Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Climate change could push staple food prices up 130% – study | Environment | The Guardian
Climate change could lead to shortages and punishing 130% price rises in staple foods within our lifetime, raising the spectre of riots and civil unrest, a new study warned today.

The report, by the International Food Policy Research Institute, warned that warming of even one degree by 2050 could play havoc with food production – with hotter, wetter temperatures cutting crop yields.
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In a worst-case scenario, the study forecast the price of maize – a staple in sub-Saharan Africa – could go up by 130%. That's 34% higher than in a world without climate change, it said. Rice prices could rise by as much as 78%, and wheat by 67%.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Right, and I < could i> shit rainbow-powered unicorns.

To anyone who bothered to read that dreck, Did the brewing of ethanol fuel form corn enter into the food-cost formulation?

Sean said...

That 130% increase, is that above the baseline before biofuels increased grain prices by 50% or after the biofuel price kick. Personnally, I have much greater fear of the consequences of legislated corrective action for anticipated climate change than I have of anything the climate is doing itself.