Food prices rise with temperature

CANCUN, Mexico, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- If average global temperatures keep rising prices for vital food resources could rise by more than 130 percent, an analysis released in Mexico finds.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said a temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius, about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, would have a dramatic impact on food prices.

A study by the International Livestock Research Institute concludes that if temperatures continue to rise, maize prices could increase by 131 percent within the next 40 years.

Phillip Thornton, a lead author of the ILRI report, told the United Nations' humanitarian news agency IRIN that it was important that negotiators at a climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, come to grips with the potential catastrophic effects of global warming.

"(We wanted) ... to get countries in Cancun to take action now to keep the global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius by the turn of the century," he said. "Otherwise we are headed toward a 4-degree rise if greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked."

The International Food Policy Research Institute, meanwhile, finds that cutting greenhouse gas emissions would decrease the number of malnourished children by 45 percent by 2050, IRIN notes.