Climate change may intensify food crisis, warns UN

As environment ministers from across the world gathered in the Kenyan capital, the UN warned that the global food crisis could be intensified dramatically by climate change.

As environment ministers from across the world gathered in the Kenyan capital, the UN on Tuesday warned that the global food crisis could be intensified dramatically by climate change.

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A report presented to over 100 environment minsters at a meeting of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said that by 2050 there could be 25 percent less food produced worldwide.

Food prices could rise by as much as 50 percent within a few decades, causing even more misery for the poor, who can spend up to 90 percent of their income on food, the report said.

According to the report, fish stocks have been greatly depleted and climate change events such as the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas will impact the irrigation systems for up to half of Asia's rice and grain production.