Help stop the food crisis now before it is too late

A message from April 29 2008: http://www.avaaz.org/en/

Dear friends,

Rocketing prices threaten to starve millions and make us all less secure -- sign the emergency petition for action to stop the world food crisis Sign the Petition Watch the Video

Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here's why -- we're plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million more people are at risk of starvation right now[1]. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, becoming unaffordable for 90% of citizens[2]. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come. We need to act now -- before it's too late. As Ban Ki-Moon holds a high-level UN meeting on the crisis, we're launching an urgent campaign with African foreign minister and human rights campaigner Zainab Bangura. Click below to see Zainab's video message and add your name to the food crisis petition -- we need to raise 200,000 signatures by the end of this week to deliver a massive global outcry to leaders at the UN, G8 and EU:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/12.php

Sources

1. BBC: "How to stop the global food crisis":
http://news.bbc.co.uk
2. "The New Economics of Hunger"
http://www.washingtonpost.com
3. Zainab Bangura, Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone, video message to Avaaz members
http://www.avaaz.org
4. Chinese news citing World Bank figures:
http://www.cctv.com
5. Reuters: "Rising food prices to top UN agenda:
http://www.reuters.com
6. "Rising Food Prices" by Alex Evans (Chatham House report):
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk
7. UN scientific report on fixing the world food system:
http://news.bbc.co.uk
8. The Guardian: "Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger", George Monbiot:
http://www.guardian.co.uk

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.