Food Prices. In one word underestimated
Underestimated. That’s the impact on future food prices due to climate change according to a new report released by Oxfam [url=https://www.oxfam.org.au/2012/09/extreme-weather-extreme-food-prices/]Extreme Weather Extreme Prices[/url].
Many Australians are concerned about high food prices at the supermarket and aware how extreme events can increase the cost of particular foods as happened with bananas several years ago. But with poor people in developing countries spending up to 75% of their income on food the impact of extreme weather price spikes on foods such as corn can have a devastating impact pushing many into poverty.
Oxfam’s new report [url=https://www.oxfam.org.au/2012/09/extreme-weather-extreme-food-prices/]Extreme Weather Extreme Prices[/url] highlights for the first time how extreme weather events such as droughts and floods could drive up future food prices. Previous research has tended only to consider gradual changes in variables such as average temperatures and rainfall patterns. Relying on this approach alone significantly underestimates the potential impacts of climate change on food prices.
Gradual temperature rises and changing rainfall patterns often inhibit crop production and cause steady price rises over time. [url=https://www.oxfam.org.au/2012/09/extreme-weather-extreme-food-prices/]Extreme Weather Extreme Prices[/url] outlines how extreme weather events – like the current US drought – can devastate entire harvests and trigger dramatic food price spikes almost overnight.