Fresh from blogging about the undesirability of producing energy rather than cereals on local arable land I've just noticed courtesy of my Twitter feed that Professor Charles Godfray, a population biologist from Oxford University, gave a presentation at the Houses of Parliament earlier this week on the closely related topic of food security. Here it is:

More on Food Security and Choice – Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It?

Last weekend I attended the World MoneyShow in London. On the night before the event it was confirmed that significant numbers of people had died from cholera in Port-au-Prince.  I've been blogging about this issue for over two years, and in my opinion that means many thousands more will die from the same cause in the not too distant future.

More on A Black Day in Haiti and at the World MoneyShow

The media can't seem to agree on exactly how many people have now died of cholera, but they do seem to be agreed that the rate of infections and deaths is increasing, in Port-au-Prince as well as in most of the rest of Haiti.

More on Many More Dead in Haiti – Cholera Killing in the Capital

The BBC reports this evening that the cholera outbreak in Haiti is now entrenched in the capital Port-au-Prince:

Doctors are treating 73 people for the disease, amid fears that it could spread across the quake-hit city. Dozens of suspected cases are also being investigated in Port-au-Prince, which has feared an outbreak since October.

At long last the mainstream British media are doing some in depth reporting. Here's Channel 4's Jon Snow on the ground in Haiti, including an interview with Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive:

More on Cholera Outbreak Confirmed in Port-au-Prince

This morning Reuters reports that the death toll from the cholera epidemic is now over 500:

Amid widespread relief that the hurricane largely spared crowded camps in the Haitian capital housing 1.3 million quake survivors, the international humanitarian operation was turning its attention back to the two-week-old epidemic, which has killed just over 500 people and sickened more than 7,000.

More on Haiti Cholera Death Toll Now Over 500

According to Reuters this morning the death toll in Haiti as a direct consequence of Hurricane Tomas has reached seven. Haitian President René Préval said from the presidential palace that:

Now that, relatively speaking, Haiti has escaped the danger, we have to continue to be vigilant.

According to Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

More on "Relatively Speaking, Haiti has escaped the danger" of Hurricane Tomas

Friday morning has arrived, and unfortunately the forecasts weren't too far out.  Tomas has strengthened to hurricane force once more, and is travelling only slightly to the west of Tuesday's forecast track. According to Reuters:

More on Hurricane Tomas Drenches Haiti Camp Dwellers

So far Haiti hasn't been troubled by the 2010 hurricane season, but unfortunately it looks as though that is about to change.  As you can tell from his name, this year there have already been a lot of tropical storms in the Atlantic before Tomas.  Up to now they have all somehow managed to avoid Haiti:

More on Tropical Storm Tomas Threatens Haiti Hurricane

We talked to a lot of people about Haiti yesterday at the South West Contemporary Art Fair in Totnes, England. Everyone we spoke to knew about the outbreak of cholera in Haiti. Nobody we spoke to knew that the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince had been shaken from their sleep by a seismic shock the previous night, or the previous month.

More on Significant Risk of Another Haiti Earthquake

I awoke this morning and checked the news from Haiti.  The mainstream media now confirms that the cholera outbreak has reached the capital Port-au-Prince.  According to Reuters a UN humanitarian spokeswoman said that the 5 known cases:

More on More Deaths in Haiti. More Shocks As Well.