Contention one is overfishing Current federal policy impedes offshore aquaculture—ensures the us is dependent on unsustainable sources
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AT: Alt CausesCoral loss proves that overfishing does the most damage to the oceanRodgers 2014 (Paul; Solved! The mystery of the disappearing coral reefs; Jul 3; www.forbes.com/sites/paulrodgers/2014/07/03/tourism-and-fishing-not-climate-change-caused-coral-deaths/; kdf) Blaming Caribbean coral reef destruction on global warming is leaving them vulnerable to overfishing, tourism, and the Panama Canal. Coral cover has more than halved since the 1970s and the reefs could be entirely dead within 20 years, warned the report, Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012. Although global warming is expected to add to the problems faced by corals in the future, particularly by raising acidity in the oceans, making it harder for them to build their exoskeletons, more immediate threats are doing greater damage. “The threats of climate change and ocean acidification loom increasingly ominously for the future, but local stressors including an explosion in tourism, overfishing, and the resulting increase in macroalgae [seaweed] have been the major drivers of the catastrophic decline of Caribbean corals,” says the report, edited by Jeremy Jackson, Mary Donovan, Katie Cramer and Vivian Lam. Gustaf Lundin, the director of the global marine programme at the International Union for Conservation of Nature – which commissioned the review of 35,000 studies by 90 experts – told The Times that that climate change had become a “convenient truth”, a reference to former US vice president Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. “Some countries have said: ‘There is nothing we can do. If there isn’t global action on climate change, it’s all doomed’,” he said. “They have basically thrown in the towel. That’s a great mistake. There are always things you can do locally that enhance the resilience of the reefs and their ability to recover.” The report says the consequences of global warming “pale in comparison to the introduction of the unidentified pathogen that caused the die-off of Diadema antillarum”. D antillarum, a sea urchin, grazes on large seaweeds, preventing them from smothering the coral. A mysterious disease first noticed near the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal all but wiped it out in 1983-84. Because the Caribbean has been isolated for millions of years, its species are particularly vulnerable to new diseases introduced from the Pacific through the canal. The report compared them to “Native Americans after their first contact with Europeans”. The other creature that controls seaweed growth is the parrotfish, Scarus frenatus, which has been over-fished in recent decades. “The consequences have been catastrophic for coral reefs,” says the report. “Overfishing caused steep reductions in herbivores, especially large parrotfishes, which are the most effective grazers on Caribbean reefs.” The other big threat to corals comes from humans, both residents and tourists. In some cases human populations along the coast can reach as high as 25,000 per km2. The researchers found an inverse relationship between the number of people and the amount of live coral. The exceptions were Grand Cayman and Bermuda. “The exceptional situation at Bermuda most likely reflects progressive environmental regulations in place since the 1990s and the infrastructure required to make them work. “Otherwise, the harmful environmental costs of runaway tourism seem to be inevitable.” AT: No FeedAquaculture farmers are able to meet all of the health needs of fishJohn Forster ‘10 (John Forster specializes in application of experience to new aquaculture species, is a director of four aquaculture companies and serves on NOAA’s Marine Fishery Advisory Committee.) “What Can U.S. Open Ocean Aquaculture Learn From Salmon Farming?” from “Marine Technology Society Journal” Volume 44, Number 3, May/June 2010 titled “Sustainable U.S. Marine Aquaculture Expansion in the 21st Century” pages 68-79 1. Nutritionists developed a better understanding of the nutritional requirements of salmon and how to better formulate feed to meet those requirements. 2. Feed companies adopted new feed extrusion technology in the manufacture of salmon feeds. This resulted in improved pellet quality that reduced breakage and allowed for higher rates of inclusion of fish and vegetable oils in the feed. 3. Farmers learned to feed their fish more accurately, helped by new research on optimal feed intake and monitoring devices that showed when satiation is reached. 4. Farmers were also able to improve fish survival by better fish husbandry the use of vaccines against bacterial disease. Feed shorts don’t prevent the plan, different types of feed solveJohn Forster ‘10 (John Forster specializes in application of experience to new aquaculture species, is a director of four aquaculture companies and serves on NOAA’s Marine Fishery Advisory Committee.) “What Can U.S. Open Ocean Aquaculture Learn From Salmon Farming?” from “Marine Technology Society Journal” Volume 44, Number 3, May/June 2010 titled “Sustainable U.S. Marine Aquaculture Expansion in the 21st Century” pages 68-79 Salmon can use several other types of edible oils in their feed as alternative energy sources, but this leads to reduced levels of marine omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues and thus to less nutritional value for people who eat salmon meat. (Friesen et al., 2007; Turchini et al., 2009). To overcome this, “finishing feeds” that contain fish oil can be fed for 2 or 3 months before harvest. (Friesen et al., 2007). 