There is an interesting article online that I found that discusses the future problems the world will face with growing food prices globally. It discusses how the increasing population on the planet has created a sharper demand for food, causing prices to rise. This in has led to food prices becoming a contributing factor in pushing people into poverty.
It discusses how in the past year alone food prices have risen almost 30%. Although prices aren't the highest they have ever been, the high prices of 2008 led to riots and starvation in countries across the world. The article then throws out the staggering statistic that some 44 million people have been pushed into poverty from June 2010 to January 2011 due to the increase in food prices. This increase in food prices poses many threats to the global community, including everything from political instability to an increased spread of infectious disease.
One thing that struck me about the article is the reaction from the World Bank. Their view was that an increase in foreign aid will be a main factor in stabilizing prices around the world. Although I believe that this most certainly will help the situation, I think that more creative and long-lasting solutions should be found to keep the costs of food from affecting vulnerable populations. One important way that food prices could be stabilized, I believe, is through localizing food production. In the coming decades more and more people will have moved into urban centers around the world. One interesting idea that has been around for a few years is that of "skyfarming". By bringing food production into the city, citizens would have better access to fresh food while decreasing the environmental impact of feeding the planet's growing population. Another large benefit of this is that it is weather-proof. With poorer harvests on the rise due to climate change, the ability to control a steady source of food can mean the difference for thousands of people.
Another challenge that rising food prices bring to public health is the potential for instability between countries with limited resources. It is already predicted that world's supply of fresh water will put a strain on political relations in the future. The added strain of food resources could be a tipping point that could lead to an array of health problems including war, displacement, and poverty-related diseases.
After the past couple weeks it is quite easy to see how a revolution in one country can set off a chain of revolutions in others. It should be the goal not only of public health workers, but also governments, to make sure that something such as increasing food prices don't exacerbate the strain put on the most vulnerable in society. By increasing funding and research in ideas such as "skyfarming", we can prevent such disasters from ever occurring.
I totally agree with Mike when he talks about the need for a more creative and long lasting solution. Yes, it may be necessary to rely on foreign aid to initially stabilize prices, but without a solution that will hold strong in years to come, how do we know that we will not fall right back into the problem we have currently. I think that the idea of localization of food production is a great idea. Through this, we are no longer dependent on foreign aid or the blessing of good weather. Instead, we are able to have more control and better predict the amount and source of our food. I think that a major issue is unpredictability. As mentioned, the climate change is unpredictable, and the rate at which the population grows is always changing. By being able to control at least one factor, food source, we may be able to lessen the blow that these unpredictable factors have on the rising food prices.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important to note the interconnectedness of issues presented in this article. I think that this issue, like many other public health issues, is more than what it appears to be on the surface. As Mike mentions, it is more than just rising prices and increased poverty. It is a gateway to more health issues, malnutrition and disease. It is a gateway to international conflict and internal distress for impacted countries. The point is that we must realize something as basic as rising food prices has a much more complicated web of consequences than might immediately be apparent.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this article and look forward to seeing how this problem is addressed now and in the future.
I found this article to be extremely interesting. Until now, I had never heard of the term 'skyfarming', but just reading about it, I feel that this should be an idea that a majority of our population has exposure with. In a world where the population growth is estimated to exponentially 'explode' by about an additional 3 billion people = 9.2 billion people total, developing a process for indoor farming that conserves landmass is critical to our survival. The skyfarming article made a shocking point that "if current farming practices are maintained, extra landmass as large as Brazil would have to be cultivated to feed [the population]." We do not have this size of unused land available for future use, otherwise we would already be using it. With recent concerns in climate change due to global warming, combined with the occurrence of rising food prices, an issue that arises the possibility of vertical farming is an option that I believe could have potentially significant positive impact on the wellbeing of the world's population.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically in the Arab world, uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt due to extremely high food prices, are creating political unrest unlike ever before. High food prices are far more burdensome for people in the developing world because they typically spend a much higher percentage of their income on food. Many also buy raw food commodities and it is those commodity prices that have increased most dramatically.
In agreement with Michael, increases in food prices across the globe could have detrimental affects on not only the poverty situations of millions of people, but the political stability, infrastructure, and economic status of countries worldwide. For public health to successfully implement changes for the better of everyone, a collaborative effort between politics, economics, and demand and supply demographics is hugely imperative (and I can't stress that word enough). I also really like Alyssa's point about how our world's nations are not independent of each other, but rather are woven into this complexly interconnected fabric of society that causes one countries actions to tug on the strings of another countries wellbeing.