Global food crisis threatens security

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in New York that the food crisis around the world could have serious security implications if left unchecked.

Ban, speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Council, the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, called on the international community to take immediate action on the escalating food crisis or face the potential of political instability and threats to security, the United Nations reported.

"The rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions," Ban said in a statement. " … The international community will also need to take urgent and concerted action in order to avert the larger political and security implications of this growing crisis. The U.N. needs to examine ways to lead a process for the immediate and longer-term responses to this global problem."

Ban called for emergency measures in dealing with the food crisis in the short term, but he also urged the international community to increase productivity in the long term.