Rising food prices - Drivers and implications for development

Apr 2008

This briefing paper focuses on what this important change means for international development.
It starts by assessing the drivers of rising prices, noting that while in the short term the pressure is on the demand side, a suite of ‘scarcity issues’ – climate change, water scarcity, energy security, pressure on land – will increasingly affect the supply side over the longer term.
The paper then discusses the implications of higher prices for developing countries, before setting out a brief survey of implications for development policy, focusing in particular on humanitarian assistance, but also touching on increasing supply, helping low-income countries to benefit from rising prices, scarcity issues, trade and the question of fair shares.

By: A. Evans (Centre on International Cooperation, New York University)

 
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