2. Genetically modified soybeans that produce omega-3 fatty acids are under development, which will yield soy oil with comparable nutritional value to fish oils. Since, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ruled that this oil is safe in human foods (Coghlan, 2009), its use in fish feed is a probable future development. 3. The supply of fish oil may be increased by recovering more of it from fish processing wastes. In many cases now, the cost of recovery is more than the fish oil is worth, or it is put to other uses. In Alaska, for example, most of the 8 million gallons of fish oil that is now produced by seafood processors is burned as biodiesel (Alaska Energy Authority, 2010). 4 . M i c r o o r g a n i s m s , su c h a s Shcizochytrium sp., or marine microalgae can be mass cultured and processed to extract oils containing the omega-3 fatty acids needed for salmon feed. These are expensive presently (for example, see Advance Bionutrition, 2010), but costs may come down, especially given the effort now directed to growing marine microalgae for biodiesel. AT: OrganchlorineSalmon farming is cost efficient and promotes job growthJohn Forster ‘10 (John Forster specializes in application of experience to new aquaculture species, is a director of four aquaculture companies and serves on NOAA’s Marine Fishery Advisory Committee.) “What Can U.S. Open Ocean Aquaculture Learn From Salmon Farming?” from “Marine Technology Society Journal” Volume 44, Number 3, May/June 2010 titled “Sustainable U.S. Marine Aquaculture Expansion in the 21st Century” pages 68-79 1. Bulk handling of feed, which, in many cases, is delivered directly to storage barges at sea avoiding the need for storage on land and double handling. These barges are usually equipped with automated feeding systems (Figure 7). 2. Larger and better equipped workboats with lifting gear that reduces the labor required to change nets, in turn enabling larger nets to be used. 3. Larger individual cages whose use is made possible by mechanized feeding and net handling. This lowers the cost of a unit of cage volume and reduces operating costs because fewer individual cages must be tended. 4. Fish pumps and elevators thatmove live fish for grading or harvesting. 5. Development of service companies that provide specialized farm services such as net changing and washing and harvesting. Specialization allows these companies to equip and staff themselves to be more efficient than if each salmon farm company had to equip and staff itself to do the same work. AT: Salmon TurnSalmon would not be farmed as per the planLeschin-Hoar 2011 (Clare; Ocean of trouble: Report warns of offshore fish farming dangers; Oct 13; grist.org/food/2011-10-12-report-warns-of-the-dangers-of-offshore-fish-farming/; kdf) Genetically engineered salmon eggs (mentioned in a recent Grist article) are not yet licensed to be sold to open-water systems in the U.S., but some experts worry it’ll only be a matter of time before that changes. (The fish are already being shipped for use in Panama and Canada’s Prince Edward Island.) While NOAA’s policy doesn’t explicitly address genetically modified fish, it does say that they support “the use of only native or naturalized species in federal waters unless best available science demonstrates use of non-native or other species in federal waters would not cause undue harm to wild species, habitats, or ecosystems in the event of an escape.” Aquacultures safeFarmed Fish is Safe to ConsumeNOAA 12 (NOAA -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration- a federal agency focused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. “10 Myths about U.S. Marine Aquaculture.” NOAA.gov. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/homepage_stories/10myths.html. May, 2012) Farmed seafood is both safe and healthy to eat – studies have shown this time and time again. Both the diets and environments of farmed seafood are monitored throughout the life of the animal. Because of their controlled diet, the heart-healthy long chain omega-three fatty acids and other nutrients in farmed seafood have levels similar to wild. In the U.S., seafood farmers follow the same food safety guidelines as other seafood producers and land farmers, as well as undergo regular inspections. Safety-related regulations address siting, what the animals are fed, and processing, to name just a few. Aff solves ecosystemsAquacultures can preserve endangered aquatic species and re-store damaged marine ecosystemsJohn Corbin 2010, President at Aquaculture Planning and Advocacy LLC and advises the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce on the management of the living marine resources and fisheries and aquaculture development."Marine Stock Enhancement, a Valuable Extension of Expanded U.S. Marine Aquaculture." Marine Technology Society Journal 44.3 (2010): 113-18. Marine aquaculture technologies can be developed to produce a variety of organisms that could help preserve endangered aquatic species and re-store damaged marine ecosystems. Bottlenecks exist in closing the life cycle of many species of interest, for example, a food small enough for first feeding of some marine fish, but research is underway on a few species, largely at public and private aquariums. Many of the larger aquariums, for example, the Georgia Aquarium, have breeding programs for the rarer aquatic species they have on display so that they do not have to continuously capture wild specimens. In this context, some aquaria are also working with threatened and endangered organisms to develop propagation technology that could be used to restock and re-build populations that are or could be in crisis and view this as an important role in the 21st century (Garibaldi, 2001). For