ROME, June 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – International
trade in food relies on a small number of key ports, straits and
roads, which face increasing risks of disruption due to climate
change, a report said on Tuesday.
Disruptions caused by weather, conflict or politics at one
of those so-called “chokepoints” could limit food supplies and
push up prices, the study by British think-tank Chatham House
warned.
“The risks are growing as we all trade more with each other
and as climate change takes hold,” Laura Wellesley, one of the
study’s authors, said in a statement.
Almost 25 percent of all food eaten around the world is
traded on international markets, the report said.
The amount of maize, wheat, rice and soybean moved across
the world each year is enough to feed some 2.8 million people
and more than half it passes through at least one of 14 inland
routes, ports, and straits, like the Panama and Suez canals.
About 20 percent of global wheat exports, for example,
transit via the Turkish Straits, while more than 25 percent of
soybean exports is shipped across the Straits of Malacca.
But infrastructure at these junctures is often old and
ill-suited to cope with natural disasters, which are expected to
increase in frequency as the planet warms, said Wellesley.
Roads in Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of soy bean,
for instance, were exposed to the risk of flooding and
landslides caused by heavy rains, while U.S. Gulf Coast ports
could suffer more storm surges boosted by rising seas, she said.
That posed risks for the food security of importing
countries and the economies of those exporting food, she added.
The report called on governments to invest in
“climate-resilient” infrastructure as well as taking other
precautionary measures such as diversifying food production and
stocks.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros
Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the
charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian
news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate
change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org)
