This short segment from Reuters discusses the impact of rising food prices on standards of living around the world. This is a terrific snapshot overview of the dynamics at play in the current world food crisis.

Photo: Rob McDougall (flickr)

Access to cheap energy underpins modern societies. Finding enough to fuel industrialized economies and pull developing countries out of poverty without overheating the climate is a central challenge of the 21st century. — Michael Wines, New York Times

Sub-Saharan Africa is perilously close to an energy crisis.

Massive drought across Kenya and Ethiopia has slowed hydropower production to a trickle. Rickety electrical infrastructure in South Africa and elsewhere has led to huge rolling blackouts expected to go on for years in some regions, according to the International Herald Tribune. The World Bank says Africa's "lack of reliable power has already begun to hamper the region's development." The worst-hit African economies have seen economic growth slow by more than two percent.

Energy shortages impact a broad array of activities in these countries. In Uganda, for instance, power shortages are causing gas stations to run low on diesel. The environment suffers as well. For the 80 percent of sub-Saharan Africans who lack electricity, Inter Press Service News Agency says:

The destruction of natural vegetation could lead to desertification when there are no water catchment systems to feed rivers and streams. And when there is no water, the population in such an area suffers in many ways. They cannot plant crops and their animals die.

Solutions to the energy crisis still seem far off. India and China have begun funding new power generating facilities — in one instance providing Zambia's energy producer, Zesco, with $1.2 billion for upgrades and new capacity creation. But the sheer size of the problem suggests a multinational approach. "The best answer, most experts consulted agree, would be for nations to cooperate on regional power solutions," the New York Times reports. "One or two large regional plants, they say, could supply power more cheaply and efficiently than dozens of smaller ones."

Photo: Danny McL (flickr)

A town on Ireland's eastern coast is experimenting with running entirely on its own power. Dundalk is fueling a 1.5-square-mile "Sustainable Energy Zone" — including a school, a hospital and an industrial park — with a woodchip-fired heating system, a wind turbine and self-powered streetlights, according to Sustainable Energy Ireland.

The citywide experiment, funded by the European Union, is expected to make a significant impact on energy sources. Sustainable Energy Ireland says by 2010, renewable energy will produce at least 20 percent of the heat and electricity used in the Sustainable Energy Zone.

If the experiment is successful, replicating it elsewhere could be a boon to energy-starved nations. Stay tuned.

It's hard not to notice that gas prices seem to rise by the day. Most drivers may cringe a little more every time they fill up, but they aren't rioting in the streets. This isn't the story in some developing countries, where increasing oil prices — on top of soaring food prices — have increased the potential for widespread hunger.

To cope, the UN World Food Programme has launched an emergency appeal for $500 million. The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, working in 78 of the world’s poorest countries to help stop hunger. Funded entirely by individual donors and governments, the appeal was written to 60 governments in hopes to reach their goal by May 1. If this amount isn’t reached, the WFP will be forced to cut aid to countries in already desperate situations.

Although the WFP has launched many appeals in the past, this is the first time an appeal has been launched due to a market-generated crisis. The WFP says it was not prepared for the rise in staple food prices such as wheat and corn, as well as fuel.

NPR pointed out this morning that the food-price hikes are exacerbated by a shortage of rice due to bad harvests and growing demand. Rice-exporting countries in Asia are shipping less abroad to have enough of the dietary staple at home.

Photo: Karl Grobl for NetAid

Photo: C Mulvany (flickr)

In the global rush towards biofuels, some countries are being forced to choose between affordable food and renewable energy. Many poor nations cannot afford to use staple crops like corn or soybeans as fuel. But some scientists and policymakers believe that they may have found a solution: jatropha.

Jatropha is an inedible nut that can be grown on non-arable land with little water or maintenance, and it's increasingly being identified as a possible alternative source for biofuels. Because its production would not take up valuable farmland, and would have little (if any) impact on food prices, jatropha is particularly attractive to developing countries seeking a balance between increasing energy demand and poverty alleviation.

India is currently trying to launch what would be the world’s largest jatropha biofuels project to date. Its Ministry of Rural Development has proposed a five-year, $375-million project to plant over one million acres of jatropha and research its potential as a fuel source. India is far from alone in its efforts to promote jatropha. Last year, British Petroleum signed a $160-million deal with a British biofuels firm to develop a joint venture in jatropha. A number of countries are pursuing their own jatropha projects, including South Africa, Malaysia, Brazil, Mali and others.

Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Rising rice prices have created new problems for those countries, mostly in Asia, which depend on a large, inexpensive supply of the food, according to the Financial Times. This week, prices hit a 20-year high, "prompting importing countries to seek assurances on supplies."

Analysts have attributed the surge in rice prices to bad weather that has hit supply; urbanisation that has cut the acreage given over to cultivating the grain; and strong demand on the back of rapid income growth in China, India and other Asian countries...Asia has not known famines since the 1970s, and recent price rises for rice and other basic foodstuffs have sparked unrest.

Photo: dziner (flickr)

Like all policy choices, the decision of many developed nations to pursue greater conversion to ethanol and biodiesel has consequences. But who will pay the costs associated with the shift from oil to biofuels? According to the World Politics Review, it is the world’s poor who are going to suffer the most from the negative effects of the biofuel craze.

With current technology, almost all of the biofuel produced today has to be made from corn or soybeans. Though other sources may be able to be used in the future, the use of crops for fuel rather than food has already taken a huge toll on the world’s commodity markets. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that global food prices have increased by almost 40 percent in the last year, after a 14 percent increase in 2006. Many countries have introduced price controls on staple foods, and food shortages have caused protests in Pakistan and Indonesia.