example, the Seattle Aquar-ium (2010) carries out genetics research on the leafy seadragon, an endemicspe-cies ofAustralia that is endangered. The Waikiki Aquarium (WA) was the first facility to culture the Chambered Nau-tilus, considered a living fossil and threatened by overfishing for its beauti-ful shell (WA, 2010). Cultured organisms could also be used to restore ecosystems damaged by natural and man-made disasters. For example, the WA currently has the oldest and largest collection of liv-ing corals in the United States. The aquarium has regularly been asked to use its Hawaiian coral stock to help the State in reestablishing coral colonies damaged by ship groundings (WA, 2010). Aquaculture restore ecosystemsJohn Corbin 2010, President at Aquaculture Planning and Advocacy LLC and advises the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce on the management of the living marine resources and fisheries and aquaculture development."Marine Stock Enhancement, a Valuable Extension of Expanded U.S. Marine Aquaculture." Marine Technology Society Journal 44.3 (2010): 113-18. Clearly, releasing aquaculture produced stock to enhance wild populations of fish and shellfish and restore distressed ecosystems or habitats could be a valuable tool to incorporate into existing fishery and habitat management approaches. Moreover, the United States has a growing cadre of capable researchers and research institutions that are developing mass rearing hatchery technologies for species of economic and ecological importance. A few state stocking programs using the responsible approach are demonstrating the positive influences of wild stock enhancement today. Fisheries in declineCurrent fishing practices our collapsing fish stocksBranch et al 2011 (TREVOR A. BRANCH1,*, OLAF P. JENSEN2, DANIEL RICARD3, YIMIN YE4 andRAY HILBORN; Contrasting Global Trends in Marine Fishery Status Obtained from Catches and from Stock Assessments; Conservation Biology Volume 25, Issue 4, pages 777–786, August 2011; kdf) There are differences in perception of the status of fisheries around the world that may partly stem from how data on trends in catches over time have been used. On the basis of catch trends, it has been suggested that about 70% of all stocks are overexploited due to unsustainable harvesting and 30% of all stocks have collapsed to <10% of unfished levels. Catch trends also suggest that over time an increasing number of stocks will be overexploited and collapsed. We evaluated how use of catch data affects assessment of fisheries stock status. We analyzed simulated random catch data with no trend. We examined well-studied stocks classified as collapsed on the basis of catch data to determine whether these stocks actually were collapsed. We also used stock assessments to compare stock status derived from catch data with status derived from biomass data. Status of stocks derived from catch trends was almost identical to what one would expect if catches were randomly generated with no trend. Most classifications of collapse assigned on the basis of catch data were due to taxonomic reclassification, regulatory changes in fisheries, and market changes. In our comparison of biomass data with catch trends, catch trends overestimated the percentage of overexploited and collapsed stocks. Although our biomass data were primarily from industrial fisheries in developed countries, the status of these stocks estimated from catch data was similar to the status of stocks in the rest of the world estimated from catch data. We conclude that at present 28–33% of all stocks are overexploited and 7–13% of all stocks are collapsed. Additionally, the proportion of fished stocks that are overexploited or collapsed has been fairly stable in recent years. Poverty Ext- Fish k2 solveAquaculture accounts for nearly half of global fish supplyTiller et al. ‘13 (Rachel, Rebecca Gentry, Russell Richards, (1) a Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Institute of Sociology and Political Science (2) Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UCSB (3) Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University; “Stakeholder driven future scenarios as an element of interdisciplinary management tools; the case of future offshore aquaculture development and the potential effects on fishermen in Santa Barbara, California” Ocean & Coastal Management; Jan. 15, 2013; Access 6/27/14; www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman)//ck There has been, however, increased attention on more direct adaptation possibilities for ameliorating the juxtaposition between the increased demand for seafood and declining wild supply, and the necessity to find more efficient means of food production to feed a growing population. The primary method has been by aquaculture expansion during the last few decades in the US and beyond (Abdallah and Sumaila, 2007; Olin et al., 2012). Aquaculture already accounted for 46 percent of total global food fish supply in 2008 and is the fastest-growing animal-food-producing sector globally, even outpacing human population growth (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, 2010). The per capita supply of animal protein from aquaculture has also increased, from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 7.8 kg in 2008, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent although this growth rate is beginning to slow. This adaptation process, thus, has now taken a step further by moving out beyond the sheltered coves, fjords, ponds and lakes where aquaculture has historically occur- red. Currently, industry is looking further offshore for future development, which is reflected in the explicit consideration of policy makers to opening up US federal waters