OXFAM IRELAND HAVE said that the world is headed for a future of rising food prices and increased hunger if climate change is not tackled now.

Ahead of today’s international climate justice conference that is being held in Dublin Castle, Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken said that the price of wheat and maize could rise by 120 per cent and 177 per cent respectively if nothing is done.

““Extreme weather means extreme prices,” Clarken said. “Last year’s devastating drought in the US Midwest and the 2011 famine in East Africa should service as a wakeup call to governments about the impact of climate change on ordinary people”.”

Clarken said that Irish people would not remain immune from these price hikes and that Oxfam commissioned research had shown that the price of staple foods such as maize could double in the next 17 years, with half of that increase due to climate change alone.

Temperatures

With temperatures having risen by 1ºC since 1980, Clarken said that today’s conference represented a pivotal moment for Ireland to put pressure on other governments to start taking action.

Clarken added:

With nearly a billion people going to bed every night hungry, it is critical that we start making efforts now to mitigate the worst effects of climate change on poor people.

Otherwise, we are headed for a future of rising food prices and increased hunger, where the generations that follow us do not have enough to fill their stomachs on their plates.”

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