7. Food Prices as a Trigger for Revolution

7.食品价格成为革命触发点

For the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, 2011 started off bad and only got worse. Food prices in many parts of the world jumped by 19% from September 2010 to September 2011, according to the World Bank food price index, and while global prices didn't quite hit the record highs of 2008 they stayed far above 2010. The Horn of Africa experienced intense droughts which affected an estimated 13 million people; in Somalia alone, a reported 29,000 children have died, a quarter million remain under threat of starvation and half a million refugees have fled to Kenya. Meanwhile, floods in Thailand pushed the price of rice up 25-30%, according to Oxfam. These increased costs aren't just an exercise in economics, or merely an issue for aid workers: rising commodity prices were one of the main factors contributing to the Middle East uprisings of the Arab Spring. Higher costs, many fear, can only lead to more — and more dangerous — instability.

对于世界上最穷困最弱势的人群来说，2011年以艰难开始，而结局愈加悲惨。根据世界银行的食品价格指数，世界多地的食品价格自2010年9月到2011年九月上涨了19%，尽管未达到2008年的价格最高纪录，2010年的食品价格一直居高不下。非洲之角经历了极度干旱，大约1300万人受到影响。据报告称仅仅在索马里就有2万9千名儿童死亡，25万人仍旧受到饥荒的死亡威胁，50万人难民逃往肯尼亚。同时据牛津饥荒救济委员会（Oxfam）称，泰国洪灾使得水稻价格上涨25-30%。这些价格上涨并不只是经济方面的事，或者仅仅是援助人员需要头疼的问题：商品价格的飞涨还是阿拉伯之春事件中中东各国起义的主要因素之一。许多人担心，更高的价格只会导致更多和更危险的不稳定。

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