to offshore aqua- culture in recent years (Varmer et al., 2005; Welp et al., 2006; Abreu et al., 2011; Impson, 2011; Oosterveer and Spaargaren, 2011; Boyd, 2012). This mitigation path by policy makers could be considered a de facto realization that the attempts to mitigate capture fishing efforts to reduce pressure on wild stocks is failing (Kalikoski et al., 2010). Poverty ext- Aquaculture keyAquaculture accounts for nearly half of global fish supplyTiller et al. ‘13 (Rachel, Rebecca Gentry, Russell Richards, (1) a Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Institute of Sociology and Political Science (2) Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UCSB (3) Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University; “Stakeholder driven future scenarios as an element of interdisciplinary management tools; the case of future offshore aquaculture development and the potential effects on fishermen in Santa Barbara, California” Ocean & Coastal Management; Jan. 15, 2013; Access 6/27/14; www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman)//ck There has been, however, increased attention on more direct adaptation possibilities for ameliorating the juxtaposition between the increased demand for seafood and declining wild supply, and the necessity to find more efficient means of food production to feed a growing population. The primary method has been by aquaculture expansion during the last few decades in the US and beyond (Abdallah and Sumaila, 2007; Olin et al., 2012). Aquaculture already accounted for 46 percent of total global food fish supply in 2008 and is the fastest-growing animal-food-producing sector globally, even outpacing human population growth (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, 2010). The per capita supply of animal protein from aquaculture has also increased, from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 7.8 kg in 2008, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent although this growth rate is beginning to slow. This adaptation process, thus, has now taken a step further by moving out beyond the sheltered coves, fjords, ponds and lakes where aquaculture has historically occur- red. Currently, industry is looking further offshore for future development, which is reflected in the explicit consideration of policy makers to opening up US federal waters to offshore aqua- culture in recent years (Varmer et al., 2005; Welp et al., 2006; Abreu et al., 2011; Impson, 2011; Oosterveer and Spaargaren, 2011; Boyd, 2012). This mitigation path by policy makers could be considered a de facto realization that the attempts to mitigate capture fishing efforts to reduce pressure on wild stocks is failing (Kalikoski et al., 2010). US dependency on imported seafood has a trade deficit of over $9 billionTiller et al. ‘13 (Rachel, Rebecca Gentry, Russell Richards, (1) a Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Institute of Sociology and Political Science (2) Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UCSB (3) Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith University; “Stakeholder driven future scenarios as an element of interdisciplinary management tools; the case of future offshore aquaculture development and the potential effects on fishermen in Santa Barbara, California” Ocean & Coastal Management; Jan. 15, 2013; Access 6/27/14; www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman)//ck The United States is a major consumer of seafood, including aquaculture products. In 2010, however, 86% of seafood consumed in the US was imported with half of this produced through aqua- culture. This import of 5.5 billion pounds per year was valued at $14.8 billion in 2009 (Abdallah and Sumaila, 2007). The necessity for import stems from the US aquaculture production, both fresh and marine, accounting for only 5% of US seafood supply, with marine-based aquaculture supplying less than 1.5%. Furthermore, US aquaculture production is ranked 13th globally after countries such as China, Canada, Norway and Chile. Indeed, the US imports about 300 million pounds of farmed salmon every year, primarily from Canada, Norway, and Chile. This dependency on imported seafood leads to an annual seafood trade deficit of over $9 billion (Antunes Zappes et al.; U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004; Santa Barbara Mariculture, 2011). Food Security ext- Aff -> SecurityAquaculture improves food securitySoto, D., Subasinghe, R., & Jia, J. (2009).correspondence for Aquaculture Management and Conservation Service, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Global aquaculture and its role in sustainable development.” Reviews in Aquaculture, 1(1), 2-9. Aquaculture plays an important role in global efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by supplying fish and other aquatic products rich in protein, essential fatty adds, vitamins and minerals. Aquaculture can also make significant contributions to development by improving incomes, providing employment opportunities and increasing the returns on resource use. According to FAO figures, aquaculture directly created 12 million full-time employment positions in Asial in 2004 (FAO 2006b). It significantly contributes to the national gross domestic product in many developing countries in Asia and Latin America (FAO 2006c). With appropriate management, the sector appears ready to meet the expected shortfalls in fish supplies for the coming decades and to improve global food security. Aquaculture has health benefitsSoto, D., Subasinghe, R., & Jia, J. (2009).correspondence for Aquaculture Management and Conservation Service, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Global aquaculture and its role in sustainable