A hot world is a hungry worldby Arushi Madan | 24-09-2013 21:55 |
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![]() ![]() ![]() Some horrible consequences of Climate Change foreseen: Hunger Seen Worsening as Climate Change Heats Up World Climate change is set to push up food prices, increase hunger and reduce the quality of food, campaigners have warned. World hunger is expected to worsen as climate change hurts crop production and disrupts incomes, with food-price spikes due to extreme weather set to increase. The number of people at risk of hunger may climb by 10 percent to 20 percent by 2050 as a result of climate change, with daily per-capita calorie availability falling across the world. The world risks ?cataclysmic changes? caused by extreme heat waves, rising sea levels and depleted food stocks, as average temperatures are headed for a 4 degree Celsius jump by 2100. The changing climate is already jeopardizing gains in the fight against hunger, and it looks set to worsen. ?A hot world is a hungry world.? More extreme and unpredictable weather due to global warming may result in crop losses as well as damage or destroy distribution and transport systems, with severe consequences for food supply and availability. Emission CutsAvoiding dangerous climate change requires a ?dramatic shift? in political ambition. Ensuring the long-term prospect of hunger eradication means lowering emissions fast, with ?deep cuts? needed by 2020. The world food system can?t cope with unmitigated climate change, which could lead to a permanent increase in yield variability, ?excessive? food-price fluctuations and a permanent disruption to livelihoods. Low-income countries in tropical and subtropical regions will probably face ?sharp? changes in annual rainfall and climate conditions that will put them at risk of greater food insecurity, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia. Crop yields there may fall by 10 percent to 20 percent by 2050 due to climate change. FarmersThese creeping, insidious changes in the seasons, such as longer, hotter dry periods, shorter growing periods and unpredictable rainfall patterns are bewildering farmers. An increase of 4 degrees Celsius in world temperatures would reduce the length of the growing period in some parts of Africa by as much as 20 percent by 2090. Lacking ?urgent and aggressive action? on climate change, the average price of staple foods may double in the next 20 years compared with 2010 levels- with up to half the increase as a result of climate change. Children fear for the future British children are worried about the impacts of climate change, according to research. Children will be dramatically affected by the changing climate and will ?carry the burden of our delays and inaction? on tackling the problem, Unicef UK warned. The warning came as a poll found that three-quarters of children aged 11 to 16 were worried about how climate change will affect the future of the planet The survey of 1,001 UK children, was part of a report by Unicef UK into the impacts of climate change South west china is already experiencing its worst drought in 20 years. Such a drought forces children to make the journey along a mountain in Chahe Village , China to fetch water.
Source : http://www.bloomberg.com, Oxfam
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