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Loading...One Billion Hungry: Global Hunger Has Reached Its Highest Point Ever
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that one billion people suffer from hunger worldwide, a record high.
Besides rising food prices, the global economic crisis has greatly contributed as it has caused lower incomes and higher unemployment. Remittances have also declined worldwide, further taking a toll on some developing countries.
The FAO points out that while chronic hunger went down during the 1980s and early 90s, it has been on the rise for about a decade now. This year, the number of hungry people is expected to rise by 11 percent.
FAO Director General Jacques Diouf stated that such hunger endangers world peace and security. He advises, “Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth.”
Earlier this year at a UN emergency food summit in Madrid, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) Josette Sheeran stated, “What we may be witnessing is a fundamental breakdown in food markets in a way that does not allow nations to feel secure that they can produce or purchase enough food to be able to feed their populations.” She pointed out that hunger is emerging everywhere, such as in Kyrgyzstan, which had not needed food aid since the early 1990s when the USSR dissolved.
Ironically the FAO announced earlier this month that it expected the second-highest recorded cereals crop this year. In addition, much of the world is richer than ever, despite the global financial crisis. Many people roll their eyes at the notion of foreign aid, but doing nothing is not an option. Sheeran said that after trillions have been spent on rescuing banks and corporations, “[aid] to make sure that the most severe human suffering does not happen does not seem out of line.”
Read more: human rights, hunger
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I think the main problem is that people just don't care. The solutions are out there. There are tons of ways we could help these people by making small changes in our daily lives. If we made the decision to help and dedicated ourselves to it, the changes would come easily.
kudos to timothy w. for pointing out the fact that the resources used to feed cattle and other food animals could be better utilized to feed the hungry. embracing a vegetarian lifestyle, or at least decreasing meat intake, will do much more than relieve the needless pain and suffering of the animals people eat. it will help heal our environment and give the Earth a chance to regenerate itself. what could be more important than that?
Paul Erlich predicted massive hunger in "The Population Bomb". If we really want to end world hunger we must have the courage to deal with the human birth rate which is too high. It is not a coincidence that global warming, hunger, collapse of fish stocks and many more problems are coming at a time when the world population is out of control. We already have the technology to provide contraception to the world. All we need is the will.
Some corporations are as responsible for global hunger as some governments are; big companies set up sweat shops in third world countries to avoiding employing Americans, and pay the people next to nothing, and then when they start to get together and rally for better wages and some benefits and better working conditions, the companies pull out and go elsewhere and start all over again. "Free Trade" means that the people who control the means of production are free to victimize everyone else however they wish. Support "Fair Trade".
Billions of tons of food over the globe is going waste due to our luxurious life.Another billion of tonf is wasted in over-diet.Another billion of tons is wasted due to our negligence and improper storage facilities.As a result, billion of masses are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. UNO should come forward to purchase excess food from the sufficien nations and distribute it among the deficient nations.Within a country too there is a need to streamline the public distribution system.
STOP GROWING FOOD TO FEED FACTORY FARM ANIMALS! If we ended animal agriculture and focused all out farming efforts on vegetables, grains, beans, and fruits to feed PEOPLE these problems would disappear.
One billion people are hungry and poor, and yet, they still have the strength to have sex and keep popping out babies. Unless they plan to eat the children, why do they keep birthing more babies, who will only compete for the spare food that is available? I used to support causes that helped people, until I saw how the "people" were doing NOTHING to help themselves. They are so poor and weak, yet they have sex, smoke tobaccos, buy/use illegal drugs, buy/use alcohol or obtain whatever their vice may be. They get medical diseases from their poor choices and then expect the world to beat a path to their door and fix everything for them, FOR FREE. I always hated tithing until I decided to give the 10% tithe to animal charities. Once I started doing that I became a regular donor, I could see the results of my donations, I actually look forward to donating and feel good about it! The planet is over-populated with people while other species, such as polar bears, are going extinct because of human activity. Let the humans starve to death, they do not provide any positive actions for the health of our planet. Help the defenseless, save our wildlife, serve Sarah Palin to the grizzly bears and wolves whom she so enjoys murdering.
In my country, Indonesia, there's so many children living under the poorest line, specially in a rural area where there's no access through it. I dont know, how and what is my government's plan to get them out of poverty living?
World food sources are dwindling, mainly due to corporate greed. Oceans have been fished so nearly dry, now the very young *high in mercury) fish are marketed, diminishing the species. The beef industry yells how good a steak is, but the cows burp 20% of air pollution, and the manure contributes another 3 %. Farmers, unable to make it any longer, due to corporate maneuvers, unfair taxes, and laws favoring corporate collective farming, sell out to housing developers and golf courses. The desirable portions of this planet are grossly overpopulated. Farmland steadily diminishes. Judging from natural disasters, famine, disease, social acceptance of narcotics,uncaring even abusive parents. and war, humanity may be eventually replaced by cockroaches. The most pitiful aspect is that occupants of the industrialized world sit and worry about how much credit they have, and what sort of image they project. One good aspect of the global reduction of food, now in progress, check the price of it, is that voluntary obesity may be treated by mass famine. What is the answer? We hire people to provide that, we elect them to lavish salaries and perks. what answers have they provided?
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