RT null
T1 The environmental food crisis
A1 United Nations Environment Programme, 
K1 food
K1 fishery
K1 aquaculture
K1 waste
K1 biofuel
K1 biodiversity
K1 climate change
K1 water
PB United Nations Environment Programme
SN 978-82-7701-054-0
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/7774
UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/7774
NO The surge in food prices in the last years, following a century of decline, has been the most marked of the past century in its magnitude, duration and the number of commodity groups whose prices have increased. The ensuing crisis has resulted in a 50-200% increase in selected commodity prices, driven 110 million people into poverty and added 44 million more to the undernourished. Elevated food prices have had dramatic impacts on the lives and livelihoods, including increased infant and child mortality, of those already undernourished or living in poverty and spending 70-80% of their daily income on food. Key causes of the current food crisis are the combined effects of speculation in food stocks, extreme weather events, and low cereal stocks, growth in biofuels competing for cropland and high oil prices. Although prices have fallen sharply since the peak in July 2008, they are still high above those in 2004 for many key commodities. The underlying supply and demand tensions are little changed from those that existed just a few months ago when these prices were close to all-time highs.
DS UN Environment Document Repository
RD Sep 22, 2026