Photo: JohnMMM (Flickr)

Typically, the discovery of “black gold” in African countries has led to conflict over land and overwhelms governments with more revenue than can be effectively managed. Brutal secessionist conflicts have been taking place for years in countries rich with oil, including Sudan, Nigeria and Angola. Ghana hopes to buck the trend. The country is one of the most stable on the continent and responsible development of its oil industry can provide a good model for other African nations.

"There’s no reason that oil should be a curse,” one government official told Financial Times, which recently published a special report on Africa's fossil-fuel resources. “We want to make sure we follow the example of countries like Canada or Norway who’ve used oil to their benefit."

Why can’t African countries – or any developing country, for that matter – use newfound oil wealth to raise living standards for all citizens? For starters, the oil market is vulnerable to price shocks, and the centralized revenues are susceptible to theft. Dependency on oil as a primary commodity can discourage economic diversification.

Another critical issue is the exploitation of indigenous populations near extraction sites, a prime example being the abuses felt by those in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. Governments frequently overlook the fundamental needs of communities adjacent to oil drilling sites. Ghana’s new oil find may not be very beneficial to communities that fish the waters where the discovery was made.

Can Ghana avoid these pitfalls? The government says it plans to use the oil wealth to turn Ghana into "a middle-income country" by 2015, and to invest in infrastructure, health care and education. That's reminiscent of rhetoric used by officials in Nigeria, Angola, and the Congo — all are failing to follow through with those promises.

Can Ghana succeed in turning the “black gold” into a blessing for its citizens, or will oil once again prove a curse?

It seems counter intuitive-- how can higher oil prices possibly make oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia worse off? Well, these prices are certainly hurting the middle class.

Today's New York Times article is a must read on the subject:

Here in Jordan, the cost of maintaining fuel subsidies amid the surge in prices forced the government to remove almost all the subsidies this month, sending the price of some fuels up 76 percent overnight. In a devastating domino effect, the cost of basic foods like eggs, potatoes and cucumbers doubled or more.

In Saudi Arabia, where inflation had been virtually zero for a decade, it recently reached an official level of 6.5 percent, though unofficial estimates put it much higher. Public protests and boycotts have followed, and 19 prominent clerics posted an unusual statement on the Internet in December warning of a crisis that would cause “theft, cheating, armed robbery and resentment between rich and poor.”

The inflation has many causes ranging from a weakening dollar to global commodity demand, but the fact is that average citizens in many oil rich countries are not benefiting from high oil prices. From Yemen to Morocco, the higher food prices and shrinking government subsidies have resulted in protests and demonstrations with people blaming corrupt officials for higher prices.

A young coal worker in Shanxi, China. Photo: andi808 (flickr)

Check this out: China has the worst coal mine safety record in the world. Only two months ago, 105 men were killed in one mine. Last year, approximately 3,800 miners were killed in accidents.

Listen as Ted Koppel explores the safety problems surrounding China's coal industry.

China will soon transition from being a net exporter of coal to importing approximately 15 million tons more than it produces. Why? A booming economy, growing at 10 percent a year with every intention of maintaining its rapid speed, and an unusually harsh winter.

The government seems to be feeling pressure both to improve safety records, but also to keep the much demanded coal coming. In the end it seems that the economic concerns trump all.

Food shortages, a weakening economy and outbreaks of dengue fever are fueling growing discontent among Venezuelans and Hugo Chavez and his socialist party are experiencing their greatest period of unpopularity. Beyond domestic problems, recent weeks have brought Chavez a heightened level of threats from his enemies, reports the New York Times.

Photo: Benjamin Arseguel (Flickr)

This weekend an uncommon request was made when it comes to oil: Ecuador’s government wants to stop drilling. This negotiation with oil firms is being made in order to protect an area of the Amazon that is inhabited by indigenous peoples who have secluded themselves from the rest of the world.

"The attorney general's office considers urgent the exit of oil companies from the protected areas, via a negotiation," the office of Attorney General Xavier Garaicoa said in a statement.

President Rafael Correa, a former college professor who taught environmental economics, has vowed to protect the tribes from development after reports of deadly clashes between Indians wielding spears and illegal loggers armed with guns.

Biofuel production. Photo: Benjamin Weller (flickr)

Jacques Diouf made a compelling argument last fall. The chief of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN stated that it is absolutely the responsibility of wealthy countries to ensure that a significant part of the emerging biofuel market is produced by the developing world. Right now, the U.S., European Union and Brazil are the leading producers and consumers of biofuels. If this situation remains into the future Diouf says,

“It will mean that we had a chance to honour all our solemn pledges to banish hunger and poverty but chose to look the other way.

If we get it right, bioenergy provides us with a historic chance to fast-forward growth in many of the world’s poorest countries, to bring about an agricultural renaissance and to supply modern energy to a third of the world’s population.

To focus debate exclusively on bio¬fuels for transport is therefore to miss much of the point about bioenergy’s potential for poverty reduction. This lies more in helping 2bn people to produce their own electricity and other energy needs than in keeping 800m cars and trucks on the road.”

Mr. Diouf has called for a world summit on food security, to be held in Rome in June this year. We will be watching for what decisions come out of this meeting, which will be discussing the challenges faced by the food and agricultural sectors from climate change and bioenergy. An interview with the agriculture head on the subject of food security and rising food prices can be viewed here.