development.” Reviews in Aquaculture, 1(1), 2-9. The availability of sufficient and good-quality food, access to this food by households and individuals, and its utilization for nutritious diets and good health are inter-dependent dimensions of food security. With respect to food availability, aquaculture contributes to the quantity of food through the supply of aquatic products from domestic farming and through the supply of food purchased using foreign exchanges. Aquaculture contributes to food quality by providing nutritious and energetic aquatic food products that are high in protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. The health benefits associated with the consumption of fish products are particularly important for the prevention of heart-related diseases and for many vulnerable groups, such as pregnant and lactating women, infants and pre-school children. In this respect, aquaculture contributes to nutritional well-being. Understanding the benefits of fish products has triggered a substantial increase in consumption, particularly in developed nations, but not so much in developing countries. By 2002 fish (fisheries and aquaculture) products contributed 12% of the total protein for human consumption (FAO 2006g), although there are no detailed global statistics on the provision of other essential miner-als and components. Aquaculture gives people access to foodSoto, D., Subasinghe, R., & Jia, J. (2009).correspondence for Aquaculture Management and Conservation Service, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Global aquaculture and its role in sustainable development.” Reviews in Aquaculture, 1(1), 2-9. The availability of food is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for food security. Affordability is a major aspect of food access. By providing farmers with revenues obtained through the sale of their produce and by creating employment, aquaculture enhances a household's disposable income and its ability to purchase food. Increasing the availability of aquatic products to domestic markets can lower the price of these products, thereby making them affordable and more accessible to local consumers. Beyond individuals and households, at a macro-economic level, aquaculture can also contribute to a country's economic performance and growth by generating profits and producing tax and export revenues. Good infrastructure and investments in human capital will improve the productivity of labour and capital, benefiting local businesses and enhancing the development of rural communities. Biodiversity is key to food securitySachs, N. M. (2012). is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Robert R. Merhige, Jr., Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Richmond School of Law. He specializes in environmental law, climate change, hazardous waste regulation, and tort law. “Reclaiming Global Environmental Leadership: Why the United States Should Ratify Ten Pending Environmental Treaties.” http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/International_Environmental_Treaties_1201.pdf Biological diversity (or biodiversity) is “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and ecosystems.”38 Biodiversity sustains all life processes on the planet— the “evolutionary variation of life, built up over the several billion years of the planet’s existence—at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels.”39 Biodiversity has intrinsic as well as aesthetic, cultural, and spiritual values.40 The economic benefits of biodiversity are significant as well. Economists estimate that humans derive trillions of dollars’ worth of ecosystem services from viable populations of plant and animal species, clean water and air, productive soils, functioning wetlands, and recreational opportunities.41 The loss of biodiversity has disastrous consequences. Famine is one of the most immediate: farmers lose their pastures and croplands to invasive plant species; fruit and nut orchards lose their harvests due to a lack of wild pollinators; and game species and fisheries collapse from overharvesting or pollution. Famine not only leads to death and disease, it also contributes to unrest and political instability. According to U.S. military experts, “Anthropogenically generated changes to the Earth’s climate and natural environment pose a ‘serious threat to America’s national security.’”42 Existing biodiversity conservation strategies are becoming less effective under the mounting pressure of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that, in the foreseeable future, many types of ecosystems are likely to be significantly altered or destroyed by the combination of global warming and conventional threats such as habitat destruction and pollution.43 In the past 50 years, humans have altered ecosystems more quickly and more extensively than in any comparable period in history.44 These physical changes have dire consequences for plant and animal species. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, “we are losing wild species . . . faster than in any geologic period since the dinosaur die-off 65 million years ago.”45
