The headline target to halve global poverty by 2015 may well be met, but this could be a very hollow achievement if high food prices, conflicts over land access and insufficient rural development conspire to leave a stubbornly high number of people – now close to 1 billion – mired in food poverty.
Nadella did indicate that there will be an "equilibrium" following the pricing conflicts.
In an interconnected world, climate change can contribute to volatility -- higher food prices, conflicts, migration -- that can easily cross borders.
The problem is that lofty oil prices conflict with Mexico's new economy, propelled by exports of cars, televisions and other manufactured goods.
After getting out of the Iraqi mud and while trying to pull out of the Afghan desert, America will be bogged down by a highly charged and highly priced conflict with the Islamic Republic.
Climate change is making both problems worse, as are misguided policies: one factor behind the 2009 land grabs was the imposition of food-export bans, raising fears among importers that they might one day not be able to get food at any price.The conflicts of scarcity are not the same as the cataclysms of Malthus.
China, India and Singapore were granted observer status in 2013.But since mid-2014, falling oil prices and conflicts between Russia and NATO have lessened the Arctic's allure.
"Surging and unstable international food prices, growing conflicts over water, the increased exposure of vulnerable populations to drought and floods are all symptoms of a crisis that may soon become permanent".
The price of conflict is evidently high: a $300m aid programme in Chad risks being disrupted; humanitarian efforts for Darfur are largely conducted through Chad.The plight of those displaced by fighting in Darfur is likely to worsen as food-aid deliveries are suspended.
Yet the price of conflict without America is likely to remain far less than with America.
