The Global Sociology Blog

Via le Monde, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) fears that overfishing and pollution are threatening the worldwide stock of fish in the decades to come. It is a serious problem considering that 2.6 billion people depend on fish as their major source of proteins.

The UNEP report estimates that climate change is making the situation worse through the destruction coral reefs and breeding sites for tuna and through the modification of marine currents which affect plankton, small fish and therefore the oceans’ food chains. Christian Nellemann, the main author of the report, estimates that it will take the earth about one million years to recover from everything we are doing to the earth. On a shorter term, he states that we can expect a 50% reduction in coral reefs by 2050 and the most heavily fished areas will be affected for at least a century, and by 2100, an increase in acid content in the water might prevent molluscs from growing shells.

But that is not the only bad news on the food front.

Confronté à la hausse des prix agricoles, le PAM envisage de rationner l’aide alimentaire
LEMONDE.FR | 25.02.08

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From another UN agency, the World Food Program (WFP) comes a rather alarming report that the rise in the price of foods represents a major threat to the world’s poorest populations as they will not be able to afford to feed themselves. The main points are as follows of the report are as follows:

“1. Last year, WFP estimated it would need US$2.9 billion to cover 2008 project needs. Soaring food and fuel prices now means it needs at least half a billion dollars more than it had anticipated.

2. The new estimated figure to cover 2008 projects is US$3.4 billion. This would not cover funding for any unforeseen emergency operations.

3. WFP has approved projects to feed 73 million in 78 countries in 2008.

4. Current price rises mean that the world’s poorest people will have to spend a larger proportion of their income on food. This may mean they will buy less food, or food that is less nutritious, or they may have to rely on outside help to fulfil their nutritional needs.

5. Countries where price rises are expected to have a direct impact include Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Haiti, Djibouti, the Gambia, Tajikistan, Togo, Chad, Benin, Myanmar, Cameroon, Niger, Senegal, Yemen and Cuba.”

The program might have to reduce its distribution of food aid. As food prices increase, the more money the agency needs but additional donations are not forthcoming. It will only be able to continue food distribution in areas where famine is already present. Other areas, considered less urgent, will have to do without food aid.

25,000 people die every day from lack of food. The rise in food prices is expected to continue for at least two or three years.

The WFP accepts donations through the Fill the Cup Program. $15 feed 10 children for one week.

Such rises in food prices are especially visible for a crop like wheat, whose price has reached record levels as supply dwindles.

If that weren’t bad enough, based on a report from the magazine Science, the BBC tells us that

“The findings suggest southern Africa could lose more than 30% of its main crop, maize, by 2030. In South Asia losses of many regional staples, such as rice, millet and maize could top 10%, the report says. The effects in these two regions could be catastrophic without effective measures to adapt to climate change. The majority of the world’s one billion poor depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Yet, said lead author David Lobell, it is also “the human enterprise most vulnerable to climate change”.”

It is another good opportunity to bring up Michael T. Klare’s Resource Wars on these issues. Food scarcity also should always be analyzed using Amartya Sen’s concept of failure of entitlement.

I guess we’ll always have Soylent Green.