Saving the planet with its people

The Doha round of global talks on agriculture has been stuck because of massive disparities in the discourses between the developing and the developed world. It took nearly three decades of complex GATT negotiations between the two camps that an agreement on easing world trade could finally be reached in 1995. But the desired results of benefits accruing to the developing world have been mired in the global scenario of political wrangling.
The worldwide prices of agriculture products have touched an alarming level in recent years. During the year 2010, according to World Bank estimates, 44 million people around the world were further pushed in to starvation or hunger. More than 900 million people around the world do not have access to food. Equally alarming was the revelation that globally, during the period 2007-2009, 20 per cent of the sugarcane crop was diverted towards producing bio-fuels. Similarly, four per cent and nine per cent of the beet and coarse grain like corn crops were respectively used to produce bio-fuels. This massive drain on agriculture output resulted in an increase of prices of agriculture products, with some as high as 70 per cent. There is a wide-spread demand that support for production of bio-fuels must be stopped but there has been no agreement to that effect.
Economic warfare has assumed levels that did not exist a few decades ago. The UN’s former secretary general, Kofi Annan, who is presently heading the Alliance for Green Revolution, has spoken about acquisition of land in developing countries for agriculture purposes by international groups or speculators. Such concerns have been mentioned in many developing nations, but the situation in the African continent is really worsening. Land equal to the size of France has been bought by international entities for agriculture. In the second decade of the twenty first century, we are talking of issues that were supposed to have been sorted out years ago. International negotiations have been helpful in diffusing some crises globally but the world is at the threshold of facing crises in water shortages and irregular weather patterns. Despite causing massive damage to life, property and land, this is destroying crops in areas where food supply is either scarce or inadequate. The ice in Greenland has melted by more than one third this summer and the pundits/scientists, who have been speaking of these issues, seem to have been proven right in their predictions of global warming. Technology for alternate sources of energy has been well developed but the cash-rich oil producing companies are not helpful in this regard. They are rather hindering progress in developing such technologies for availability at competitive and affordable prices.
Climate change and its effects on ecology have begun to be felt around the world. Hurricane frequency in the Caribbean has increased manifold and is causing destruction worth billions of dollars. Similarly, floods in Pakistan seem to be acquiring a regular pattern. Last year’s floods affected more than 20 million people. A large number of such people were not yet resettled and they have been hit again by torrential rains and over-flowing rivers and streams. These concerns cannot be shelved as the time to tackle these issues is now and immediate. The development of alternate sources of energy must be begun in real earnest. Pakistan needs to push its projects real fast so that it can speak effectively at international forums, urging the developed nations to do their needful not only to reduce their carbon emissions but also to take measures such that food and agriculture do not become a subject of exploitation by enterprises hankering after making profits out of the starving millions on the planet. In these circumstances, a successful conclusion of the Doha round seems nearly an impossible exercise. Great schisms have arisen between the demands of the developing economies and those of the developed economies, who are facing formidable challenges of their own. In these difficult times, the developed nations need to take the rest of the nations of the world in a trustworthy milieu to resolve issues like energy, food and agriculture in the context of present day scenario of climate change, water shortages and environmental degradation. It is only through a collective effort that planet earth can remain habitable for its people.

The writer has served as consultant to the United Nations and other developing economies on the issues of trade and development and can be reached at [email protected]