Food Security Ext- War Impactspecter of massive human destruction. Food shortages lead to World War IIICalvin 98 William Calvin, theoretical neurophysiologist at the University of Washington, Atlantic Monthly, January, The Great Climate Flip-Flop, Vol 281, No. 1, 1998, p. 47-64) The population-crash scenario is surely the most appalling. Plummeting crop yields would cause some powerful countries to try to take over their neighbors or distant lands -- if only because their armies, unpaid and lacking food, would go marauding, both at home and across the borders. The better-organized countries would attempt to use their armies, before they fell apart entirely, to take over countries with significant remaining resources, driving out or starving their inhabitants if not using modern weapons to accomplish the same end: eliminating competitors for the remaining food. This would be a worldwide problem -- and could lead to a Third World War -- but Europe's vulnerability is particularly easy to analyze. The last abrupt cooling, the Younger Dryas, drastically altered Europe's climate as far east as Ukraine. Present-day Europe has more than 650 million people. It has excellent soils, and largely grows its own food. It could no longer do so if it lost the extra warming from the North Atlantic.
Food shortage escalates to warCBS, 08 CBS. "IMF Head: Food Shortages Can Spark War." CBSNews. 18 Apr. 2008. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/imf-head-food-shortages-can-spark-war/ cm The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Friday that soaring world food prices can have dire consequences, such as toppling governments and even triggering wars. Dominique Strauss-Kahn told France's Europe-1 radio that the price rises that set off rioting in Haiti, Egypt and elsewhere were an "extremely serious" problem. "The planet must tackle it," he said. The IMF chief said the problem could also threaten democracies, even in countries where governments have done all they could to help the local population. Asked whether the crisis could lead to wars, Strauss-Kahn responded that it was possible. "When the tension goes above and beyond putting democracy into question, there are risks of war," he said. "History is full of wars that started because of this kind of problem." Strauss-Kahn was appointed last year to head the IMF. He was a finance minister in the late 1990s in France. Also on Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested a global partnership among financial institutions, governments and the private sector to tackle the reasons for rising food prices. He also said France is doubling its food aid budget this year to about $95 million because 37 countries are experiencing "serious food crises." Globally, food prices have risen 40 percent since mid-2007. The increases hit poor people hardest, as food represents as much as 60-80 percent of consumer spending in developing nations, compared to about 10-20 percent in industrialized countries, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has said. The World Food Program blames soaring food prices on a convergence of rising energy costs, natural disasters linked to climate change, and competition for grain used to make bio-fuels like ethanol. Program spokesperson Benita Luescher told CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller, "What we're seeing is a perfect storm." Meanwhile, officials said Thursday that United Nations programs will distribute 8,000 tons of food and other help for Haitians in coming days as part of efforts to confront unrest over rising prices that set off recent rioting. U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said food provided by the World Food Program will focus on children, pregnant women and nursing mothers in the north, west and central regions of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Anger over surging food prices has threatened stability in the Caribbean nation, which has long been haunted by chronic hunger. Haitian lawmakers fired Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis over the rioting.
Food Security Ext- Resource warsResource wars cause extinctionKlare 6 Klare 06 Professor of peace and world security studies @ Hampshire College[Michael Klare, “The Coming Resource Wars,” TomPaine.com, Date: March 11, 2006, pg. http://www.waterconserve.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=53710&keybold=water%20land%20conflict. "As famine, disease, and weather-related disasters strike due to abrupt climate change," the Pentagon report notes, "many countries' needs will exceed their carrying capacity" -- that is, their ability to provide the minimum requirements for human survival. This "will create a sense of desperation, which is likely to lead to offensive aggression" against countries with a greater stock of vital resources. "Imagine eastern European countries, struggling to feed their populations with a falling supply of food, water, and energy, eyeing Russia, whose population is already in decline, for access to its grain, minerals, and energy supply." Similar scenarios will be replicated all across the planet, as those without the means to survival invade or migrate to those with greater abundance -- producing endless struggles between resource "haves" and "have-nots." It is this prospect, more than anything, that worries John Reid. In particular, he expressed concern over the inadequate capacity of poor and unstable countries to cope with the effects of climate change, and the resulting risk of state collapse, civil war and mass migration. "More than 300 million people in Africa currently lack access to safe water," he observed, and "climate change will worsen this dire situation" -- provoking more wars like Darfur. And even if these social disasters will occur primarily in the developing world, the wealthier countries will also be caught up in them, whether by participating in peacekeeping and humanitarian aid operations, by fending off unwanted migrants or by fighting for access to overseas supplies of food, oil, and minerals. When reading of these nightmarish scenarios, it is easy to conjure up images of desperate, starving people killing one another with knives, staves and clubs -- as was certainly often the case in the past, and could easily prove to be so again. But these scenarios also envision the use of