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U.N. blames speculation for prices
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U.N. blames speculation for pricesCalls for a concerted effort to help the world’s poor feed themselves GENEVA: U.N. officials on Monday blamed market speculation for the recent jump in global food prices and called for a concerted effort to ensure the world’s poor can afford to feed themselves. “We have enough food on this planet today to feed everyone,” said Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme. But, he added: “The way that markets and supplies are currently being influenced by perceptions of future markets is distorting access to that food.” WFP’s appeal “Real people and real lives are being affected by a dimension that is essentially speculative,” said Mr. Steiner, noting that millions have found themselves unable to pay for food since prices began to rise steeply at the start of the year. Last week, the World Food Program asked for an additional $755 million to bridge its budget shortfall caused by rising prices and growing reliance on food aid among the poor. Mr. Steiner’s comments were echoed by the U.N.’s right-to-food advocate, who said that high food prices were destabilising the world. Jean Ziegler said on Monday that the “daily massacre of hunger” was being worsened by private equity companies seeking to profit from price swings on the international commodities markets. Shrunken harvest A U.S. government regulator last week rejected the idea that speculative trading is the primary culprit behind surging prices of corn, wheat and other crops. Bart Chilton, a commissioner with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said commodities markets were functioning properly, and that shrunken harvests, smaller grain inventories and the declining value of the dollar were the reason for the all-time price highs. But over the weekend, Vietnam moved to curtail speculative buying of rice after consumers were panicked into buying up stocks. State media quoted Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Sunday as insisting that supplies in Vietnam — the world’s second-largest rice exporter after Thailand — were “completely adequate” for domestic consumption. But he warned that any organisations and individuals speculating in the commodity would be “severely punished.” — AP http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/29/stories/2008042952181400.htm ......................................................... Poor children main victims of climate change - U.N.By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - Millions of the world's poorest children are among the principal victims of climate change caused by the rich developed world, a United Nations report said on Tuesday, calling for urgent action. A boy wades, through stagnant water, past recyclable items collected from a garbage dumpsite in Manila April 25, 2008. (REUTERS/John Javellana) The UNICEF report "Our Climate, Our Children, Our Responsibility" measured action on targets set in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving child poverty by 2015. It found failure on counts from health to survival, education and gender equality. "It is clear that a failure to address climate change is a failure to protect children," said UNICEF UK director David Bull. "Those who have contributed least to climate change -- the world's poorest children -- are suffering the most." The report said climate change could add 40,000-160,000 child deaths a year in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa through lower economic growth. It also noted that if temperatures rose by two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, up to 200 million people globally would face hunger -- a figure that climbs to 550 million with a temperature rise of three degrees. The UNICEF report said economic damage due to climate change would force parents to withdraw children from schools -- often the only place they are guaranteed at least one meal a day -- to fetch water and fuel instead. Environmental changes wrought by climate change will also expand the range of deadly diseases such as malaria, which already kills 800,000 children a year and is now being seen in previously unaffected areas. Scientists predict global average temperatures will rise by between 1.6 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport, causing floods, famines, violent storms and droughts. An international agreement is being sought on action to ensure temperatures do not rise more than 2.0 degrees. INEVITABLE But some environmentalists say a 2.0 degree rise is inevitable whatever action is taken now. That is partly because of the 30-year time lag in climate response to emitted carbon, and partly because nations like China, which opens a new coal-fired power station a week, cannot and will not stop burning carbon. China, with vast coal reserves and an economy growing at 10 percent a year, is set to overtake the United States as the world's biggest carbon emitter. Developing nations, under pressure to sign up to new curbs on carbon emissions at the end of next year, say there is no reason they should keep their people in poverty when the problem has been caused by the developed world. "Rich countries' responsibility for the bulk of past emissions demands that we give our strong support," said Nicholas Stern, whose 2006 report on the economic implications of the climate crisis sparked international concern. "Business-as-usual or delayed action would lead to the probability of much higher temperature increases which would catastrophically transform our planet," he wrote in a foreword to Tuesday's report. "It will be the young and the poor and developing countries that will suffer earliest and hardest. "We cannot allow this to happen." http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/29/worldupdates/2008-04-29T044355Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-332882-1&sec=Worldupdates ………………………………… Food and energy security at top of UN meeting in BangkokUpdated Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:47pm AEST The United Nations regional economic and social commission has placed energy and food security at the top of the agenda when it hosts its 64th Session in Bangkok next week. Presenter: Ron Corben Speaker: Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary, UN economic and social commission. CORBEN: Food and energy security are to be the forefront issues at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific or ESCAP - as food prices continue to rise and little respite from rising energy costs. On Thursday, Thai rice prices reached a new record of one thousand U.S. dollars a ton marking an almost tripling of the price since the start of the year. Thai Rice exporters are already warning of higher prices amid fears some exporters such as Vietnam will halt overseas sales while importing nations such as Indonesia and Iran may enter the global market adding further pressure on supply. Noeleen Heyzer, a United Nations Under secretary general, fears the rising prices will eventually plunge more people into poverty above the 640 million already considered poor across the region. She says part of the problems lie in the fact that economic growth has for too long centred on urban and industrial areas. HEYZER: The fact that because of the growth much of this growth has been centred on the urban areas and also in the townships and there has been terrible neglect of the agricultural sector. You have countries, for example India, where the overall growth rate is nine per cent but the agricultural sector is 2.2 per cent. And here what happens is that because of the lack of investment many farmers get into a crisis and agricultural debt which in turn has led in this particular case to high levels of suicides. CORBEN: Heyzer sees the rise in energy costs and food prices as interlinked and which the commission session is preparing to debate. HEYZER: The focus of the commission this year is on energy security and of course food security. And these are two very interlinked very important issues that face the region as a whole. What I've been looking at is the development challenge within which energy security and food security have to be addressed. The fact is that you have a region where you have economic powerhouses, but at the same time growing inequalities. CORBEN: ESCAP recently launched a study on energy security in the Asia and the Pacific that is aimed at contributing to the wider debate over the impact of climate change as well as addressing issues of sustaining economic growth. HEYZER: So it is the challenge of making sure that there is still economic growth - not just the rate of growth but also the pattern of growth and making sure that it is equally shared. And at the same time, because of the issue of climate change how do you bring about this growth that is inclusive as well as sustainable and change to less polluting energy forms. CORBEN: The United Nations is looking to what it sees as a paradigm shift with less reliance on fossil fuels to energy sources that are more efficient and less polluting on the environment. But Heyzer also believes that the solutions to many of these problems lie within the grasp of the member countries of the Asia and Pacific. HEYZER: What has been very special about the Asia Pacific region is the diversity of development experiences. This is a region where you do have the knowledge, you do have the technology and you also have the finances because you have about 3 trillion dollars in reserves. China is a very good example where they're trying in this development plan to see whether they can increase energy efficiency by about 20 per cent. http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/stories/200804/s2227821.htm Directory: cpi -> briefs briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news briefs -> The environment in the news Download 0.5 Mb. Share with your friends:
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