NEWS
April 2008
NEWS
Food Crisis strikes the world
The cereal-import bill for the poorest countries is expected to rise 56 per cent this year, on top of the 37 per cent recorded last year. Food prices in the first three months of 2008 reached their highest level in both nominal and real (inflation adjusted) terms in almost 30 years, the UN says. That’s stoking double-digit inflation and prompting countries such as Egypt, Vietnam and India to eliminate or substantially reduce rice exports to keep a lid on prices and prevent rioting. But, by reducing global supply, this only increases prices for food-importing countries, many of them in West Africa. Swelling population explains only part of the problem. The world’s population, estimated at 6.6 billion, has doubled since 1965. But population growth rates are falling and, theoretically, there is enough food to feed everyone on the planet. Starting next week, Britain will require gasoline and diesel sold at the pumps be mixed with 2.5-per-cent biofuel, rising to 5.75 per cent by 2010 and 10 per cent by 2020, in line with European Union directives. Ontario’s ethanol-content mandate is 5 per cent. As the content requirements rise, more and more land is devoted to growing crops for fuel, such as corn-based ethanol. In the EU alone, 15 per cent of the arable land is expected to be devoured by biofuel production by 2020. That’s raising alarm bells, especially given lingering doubts about the effectiveness of ethanol in combating climate change. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this week he’s worried that ethanol production is pushing up food prices everywhere, and he called for an urgent review of the issue. Economist Dr. Hazell has said that filling an SUV tank once with ethanol consumes more maize than the typical African eats in a year. Cutting back on ethanol production alone would go some way to restoring supply-demand balance in the food markets.
Nepal Elections – welcome democracy
With 10,000 polling places, about 10,000 candidates and more than 234,000 election workers to supervise the entire operation, Nepal has never had elections quite like this before. The Constituent Assembly will not only decide whether to abolish the monarchy, but it will also determine how the country’s ethnic groups and castes will be represented in government and even what kind of government Nepal will have. Nepalis will in effect cast two votes. They will choose a candidate to represent their district and separately choose a party. To ensure that women and ethnic and caste groups have a voice, each party has had to abide by certain quotas. The elections have been delayed twice, in part because of an armed ethnic uprising in Nepal’s southeastern plains. Though the situation is mostly calm now, a handful of ethnic Madhesi factions there continue to threaten candidates. After 10 years of fighting, Nepal’s Maoists have come out of the jungle and will take part in elections to choose a special assembly to rewrite the Constitution. That bold experiment will give this nation of 27 million an opportunity to cement peace and install a fully elected government, while most likely ending the monarchy that has ruled Nepal for 250 years.
240 constituencies
601 seats in Parliament
CPN Maoists have won or are leading in 101 seats of the 198 declared constituencies.
