| UK’s Brown urges G8 action against food inflation
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for action by fellow G8 leaders, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the UN to urgently work together to lead the development of an international strategy to address the problem of surging food inflation, considering that a rapid expansion in biofuel production is aggravating the situation.
Brown wrote to his Japanese counterpart, Yasuo Fukuda, asking him as chair of the G8 to take action to deal with rising food prices. He set out possible ways to tackle the problem, including a WTO trade deal giving poor countries greater access to world markets, improving agricultural productivity and a possible increase in short-term aid. Immediate help could also come from the World Bank and IMF, he added.
The UK prime minister also said the G8 should take a close look at the role biofuels are playing in pushing food prices higher. “There is growing consensus that we need urgently to examine the impact on food prices of different kinds and production methods of biofuels, and ensure that their use is responsible and sustainable,” he wrote.
Brown's concern in part stems from advice given by his chief scientific adviser, John Beddington, that the effects of the food crisis would have a more immediate impact than climate change. Beddington has said it’s "very hard to imagine how we can see a world growing enough crops to produce renewable energy and, at the same time, meet the enormous increase in the demand for food".
But the views he expressed are part of a growing tide of concern about agricultural supplies. A global food crisis has reached “emergency proportions”, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said earlier this month. The World Bank has forecast that 33 nations from Mexico to Yemen may face social unrest after food and energy costs increased. China, the world's most populous nation, has started to limit or tax some food-related exports to make sure that local supplies remain adequate.
“Rising food prices threaten to roll back progress we have made in recent years on development,” Brown wrote to Fukuda. “For the first time in decades, the number of people facing hunger is growing. Food prices have risen sharply leading to food riots in several countries.”
Read the full text of Gordon Brown’s letter online.
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