The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
United States President George W. Bush joined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in ascribing the spiralling global food prices to the rising prosperity of India's huge middle class. Prosperity in countries such as India was "good' but it triggered increased demand for "better nutrition' which in turn led to higher …
Trade Ministers of the 10-member South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to cooperate in securing food price stability in the region. "Essentially, we together agreed not to take steps that could bring the distortion or worsen the chaos of markets. It's very important to make sure food prices, even …
THE Asian Development Bank has rushed to offer cheap loans to poor countries in the region to help them cope with the world food crisis. Warning of a backwards slide in economic development that could potentially plunge millions of people back into poverty, bank president Haruhiko Kuroda told a meeting …
In the wake of the rising food prices owing to a global shortage, the Confederation of India Industry (CII) has decided to set up a task force to chalk out steps to raise farm production, improve productivity and encourage private sector participation in food distribution. In a statement here on …
US President George W. Bush has asked the Congress to approve $ 770 million as aid against the current global food crisis, even as he urged the countries to lift restrictions on agricultural exports. The proposed aid is in addition to the existing $ 200 million assistance that has already …
The problem of chronic hunger that afflicts around 10 million rural people in West Bengal has largely been ignored. What is the Left Front government doing to alleviate the situation? May 3-9, 2008
The demand for "universalisation' of the public distribution system during a period of rising prices is not relevant since, more than four-fifths of households in rural areas and two-thirds in urban centres are already covered by it. Yet, a very small proportion of rural/urban households actually make purchases of either …
Within a couple of years of the global rush to promote biofuels new questions are being asked about the claimed benefits of these fuels and serious negative impacts are coming to light. It is in this regard that the focus of the biofuel policy in India has been towards utilising …
The inter and intra-year fluctuations in agriculture production will continue as long as agriculture depends on weather. The effect of weather on agriculture is related to location specific which directly link with the variability in local climates rather than in global climate patterns. Many scientists hold the position that agricultural …
An Act to establish the National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India and to regulate the research, manufacture, importation and use of products of modern biotechnology. Whereas Government of India recognises that modern biotechnology offers opportunities to address important needs related to health, agriculture and food production, environmental protection, climate change …
More than 20 United Nations development agencies joined the World Bank and the World Trade Organization this week in Bern, Switzerland, to discuss emergency humanitarian aid and other measures to combat the growing world food crisis. The World Food Programme says it needs an extra US$755 million just to meet …
This was not a sudden crisis. It may be only this spring that food prices have started sparking riots on the streets of Haiti and Egypt, not to mention rice rationing at Wal-Mart's cash-and-carry stores, but food prices have been rising since 2000. The rises accelerated in 2006, when global …
The Doha negotiations on fisheries provide a significant opportunity to address overcapacity and overfishing. However, to be effective, future subsidy disciplines need to be coupled with stronger fishery management regimes, including in both public and private access agreements.
Strong and new forces of change in the world food equation are transforming food consumption, production and markets. Unlike the pattern prevailing for the past few decades, today's global agricultural system is very much driven by the demand side. With income growth in emerging economies, globalisation and urbanisation, the demand …
This paper examines some important causes and challenges of the global food crisis, from a developmental perspective. Possible responses to this crisis are discussed pertaining to trade, investment and agricultural policies and measures at the national, regional and international levels. UNCTAD's potential contribution in addressing the crisis is highlighted in …
"Apparent improvement" in the diets of people in India and China and consequent food export caps is among the "four causes" that has led to the current global food crisis, feels US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. The US' top diplomat specifically pointed to exchange rate and the simple "inability" …
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday ordered a top level task force to take on the global crisis caused by rising food prices and urged key producer nations to end export bans. The UN chief said the immediate priority must be to "feed the hungry" and called for urgent funding …
Famine caused by bamboo flowering is an indirect phenomenon that happens in 30 to 40 years depending on the species of the bamboo. Senior Congress legislator and NEHU Head of Department of Botany Dr RC Laloo told The Sentinel that bamboo flowering does not directly lead to famine but it …
ANTHONY MCMICHAEL heads the International Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, and is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He talks to VIBHA VARSHNEY and MARIO D'SOUZA about the health risks from global environmental changes What are the impacts of climate change …
Leading figures from the United Nations met in Switzerland on Monday to chart a solution to dramatic food price increases that have caused hunger, riots and hoarding in poor countries around the world. Vietnam acted to quell panic over rice supplies on Monday, banning speculation in the market after a …