more deadly weapons. "In this world of warring states," the 2003 Pentagon report predicted, "nuclear arms proliferation is inevitable." As oil and natural gas disappears, more and more countries will rely on nuclear power to meet their energy needs -- and this "will accelerate nuclear proliferation as countries develop enrichment and reprocessing capabilities to ensure their national security." Although speculative, these reports make one thing clear: when thinking about the calamitous effects of global climate change, we must emphasize its social and political consequences as much as its purely environmental effects. Drought, flooding and storms can kill us, and surely will -- but so will wars among the survivors of these catastrophes over what remains of food, water and shelter. As Reid's comments indicate, no society, however affluent, will escape involvement in these forms of conflict. Food Security- Fisheries NeededLack of marine resources contributes to global food shortageMontaigne, 07 Senior editor of Yale Environment 360. Montaigne, Fen. "Fisheries, Fishing, Bluefin Tuna, Oceans- National Geographic."National Geographic. Apr. 2007. http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/global-fish-crisis-article/#page=1 cm The decimation of giant bluefin is emblematic of everything wrong with global fisheries today: the vastly increased killing power of new fishing technology, the shadowy network of international companies making huge profits from the trade, negligent fisheries management and enforcement, and consumers' indifference to the fate of the fish they choose to buy. The world's oceans are a shadow of what they once were. With a few notable exceptions, such as well-managed fisheries in Alaska, Iceland, and New Zealand, the number of fish swimming the seas is a fraction of what it was a century ago. Marine biologists differ on the extent of the decline. Some argue that stocks of many large oceangoing fish have fallen by 80 to 90 percent, while others say the declines have been less steep. But all agree that, in most places, too many boats are chasing too few fish. Popular species such as cod have plummeted from the North Sea to Georges Bank off New England. In the Mediterranean, 12 species of shark are commercially extinct, and swordfish there, which should grow as thick as a telephone pole, are now caught as juveniles and eaten when no bigger than a baseball bat. With many Northern Hemisphere waters fished out, commercial fleets have steamed south, overexploiting once teeming fishing grounds. Off West Africa, poorly regulated fleets, both local and foreign, are wiping out fish stocks from the productive waters of the continental shelf, depriving subsistence fishermen in Senegal, Ghana, Angola, and other countries of their families' main source of protein. In Asia, so many boats have fished the waters of the Gulf of Thailand and the Java Sea that stocks are close to exhaustion. "The oceans are suffering from a lot of things, but the one that overshadows everything else is fishing," said Joshua S. Reichert of the Pew Charitable Trusts. "And unless we get a handle on the extraction of fish and marine resources, we will lose much of the list that remains in the seas. Food Security ext- conflict impxFood shortage leads to conflictBrinkman & Hendrix, 11 Henk-Jan Brinkman is Chief, Policy, Planning and Application in the Peacebuilding Support Of ice of the United Nations. Cullen S. Hendrix is Assistant Professor, The College of William & Mary, and Fellow, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin. Brinkman, Henk-Jan & Hendrix, Cullen S. "Food Insecurity and Violent Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Addressing the Challenges." World Food Programme. July 2011. http://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf cm Rising food prices contribute to food insecurity, which is a clear and serious threat to human security. Interest in food security as a catalyst for political instability and conflict has grown rapidly since 2007–2008, when food protests and riots broke out in 48 countries as a result of record world prices. In February 2011, the food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reached a new historic peak, and the rise in food prices contributed to the wave of protests across North Africa and the Middle East that toppled Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Among major development organizations, the unchallenged consensus is that war and conflict are development issues: conflict ravages local economies, often leading to forced migration, refugee populations, disease, a collapse of social trust, and acute food insecurity. But is food insecurity itself a cause of conflict? Based on a review of recent research, the answer is a highly qualified yes. Food insecurity, especially when caused by higher food prices, heightens the risk of democratic breakdown, civil conflict, protest, rioting, and communal conflict. The evidence linking food insecurity to interstate conflict is less strong, though there is some historical evidence linking declining agricultural yields to periods of regional conflict in Europe and Asia. Food shortage leads to civil conflictBrinkman & Hendrix, 11 Henk-Jan Brinkman is Chief, Policy, Planning and Application in the Peacebuilding Support Of ice of the United Nations. Cullen S. Hendrix is Assistant Professor, The College of William & Mary, and Fellow, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin. Brinkman, Henk-Jan & Hendrix, Cullen S. "Food Insecurity and Violent Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Addressing the Challenges." World Food Programme. July 2011. http://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf cm Civil conflict