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[This is Part F from Appendix 4 of the original 161 page document “1000Communities2” (see p. 133-135)]

F.  Food Price Increases Threaten Global Security

1.   “…33 nations are at risk of social unrest….”

“Last week, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. ‘For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival,’ he said.”

From an editorial titled “The World Food Crises” in the “Opinion” section of The New York Times (online).  Published April 10, 2008  (at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/opinion/10thu1.html)  (see paragraph 3)  (Confirmed June 13, 2008)

2.  “Hunger riots will destabilize weak governments….”

“Rising food prices could spark worldwide unrest and threaten political stability, the UN's top humanitarian official warned yesterday after two days of rioting in Egypt over the doubling of prices of basic foods in a year and protests in other parts of the world.

“Sir John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the UN's emergency relief coordinator, told a conference in Dubai that escalating prices would trigger protests and riots in vulnerable nations. He said food scarcity and soaring fuel prices would compound the damaging effects of global warming. Prices have risen 40% on average globally since last summer.

"’The security implications [of the food crisis] should also not be underestimated as food riots are already being reported across the globe,’ Holmes said. ‘Current food price trends are likely to increase sharply both the incidence and depth of food insecurity.’

….“As well as this week's violence in Egypt, the rising cost and scarcity of food has been blamed for:

· Riots in Haiti last week that killed four people

· Violent protests in Ivory Coast

· Price riots in Cameroon in February that left 40 people dead

· Heated demonstrations in Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal

· Protests in Uzbekistan, Yemen, Bolivia and Indonesia”

From an article titled “Food price rises threaten global security—UN:  Hunger riots will destabilize weak governments, says senior official”  by David Adam, environment correspondent, in The Guardian (UK)  Wednesday, April 9, 2008  (at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/09/food.unitednations) (see paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 5)  (Confirmed June 13, 2008)

3.  “Food Summit Calls for More Investment in Agriculture”

 “The Summit on soaring food prices, convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (June 3-5, 2008), has concluded with the adoption by acclamation of a declaration calling on the international community to increase assistance for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and those that are most negatively affected by high food prices.

“’There is an urgent need to help developing countries and countries in transition expand agriculture and food production, and to increase investment in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, from both public and private sources,’ according to the declaration.”….“On climate change, the Declaration said: ‘It is essential to address (the) question of how to increase the resilience of present food production systems to challenges posed by climate change... We urge governments to assign appropriate priority to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, in order to create opportunities to enable the world’s smallholder farmers and fishers, including indigenous people, in particular vulnerable areas, to participate in, and benefit from financial mechanisms and investment flows to support climate change adaptation, mitigation and technology development, transfer and dissemination. We support the establishment of agricultural systems and sustainable management practices that positively contribute to the mitigation of climate change and ecological balance.’”

From the FAONewsroom section of The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) website.  In the “Focus on the Issues” subsection, see “High-level conference on world food security…”, and then see “Conference News” (6/6/2008).  Specific article “Food Summit Calls for More Investment in Agriculture” (paragraphs 1, 2, and 9)  (at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000856/index.html)  (Confirmed June 13, 2008)

4.  “This calls for ‘innovative and imaginative solutions’….”

“Noting that the time for talk was over and that action was urgently needed, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf today appealed to world leaders for US$30 billion a year to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food.

“In an impassioned speech at the opening of the Rome Summit (FAO World Summit on Food Security, June 3-5, 2008) called to de-fuse the current world food crisis, Dr Diouf noted that in 2006 the world spent US$1,200 billion on arms while food wasted in a single country could cost US$100 billion and excess consumption by the world’s obese amounted to US$20 billion.

“’Against that backdrop, how can we explain to people of good sense and good faith that it was not possible to find US$30 billion a year to enable 862 million hungry people to enjoy the most fundamental of human rights: the right to food and thus the right to life?’ Dr Diouf asked.”

….“’The structural solution to the problem of food security in the world lies in increasing production and productivity in the low-income, food-deficit countries,’ he declared.

“This calls for ‘innovative and imaginative solutions’, including ‘partnership agreements ... between countries that have financial resources, management capabilities and technologies and countries that have land, water and human resources’.

“The current world food crisis had already had ‘tragic political and social consequences in different countries’ and could further ‘endanger world peace and security’, Dr Diouf said.

“But the crisis was in essence a ‘chronicle of disaster foretold’, he noted. Despite the World Food Summit’s solemn pledge in 1996 to halve world food hunger by 2015, resources to finance agricultural programmes in developing countries had not only failed to rise but decreased significantly since then.”

From the FAONewsroom section of The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) website.  In the “Focus on the Issues” subsection, see “High-level conference on world food security…”, and then see “Conference News” (6/6/2008).  Specific article “The World only needs 30 billion dollars a year to eradicate the scourse of hunger” (paragraphs 1-3 and 5-8)  ( at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000853/index.html)   (Confirmed June 13, 2008)