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In some countries social order has already begun to break down in the face of soaring food prices and spreading hunger. Could the worldwide food crisis portend the collapse of global civilization?

The concluding message from the seminar is that climatic change will place unprecedented pressures on agriculture. New crop varieties are needed to maintain the level of food production under the climate changes predicted for the 21st century in all IPCC scenarios, irrespective of any action taken today. Plant breeders are dependent on genetic diversity from many countries to adapt crops to changing climatic conditions. This biological diversity is under continuous threat. All countries should recognize their responsibility for food production and the need for international collaboration in this regard. At the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009 the need to conserve and make available crop diversity as the bedrock of all plant breeding efforts must be recognised as a fundamental component of climate change adaption.

Climate change inescapable fact Story by NGOVI KITAU Publication Date: 6/9/2008 CLIMATE CHANGE LEADING to global warming is the biggest environmental challenge facing the world. The World Environment Day was marked last week, and it is necessary to examine the state of our environment. Our moderate weather and tropical climate encourage a range of outdoor activities. We have been fortunate to live in a country that has marvellous mountains to climb, fabulous beaches to bask in, magnificent vegetation and animals in our famous national parks. We have great lakes and rivers to explore, fertile highlands to grow cash crops and rear exotic dairy animals in, extraordinary lowlands to grow food crops in, the magnificent Rift Valley, beautiful plateaus and hills covered by dense tropical forests and giant trees, and great savannas for grazing our animals in. And what do we observe today? Long and recurrent droughts, flooding whenever it rains, melting of ice on Mt Kenya, destruction of the Mau and other forests, continuing and alarming soil erosion, silting of dams, degradation of the eco-system, accelerated desert march, loss of biodiversity, and persistent human conflict over scarce resources.

Global warming is changing the distribution, abundance and diversity of marine life in the polar seas with "profound" implications for creatures further up the food chain, according to scientists involved in the most comprehensive study of life in the oceans ever conducted.

BEIJING (AP) - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday. (November 13, 2008)

Scientists have long established that the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming spots on Earth. Now, new research using detailed satellite data indicates that the changing climate is affecting not just the penguins at the apex of the food chain, but simultaneously the microscopic life that is the base of the ecosystem.

Some of the mightiest rivers on the planet, including the Ganges, the Niger, and the Yellow river in China, are drying up because of climate change, a study of global waterways warned yesterday. The study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado found that global warming has had a far more damaging impact on rivers than had been realised and that, overwhelmingly, those rivers in highly populated areas were the most severely affected. That could threaten food and water supply to millions of people living in some of the world's poorest regions, the study warned.

Oxfam Australia says that climate change could leave up to 75 million people in the Asia-Pacific region homeless by 2050. The Future is Here: Climate Change says that these island nations are already suffering from drought, food shortages and rising water levels.