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The head of the UN's Population Fund, Babatunde Osotimehin, talks to Annie Kelly about the key issues driving the debate around population and food security

Food and Agriculture Organisation chief José Graziano da Silva demands high noon on land grabs that jeopardise food security

Posted by feww on June 20, 2011 Extreme rains have inundated large parts of several provinces in China affecting millions of people according to China's official news agency. Torrential rains have also triggered landslide destroying homes, roads, bridges, dykes, and other infrastructure, killing many people.

Over the last few years, I became aware of this hidden revolution taking place around the world: the buying up of vast swaths of land by foreign entities from beneath its occupiers. Soaring grain prices in 2007/2008 led to countries such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea worrying about their national food security and buying up overseas land.

Spritzing a sunscreen ingredient into the stratosphere could help counteract the effects of global warming, according to scientists behind an ambitious new geoengineering project. The plan involves using high-altitude balloons to disperse millions of tons of titanium dioxide-a nontoxic chemical found in sunscreen as well as in paints, inks, and even food.

ADD one more to the list: after the driest spring in more than 20 years, parts of eastern England are officially in a state of drought, according to the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This comes hard on the heels of some of the worst droughts on record across the globe, from Texas to China.

The scale of the rush by speculators, pension funds and global agri-businesses to acquire large areas of developing countries is far greater than previously thought, and is already leading to conflict, hunger and human rights abuses, says Oxfam.