Food Crisis

Paula Bronstein / Getty

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According to many experts, the greatest threat imperiling our world is neither war nor disease, but hunger. The World Bank estimates 100 million people have been driven into poverty during the past two years by a deepening worldwide food crisis. Stratospheric prices of staples like wheat, corn, rice and oil have touched off riots and protests in countries ranging from Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand to Yemen, Burkina Faso and Haiti, where the government was toppled in the upheaval in early 2008.

The crisis stems from an ugly confluence of economic factors. Unable to afford proper materials, farmers have been struggling with poor crop yields; climate change has brought on droughts; American and European support of biofuels like ethanol, which require large volumes of corn to produce, have depleted food stockpiles; and with global populations spiking, demand far outstrips supply. In an attempt to "avert social unrest on an unprecedented scale," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has established a food crisis task force to find ways of making up for the World Food Programme's projected $755 million shortfall. The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has also earmarked $1.7 billion to provide seeds to farmers in impoverished countries. These are positive steps toward ameliorating the problem, but they are merely initial components of what must be a multi-pronged approach.

—By Alex Altman