Environment minister calls for a 'food Kyoto' as a billion people face starvation

Hilary Benn to propose global action to secure food supplies as population booms – along with starvation

Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk 10 Dec 08;

Britain and the world face a "perfect storm" of threats to food security unless world leaders agree a global deal to tackle rising prices and environmental damage, the environment secretary Hilary Benn will warn tonight.

Benn will say there are a range of threats to producing enough food to feed an expected global population of 9 billion people by the middle of this century and will call for an international agreement to tackle global warming.

Benn's speech to the Fabian Society in London comes just a day after the UN warned that the number of people facing starvation worldwide rose 40 million to 963 million during 2008, mostly as a result of rising food prices, which in turn have been blamed on soaring demand for crops for food and fuel, and higher oil costs. In the UK annual food prices were more than 10% higher during this summer, and the sector is a driver of overall national inflation of 4.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

"Global food production will need to double just to meet demand," Benn is expected to say. "We have the knowledge and the technology to do this, as things stand, but the perfect storm of climate change, environmental degradation and water and oil scarcity, threatens our ability to succeed."

In particular, the UK food system's "dependence on oil will have to change" to use more renewable energy. He also hints that more controversial genetically modified technology could also be needed, described as "new crops and technologies".

"As a world, we need to own up to the true scale of the problem," adds an advance copy of the speech. "And we need a long-term plan for dealing with it. We need... to create a kind of new Kyoto – a new global deal to secure the future of our food." A department spokesman said a global deal would need to cover environmental damage, food security and prices.

The speech is likely to be welcomed as recognition that the UK needs a firmer policy on food security. In 2006 Defra said food security was "not an issue of primary concern" in rich nations.

However the government should not rely on an international treaty instead of making changes to domestic policy, said Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University in London.

Lang said it was essential to protect natural resources like water and soil, while also cutting meat and dairy production, freeing up land to grow more fruit and vegetables.

"We have got to decide whether we want cheap, unsustainable food or a sustainable food system," said Lang. "This is a new imperialism… we're using other people's land to feed ourselves, taking food out of the mouths of others."

In 2007 the UK produced 61% of the food it consumed, ranging from 100% of cereals to 10% of fruit.