It is a worrying time to be living on Planet Earth. Climate change is wreaking havoc on hapless millions in countless countries around the globe. The hottest summer on record in Russia with fires devastating vast swathes of forest. Monsoon rains causing floods and widespread destruction of crops in Pakistan and northern India. And, there are damaging landslides in rural China along with catastrophic downpours in diverse continents. The world is simply running out of options. So what is to be done? The time has come for governments to take the threat of global climatic change seriously. The consequences of prevarication will be disastrous. Floods, famine, disease and hunger are dangers that are looming large over ever- increasing populations. No country is immune from these catastrophes. Egypt, for one, is paying the price of the heat wave and fires of Russia. Egypt, one of the world's biggest importers of wheat, is facing a grave danger and is at a loss as to how to avoid the threat to its national food security policy. Reliance on ever-increasing wheat and other grain imports is causing widespread panic and concern. The prices of wheat on the international markets have witnessed unprecedented upsurges caused primarily by the chaotic climatic conditions around the world. In Egypt there are calls for investing in growing wheat to secure a major food source for the people of the country in the years to come. Wheat, after all, is a staple food in this country. Other Arab countries, too, are in a conundrum, and concerted action is now called upon to save the day. The Egyptian government, for one, is committed to securing cheap bread to the poorest of the poor in Egypt. It is for this purpose that nine million tons of wheat are set aside for bread production for the poor. Now that Ramadan is upon us, the need for inexpensive bread and other wheat byproducts is on the rise. If the bread crisis is not resolved we can expect bread riots to erupt soon. Egypt is therefore determined to import ever-increasing amounts of wheat and to subsidise the price of bread. Egyptians have inadvertently become the victims of an international disaster. Conscious of their plight, the government is stepping up measures to ensure national food security. The battle to secure cheap and readily available food supplies is being fought on several fronts. But let it be known that the government has a tough task. Where do we go from here? Gone are the days of bountiful harvests. As climate change squeezes the profits of suppliers, the world witnesses negative yields from wheat and other basic grains. There is no consensus on what precisely is to be done. So where does that leave us? The climate scientists, agricultural scientists, nutritionists and economists among others must provide solutions. But above all, the public must be better informed about the crisis that challenges us.