is the prevalent type of armed conflict in the world today (Harbom and Wallersteen, 2010). It is almost exclusively a phenomenon of countries with low levels of economic development and high levels of food insecurity. Sixty-five percent of the world’s food-insecure people live in seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia (FAO, 2010), of which all but China have experienced civil conflict in the past decade, with DRC, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan currently embroiled in civil conflicts. Pinstrup-Andersen and Shimokawa (2008) find that poor health and nutrition are associated with greater probability of civil conflict, though their findings are based on small sample sizes. Countries with lower per capita caloric intake are more prone to experience civil conflict, even accounting for their levels of economic development (Sobek and Boehmer, 2009). This relationship is stronger in those states where primary commodities make up a large proportion of their export profile. Some of the countries most plagued by conflict in the past 20 years are commodity-rich countries characterized by widespread hunger, such as Angola, DRC, Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone. The mixture of hunger – which creates grievances – and the availability of valuable commodities – which can provide opportunities for rebel funding – is a volatile combination. Food security ext- interstate conflict impxFood shortage leads to interstate conflictBrinkman & Hendrix, 11 Henk-Jan Brinkman is Chief, Policy, Planning and Application in the Peacebuilding Support Of ice of the United Nations. Cullen S. Hendrix is Assistant Professor, The College of William & Mary, and Fellow, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin. Brinkman, Henk-Jan & Hendrix, Cullen S. "Food Insecurity and Violent Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Addressing the Challenges." World Food Programme. July 2011. http://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf cm While countries often go to war over territory, previous research has not focused directly on access to food or productive agricultural land as a major driver of conflict (Hensel, 2000). However, wars have been waged to reduce demographic pressures arising from the scarcity of arable land, the clearest examples being the move to acquire Lebensraum (“living space”) that motivated Nazi Germany’s aggression toward Poland and Eastern Europe (Hillgruber, 1981) and Japan’s invasion of China and Indochina (Natsios and Doley, 2009). Water, for drinking and for agriculture, is also a cause of conflict (Klare, 2002). Countries that share river basins are more likely to go to war than are other countries that border one another (Toset et al., 2000; Gleditsch et al., 2006). This relationship is strongest in countries with low levels of economic development. Institutions that manage conflicts over water and monitor and enforce agreements can significantly reduce the risk of war (Postel and Wolf, 2001). Jared Diamond (1997) has argued that for centuries military power was built on agricultural production. Zhang et al. (2007) show that long-term fluctuations in the prevalence of war followed cycles of temperature change over the period 1400–1900 CE, with more war during periods of relatively cooler temperatures and thus lower agricultural productivity and greater competition for resources. Similar findings linking cooler periods with more war have been established for Europe between 1000 and 1750 CE (Tol and Wagner, 2008).
Food security ext- Demo breakdown impxFood shortage leads to democratic breakdownBrinkman & Hendrix, 11 Henk-Jan Brinkman is Chief, Policy, Planning and Application in the Peacebuilding Support Of ice of the United Nations. Cullen S. Hendrix is Assistant Professor, The College of William & Mary, and Fellow, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, University of Texas at Austin. Brinkman, Henk-Jan & Hendrix, Cullen S. "Food Insecurity and Violent Conflict: Causes, Consequences, and Addressing the Challenges." World Food Programme. July 2011. http://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf cm Democratic breakdowns occur when leaders are deposed and replaced by officials who come to power without regard for elections, legal rules, and institutions. Not all breakdowns are violent – “bloodless” coups account for 67 percent of all coups and coup attempts – but many have been very bloody, and the autocratic regimes and instability that follow democratic breakdowns are more likely to lead to the abuse of human rights, in some cases leading to mass state killing (Poe and Tate, 1994; Harff, 2003). Food insecurity, proxied by low availability of calories for consumption per capita, makes democratic breakdown more likely, especially in higher-income countries, where people expect there to be larger social surpluses that could be invested to reduce food insecurity (Reenock, Bernhard and Sobek, 2007). Though statistical evidence is lacking, rising food prices have been implicated in the wave of demonstrations and transitions from authoritarian rule to fledgling democracy in some countries across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011. There are some historical precedents for this: a bad harvest in 1788 led to high food prices in France, which caused rioting and contributed to the French revolution in 1789; and the wave of political upheaval that swept Europe in 1848 was at least in part a response to food scarcity, coming after three below-average harvests across the continent (Berger and Spoerer 2001). Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 0.77 Mb. Share with your friends:
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