L'alarme des émeutes alimentaires : un problème à dépasser

"A little conversation, a little more action please." Indeed, both people and the environment need action more than ever. Yet, what should our priority be: protecting the environment or feeding more people?
This dilemma appears more and more sharply to developing and emerging countries. In Asia, more than 600 million people live with less than 1 $ per day. This situation is even worse in Africa. Besides, all the countries concerned by this issue have to face high inflation rates and great risks of social unrest. Does the protection of the environment (especially through investments in biofuels) justify growing prices while most people are not even able to pay for basic groceries? There is a known idea that a choice is to be made between biofuels and rice. However, this is a mistake. The environmental issue matches up world food problems. The well-being of present and future generations, the struggle for decent prices and the protection of the environment are actually two sides of the same coin. We, thus, have to take radical measures to enhance our means of production today. 80% of the three thousand million people living under the poverty threshold reside in rural areas, and are, for the most, farmers. It is modern agriculture that needs to be completely restructured if the international community wants to live up to high demographic growths and climate changes.