Oxfam Says Climate Change Will Ravage Global Food Supply

According to a major anti-poverty organization, unchecked
global warming will exacerbate a crisis already being called "the defining
human tragedy of this century": hunger.

Oxfam International says that global warming will bring crop
failure, erratic storms, droughts, and a shift in growing seasons, thus
increasing the pressure on millions of already-suffering people worldwide to
produce the food they need to survive.

The report, "What Happened to the Seasons?" comes
as leaders of the G8 nations prepare to meet in Italy this week to discuss food scarcity, climate change, and other issues.

Oxfam
surveyed farmers around the world and found that changing growing seasons are
already affecting the planned planting and harvesting of subsistence crops. For
example, nations that depend on rice, the world's most common food, are among the
hardest hit, as yields of the staple crop are predicted to decline by 10
percent for every 1 degree C rise in temperature in some poor countries.

Published: July 8, 2009