Global Security: Causes of Growing Hunger and Starvation - Coursework Example

GLOBAL SECURITY by of the of the Introduction In the World Food Conference of 1974, global leaders emphasized that each child, woman, and man has an inherent right to be free from malnutrition and hunger. The 1974 Conference declared an ambitious goal of eliminating hunger and starvation completely from the world within 10 years. Since then world has changed a lot (Williams 2010). According to the FAO’s (Food and Agriculture Organization) statistical report of 2013, global crop production has increased remarkably by 3 times over the last 50 years, mainly by means of advanced technology, crop intensification, and higher production per unit of land. Also, global per capita food supply increased up to 3100 kcal/day by 2009 from 2100 kcal/day in 1961. With 3380 kcal/person/day, Europe currently possesses the highest average per capita food supply. Over 2.4 billion tonnes of cereals, which is the most crucial food source of human consumption, is produced every year. It is estimated that the current food production is 1.5 times more than enough to satisfy the global food demand (The Environmental Food Crisis 2014). About 1.8 billion people in the world are diagnosed with obesity or overweight due to excessive calorie intake. The number of obese and overweight people is rapidly increasing in the world, especially in the developed countries like, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia (Williams 2010). Despite such overwhelming statistics, the fact is one chid in every 5 seconds dies from the hunger-related causes around the world. According to the latest reports of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (WFO), about1 billion people, i.e., around one-sixth of the global population, are suffering from malnutrition and hunger in the world; the number has increased by 10 million than the last year (Koba 2013). Even in the developed countries like, the United States, about 30 million people are suffering from malnutrition. It is estimated that over 18 million people worldwide dies each year from hunger-related causes (Koba 2013). According to the experts, such a huge paradox is a serious concern for global security. The statistics shows that the problem of massive rate of hunger and starvation in the world is not associated with the global food production, but with the effectiveness of food supply, government policies, economic issues, corporate bureaucracy, physical and social barriers, the lack of developments, growing conflicts and instability in various parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to highlight to major causes of growing hunger and starvation in the world despite of sufficient global food production. Poverty and Powerlessness According the 2006 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, even though hunger is identified in the both developed and poor countries, the prevalence of hunger and starvation is significant in the developing and poor countries around the world. It is found that almost 87% of overall global population that is currently suffering from the hunger and malnutrition is constituted by the third world countries. Also, the reports of the World Bank claimed that over 1.4 billion people, who are currently living below the global poverty line, are earning less than $1 per day (Ahmed et al. 2007, p. 1-5). Poverty and hunger are directly related to one another. The research and studies which were focused on the hot-spots of hunger and starvation suggested that extreme poverty is the root cause of high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition in those regions. Almost 66% of the world’s hungry population is concentrated in only 7 countries, i.e., India (251 million), China (165 million), the democratic republic of Congo (45 million), Bangladesh (43 million), Indonesia (38 million), Pakistan (35 million), and Ethiopia (32 million) (Can We End World Hunger? 2013). According to the Global Hunger Index of 2014, Burundi (GHI-35.7), Eritrea (34), Timor-Leste (29.9), Comoros (29.6), and Sudan (26.1) are the worst effected countries by hunger and malnutrition. Besides, countries like, Haiti, North Korea, Ethiopia, Shri Lanka, Chad, and Zambia are on the verge of alarming situation (Ahmed et al. 2007, p. 22-26). Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are highly affected regions by hunger, and the high rate of poverty in these regions is the major cause of such massive population suffering from hunger and malnutrition (Ahmed et al. 2007, p. 20-23). In Sub-Saharan Africa, overall economic progress is significantly low. The mortality rate of children under the age of 5 years is constant with the growing prevalence of ultra poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. Compare to Sub-Saharan Africa, the poverty rate is around 11% lower in South Asia, however the GHI score in South Asia has remained high due to the high rate of underweight children and malnutrition. Nearly 40% of the population in developing countries is poor; the figure increases to 75 to 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ahmed et al. 2007, p. 17-20). The causes of poverty vary country to country. Poverty prevents people from accessing basic needs for survival such as food, water, shelter, and health. Many people under the poverty line are hungry or malnourished because they don’t have money or capability to cultivate or obtain food. Compare to urban areas, the rate of poverty is higher in rural areas, consequently, the number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition is higher in rural areas. As the number of rural areas is significantly