Oxfam sees world hunger worsening

PARIS -- World hunger is likely to worsen as climate change hurts crop production and disrupts incomes, with food-price spikes due to extreme weather set to increase, Oxfam said yesterday.

The number of people at risk of hunger may climb by 10 percent to 20 percent by 2050 as a result of climate change, with daily per-capita calorie availability falling across the world, the international aid agency wrote in its report.

In November, the World Bank reported that the world risks "cataclysmic changes" caused by extreme heat waves, rising sea levels and depleted food stocks, as average temperatures are headed for a 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit jump by 2100.

"The changing climate is already jeopardizing gains in the fight against hunger, and it looks set to worsen," Oxfam said. "A hot world is a hungry world."

The Oxfam report comes before the publication of a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Stockholm later this week.

Ensuring the long-term prospect of hunger eradication means lowering emissions fast, with "deep cuts" needed by 2020, Oxfam said. -- Bloomberg News