Earth Equity News

UK's Science Advisor Does Not Mince Words; We're Headed for a Perfect Storm: World Population, Food and Climate Change. By Stephen Mulvey, BBC, August 26, 2009. "As the world's population grows, competition for food, water and energy will increase. Food prices will rise, more people will go hungry, and migrants will flee the worst-affected regions. That's the simple idea at the heart of the warning from John Beddington, the UK government's chief scientific adviser, of a possible crisis in 2030. Specifically, he points to research indicating that by 2030 'a whole series of events come together': 1) The world's population will rise from 6bn to 8bn (33%); 2) Demand for food will increase by 50%; 3) Demand for water will increase by 30%; 4) Demand for energy will increase by 50%. He foresees each problem combining to create a 'perfect storm' in which the whole is bigger, and more serious, than the sum of its parts... Professor Beddington also points to other complicating factors and worrying possibilities. There is a risk that climate change will have drastic effects on food production -- for example by killing off the coral reefs (which about 1bn people depend on as a source of protein) or by either weakening or strengthening monsoon rains. Also, some scientists are predicting that the Arctic will be ice-free by 2030, he points out, which could accelerate global warming by reducing the amount of the sun's energy that is reflected back out of the atmosphere."