The Global Food Crisis, Mapped

JUSTIN GILLIS

Oxfam, the antihunger group, has been running a campaign to call attention to the global food crisis, its consequences and its potential solutions. The Times outlined the challenge of future food security on a warming planet in this article several weeks ago, and this week my colleague Jeffrey Gettleman described the appalling famine unfolding in Somalia. The Somalia situation has a drought component, although the causes of the suffering seem to be primarily political.

The people at Oxfam just called my attention to a remarkable new map they have created that highlights the different ways that high food prices and food insecurity are playing out in countries around the world. On a computer that supports the Flash graphics format, as most do (iPads do not), go to this link and click on the green box that says “Explore [Full Screen].”

Once you’ve loaded the map, you can click and drag your mouse to see any part of the world. The pop-up narratives by country are the main feature, but don’t miss the links at the bottom to statistics and photos about the crisis.