The Stream, June 20: Higher Food Prices

The world should brace itself for high food prices and volatility in commodity markets, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Deserts are encroaching into Inner Mongolia’s grasslands. Take a look at this photo essay on the Guardian documenting the desertification in China’s northern region.

China has raised its disaster alert to the highest level after days of heavy rainfall forced the evacuation of more than half a million people in central and southern provinces, Reuters reports.

A rise in radiation has halted the clean-up of radioactive water at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant just a few hours after it got under way, Reuters reported. This is yet another glitch for the Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the station, which announced last Friday that it had started an operation to clean up radioactive water in the facility.

Is water entering the UN climate change agenda? Bloomberg reported that water resources have been explicitly highlighted in a United Nations draft text that may shape a future climate-change treaty. But others are skeptical about the future of climate negotiations.

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