The prices of staple foods, which have already reached record levels in 2011, could more than double over the next two decades, a new Oxfam report says. According to the report, “Growing a Better Future”, a combination of factors — including climate change, diminished natural resources worldwide, population growth, and an increased use of crops for biofuels — could trigger a new era of permanent food crisis. The cost of key grains such as maize could rise 180 percent by 2030, with more than half of that increase the result of climate change. “This will prove disastrous for food importing poor countries, and raises the prospect of a wholesale reversal in human development,” the report says. The effects will be felt most severely by the poor, who already spend as much as 80 percent of their income on food, the report notes. Volatile food prices have pushed an estimated 44 million people into poverty in the last year, Oxfam says. The international charity called on world leaders to build a new global governance that better regulates commodities markets to contain price volatility, an increase in global food reserves, and an end to subsidies for biofuel crops.
Staple Food Prices Could More than Double by 2030, Oxfam Says
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People
-
Food & Agriculture
In Uganda, Deadly Landslides Force an Agricultural Reckoning
-
Energy
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds
-
Food & Agriculture
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World
-
Climate
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
-
RIVERS
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
-
Solutions
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood
-
NATURAL DEFENSES
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion
-
Solutions
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths
-
Biodiversity
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging
-
OPINION
The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions
-
Solutions
Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Science