The anti-poverty group Oxfam says global warming is altering the human food supply and threatening some of the world’s poorest people with hunger. At the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali, the group argued developed countries should pay to address the problem, and costs could top $50 billion a year. Trish Anderton reports from Bali.

Climate change, which many scientists believe is fueled by human activities, alters rain cycles and causes increased droughts and flooding.

Rising temperatures mean some traditional crops do not grow as well as they used to. The United Nations predicts that in some African countries, crop yields could fall by half.

Oxfam researcher Kate Raworth says coping with these issues will be expensive.

“Oxfam has estimated that for all developing countries to adapt to climate change will cost at least $50 billion a year,” she said. “And for that to be done with justice we believe that the rich and the most polluting countries should pay the vast share of the money to make possible for those countries most vulnerable and least responsible for causing the problem to cope with the new realities they have to deal with.”
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Pakistan’s two main opposition rivals met Monday for the first time since both returned from their years in exile, accusing President Pervez Musharraf of plotting to fix the Jan. 8 vote and vowing to muster a “people power” movement that would take to the streets to challenge any election they deem unfair.

Sitting side by side at a news conference, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, both former premiers, said that major opposition parties would set out their conditions for what would constitute free and fair elections. The move would allow the opposition to begin organizing for mass protests against Musharraf, though the two leaders still do not agree on whether any protests should be held before votes are counted or afterward.

Bhutto said the street demonstrations could be modeled on the peaceful 2004 Orange Revolution that overturned what was widely seen as a fixed vote in Ukraine.

The specter of mass protests — against a president who has used the army to gain and hold office — signals that January’s election may not ensure the smooth transition to democracy Read more