Davos. Petrol is already beyond the price range of many Africans while surging population levels should force governments in Asia to limit car use, political and business leaders said yesterday. While economic gloom in the eurozone is the most immediate concern of delegates gathered here for the annual Davos forum, the challenge of feeding and powering an ever expanding planet is the main long-term headache.

As tensions with Iran and Nigeria once more raise fears about oil supplies -- and Japan’s Fukushima disaster undermines the appeal of nuclear energy -- titans of politics and industry admit it is time for a radical reappraisal. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose country’s population is forecast to jump by 73 per cent by the middle of the century, said that merely following the Western path of development was not an option.

“In my view, Africa has no option but to go through the green path to development. We have to adjust -- no matter what happens with the climate change negotiations,” he said, referring to stalled UN-led climate talks. (AFP)

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