102406.shtml
Reuters: "Rising food prices to top UN agenda" http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSL1890947220080424
4. See BBC article above, and "Rising Food Prices" by Alex Evans (Chatham House report) http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/11422_bp0408food.pdf
UN scientific report on fixing the world food system: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7347239.stm
The Guardian: "Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger", George Monbiot http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels
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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.
Reader Comments (2)
Hi Elaine,
I just wanted to say Thank You for focusing your blog posts on the world food crisis. We are hearing more and more about it from short clips on the news; but we don't often take the time to increase our 'awareness' by searching for reliable, up to date information and really informing ourselves of the facts. We may find ourselves buying less flour, or deciding to grow a garden or buying from local farmers more often, but often that only makes us feel better for ourselves. Sometimes we have to step outside of our individual worlds and take a look at what is going on outside of our communities, our country and see what we could possibly do to help. And often becoming 'informed' is the first step. So, thank you for the great links and opening up the discussion! It is a very scary situation to say the least.
PS - coming back to my own world :) I am looking forward to the information from Dr. Barr's session on Canada's Food Guide - and thank you in advance for sharing your insights from the Dietetics in Action education day. Take care.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Heidi. The situation is overwhelming and even today I heard some conflicting information that minimized the role of biofuels in exacerbating the crisis. Who do we listen to for guidance? Who can we trust? Clearly there is no single cause or solution. What makes this even more difficult is that it is frightening as well as complex -- not really the kind of topic we want to study on top of the nutrition knowledge we need for our daily work.
Speaking of which....I'm still summarizing my notes from Dr. Barr's talk and hoping to post them on the weekend if not before.
Your book should arrive soon if not already. I mailed it 10 days ago. Please let me know if you don't receive it within two weeks.