UNEP report highlights food crisis

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Not enough bad news in last few days? Read on. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP) predicts that food production worldwide may fall 25 percent by 2050. At the same time, the prices will rise up to 30 -50 percent, and the population will increase by millions. The loss is due to climate change, land degradation, water scarcity and degradation, among other things. The global economic downturn is not helping either, as well as our general mentality of not working with the nature but against it. The reports calls for price regulations of commodities, as well as safety nets for those most at risk from hunger. According to UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steinerm, we need "a Green revolution in a Green Economy but one with a capital G". He adds that "simply ratcheting up the fertilizer and pesticide-led production methods of the 20th Century is unlikely to address the challenge. It will increasingly undermine the critical natural inputs and nature-based services for agriculture such as healthy and productive soils, the water and nutrient recycling of forests, and pollinators such as bees and bats." To read the report, check out UNEP web site

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