New World Food Crisis Warning

Last year's food crisis has eased, but prices remain very high in developing countries, and the conditions that caused the crisis are likely to return without intervention, says a new United Nations report.

"Rising unemployment and falling incomes are putting additional pressure on the poor and vulnerable," according to the report, issued by the U.N.'s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

But the same factors that are wreaking havoc with the world economy are also keeping a lid—somewhat—on prices. That likely won't last, the commission warned. "More worrying still is that, once the global economy recovers, the pressures that drove up food prices last year will return," the report said.

Prices that suddenly soared last year, as well as shortages, caused riots in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. The report called on governments, particularly in Asia, to work to prevent such sudden shocks.