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	G8 hears world"s poorest face "double jeopardy" by Financial Times & agencies   July 8, 2008   The head of the World Bank has warned leaders at the G8 industrialised nations summit in Japan that the world"s poorest face the "double jeopardy" of rising food and fuel prices. Robert Zoellick warned that the time for action is now, calling on G8 leaders to live up to promises they made to help African nations.   "How we respond to this double jeopardy of soaring food and fuel prices is a test of the global system"s commitment to help the most vulnerable and it"s a test we cannot afford to fail," he said.   "G8 leaders must bring hope to those without hope, food to those without food. "For globalisation to succeed and to achieve its promise, it must be both inclusive and sustainable. We must protect the most vulnerable even as we offer a pathway to opportunity. Never has such protection been more needed than now."   Development experts and non government organizations say rich countries are trying to avoid fulfilling the promises they made three years ago at the Gleneagles G8 summit to double to $US50 billion the amount of aid they spend.   UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says recognising that the food issue is among the most dire, and intricately connected to the other challenges, means that the G8 countries must act.   "High food prices are already turning back the clock on development gains," he said. "To halt further suffering we are calling on world leaders to deliver the full range of immediate needs including food assistance as well as seeds, fertiliser and other inputs for this year"s planting cycle.   "They must also commit to long term agricultural investment to lift export restrictions and levies on food commodities in particular humanitarian proposals."   The Asian Development Bank added its voice to those warning that rising prices pose a grave threat to the world’s poor.   Haruhiko Kuroda, ADB president, said soaring prices for cereals, rice and other staples risked malnutrition for 1 billion Asians, who spend at least 60 per cent of their income on food.   His remarks echoed those of the World Bank president, who said this week that high food and oil prices were pushing the world into “a danger zone”. Mr Zoellick said $10bn should be made available immediately to alleviate hunger and to help pay for seeds and fertilisers.   ActionAid, blamed G8 countries in a report for what it said was a halving of agricultural aid since 1980, just 3 per cent of the subsidies given to farmers in the developed world. “Structures that provided access to credit, agricultural inputs and technical assistance have been dismantled,” it said.   The charity also called for a scrapping of all biofuel subsidies and a five-year moratorium on the diversion of arable land for biofuel production.
	Food Crisis destabilizes Nations by Spiegel Online Germany   July 5, 2008   German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sent a starkly-worded warning to her G8 colleagues about the consequences of rising food prices. The crisis, she wrote in a six-page letter to other G-8 leaders last Monday, may "endanger democracy, destabilize nations and lead to international security problems."   Merkel organized a working group last April to analyze the recent rise in world food prices and to recommend solutions. Her government experts have found that "speculative trading in futures markets … have a significant influence on the level and volatility of staple food prices."   To answer the "dramatic nature" of the crisis, the commission recommends "heightened agricultural productivity" in developing nations, a "quick supply of seeds, fertilizer and farm equipment to selected regions" as well as "the instant abolition of export restrictions."   These measures should guarantee that financial and food help will reach the people most affected by the crisis, according to the commission.   Her commission found that 30 of the world"s poorest countries needed about $20 billion to import needed food.   "It"s important to increase transparency in international oil markets," she wrote, in order to "hamper speculation, which is responsible for a perceptible portion of the price rise."   June 2008   We"re only at the beginning of the Food Crisis.   The UN"s Food and Agriculture Organization is holding a summit in Rome this week to discuss the global food crisis. Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller speaks to Spiegel Online about the rising oil prices, the risk of biofuels and how agriculture could be transformed to help tackle climate change.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: This week governments from across the world are gathering for a special summit in Rome to discuss the global food crisis. Why is the summit only being held now?   Alexander Müller: The 850 million people who have been going hungry for many years, mostly in remote rural areas, never had the power to draw attention to their plight. Now rising food prices are hitting entirely new sections of societies. People in towns are protesting and governments notice this immediately. The pressure is enormous.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: What is the main reason for food production no longer keeping up with demand?   Müller: Various factors, including very significantly the rising oil price. Traditional agriculture is itself very energy intensive: It needs oil for fertilizer, pesticides, tractors and transport. To get away from that, many governments are promoting fuels made from agricultural products. This is turn links the price of bread to the price of oil.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: Has the food crisis reached its peak?   Müller: Quite the opposite, we"re only at the beginning. Unchecked climate change would lead to farmland drying out or becoming flooded. New animal and plant diseases are emerging; yields could fall. We have to produce 40 percent to 60 percent more food, while there is a marked reduction in the land available for cultivation in the south.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: But agriculture is actually responsible for one third of CO2 emissions.   Müller: That is exactly what has to change very quickly, otherwise the system will devour itself. We want to highlight this point during the summit: climate protection is the same as food protection.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: How will that work?   Müller: We have to practice agriculture so that it captures carbon rather than releases it. That means putting a stop to deforestation. And we have to cultivate the soil with greater care, so that more CO2-capturing grassland is preserved. On top of that we have to, for example, create so-called agricultural savannahs, where livestock can graze in specially planted tree plantations.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: Where will the money come from for such a transformation?   Müller: From CO2-emissions trading in industrialized countries. The industrialized countries will anyway only get a grip on their CO2 problems with the help of developing countries. Billions are already being invested to neutralize our own emissions. But so far all the money has been chanelled into industrial projects. Why shouldn"t small farmers in Asia and Africa profit from this, if they can capture carbon on their land just as efficiently, maybe even more cheaply.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: That sounds like a green revolution?   Müller: But unlike the ones in the past. We will soon publish maps that show in what regions of the world agriculture can capture carbon, how to manage the land and where new forests must be planted.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: Should the production of biofuels be stopped to achieve this?   Müller: That would be good in countries where forests are cut down to make way for palm oil and soya plantations. But you have to differentiate. The situation is different in Brazil. There biofuels are being produced, without state subsidies, unlike in Europe and the US. But we need international agreements on how sustainable biofuels can be produced, without worsening the international food crisis.   Our specialists, as well as other experts, have come to the conclusion, that at least 50 percent of the hike in food prices is the result of the demand for biofuel plants.   I also think it"s wrong to say an ever-rising proportion of fuel must consist of biofuels, as the EU has done, without having a sustainable model. The subsidies create market distortions, which make CO2 reduction unnecessarily expensive. In any event, feeding the world has to take precedence over energy production.   SPIEGEL ONLINE: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised €500 million ($777 million) a year from 2013 for the protection of forests. Is that enough?   Müller: It"s a start. UN experts in nutrition, development and the environment are already working closely with Norway, which has announced a similar initiative. Such funds offer the chance to no longer have to address the problems in isolation with small budgets, but tackle them at their roots. Until now climate change negotiators, conservationists and agricultural professionals have undertaken their tasks separately. This has led to a dead end.   * Interview conducted by Petra Bornhöft and Christian Schwägerl
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