higher in developing and poor countries than that in developed countries, the number of people suffering from hunger and starvation is higher in these countries too (Ahmed et al. 2007, p. 4-10). The presence of extreme inequality in social and economic class, high rate of discrimination, growing population, ineffective government policies, corruption, constant conflicts, high rate of unemployment, and lack of education opportunities are the major causes of poverty in South Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa. Also, it is seen that landless is highly associated with poverty in all these regions. For example, about 82% ultra poor people in Bangladesh don’t own land to cultivate own food (Messer et al. 2002, p.7-8). Similar, statistics are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, poor people who own some land are usually cut-off from the agricultural facilities and access to the market. In a way, poor households are unable to invest in land, business, and education for their children, leading to unemployment, further poverty, and consequently, hunger and starvation. When people constantly live in a poor and war-prone environment with no access to development, they tend to feel powerless. No access to resources for progress and the lack of purchasing power keep such people constantly in the extreme poverty, forcing them to struggle for basic needs such as, food, shelter, water, and health. Thus, People under poverty line are deeply stuck in the close cycle of poverty, powerlessness, and hunger. Armed Conflict History has regularly shown the correlation between the armed conflict and starvation. The famine of 1939-1941 in Ukraine, the Bengal famine of 1943, and the Vietnamese famine of 1945 are the great examples of direct relation between the man-made disasters and rise of hunger and starvation. Ongoing conflicts and civil wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, Syria, Iraq, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Nagomo-Karabakh, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Rwanda have caused drastic effects on their economy, political system, infrastructure, health care, education, agriculture, and industries (Messer et al. 2002, p.1-5). A study of Frances Steward found that in 14 of 16 poor and developing countries that are engaged in war and armed conflicts since 1970 have shown about 38% drop in the per capita food consumption. Armed conflict stops or slows food supply and production. Available inadequate food supplies are looted, or consumed by the militants in war, crop cycles are disturbed and breeding livestock and seeds are consumed in chaos. Even if war doesn’t escalate, massive military spending drains available supplies and resources from health care, food production, and education. In 2014, the political and personal battle between the President of South Sudan Salva Kir and the former Vice-President of the country Rik Machar escalated into ethnic armed conflict (McConnell 2014). The war was full of brutality including, ethnic massacres, human rights violation, rapes, use of child soldiers, and massive loots. As the battle has diminished for now, people have slowly begun to return their homes. However, it is already too late to plant crops. Also, the seeds that might have planted were already stolen or burned. Most of the livestock is consumed during the battle. Consequently, South Sudan is currently facing the famine despite the normal climate conditions. The only reason behind current famine and high rate of hunger in South Sudan is man-made disaster, fighting, displacement, destruction, and disruption of its major economic sectors (McConnell 2014). Corporate Control When food is considered as a mere product to be bought and sold instead of basic human need and all people have right to, revenues from selling food becomes priority than feeding poor, then overall health of society suffers. In developed and even developing countries, many people shop for food in big supermarkets and megastores owned by large multinational corporations (Conant & Fadem 2008, p. 231-232). People buy foods made by large corporate companies, grown on lands owned by large corporations, using fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds manufactured by large corporations. In other words, corporate control in all food processing levels has thrown small and traditional farmers out of agriculture and off their own lands. When giant corporations use massive lands to grow food in large quantity to sell outside the region, people working and living in local communities have to eat food brought in from elsewhere, if they can afford to buy it. As “food insecurity” intensifies in societies, and whole nations, they become highly dependent on the global market for food which directly causes massive profits to large corporations. Furthermore, when the global market fails to meet the growing food demands, hunger and starvation increases, then corporations gain even more profit by selling food to governments to distribute as food aid (Conant & Fadem 2008, p. 231-234). Today, less than 6 private corporations control over 72% of global trade in basic grains (The Issues 2014, p. 3). The growing corporate control in food sector is allowing the processors, buyers, retailers, and distributors to gain the maximum profit, crushing the small farmers with lower and lower prices for their crops. In 1976, consumer paid $0.56 for a small corn flakes box in which the corn producer gained 8 cents. In 1998, the same corn flake box priced $2.99 and farmers received mere 11 cents. The share of farmers in the food product dropped from 12.8% to just 3.3% (The Issues 2014, p. 3-4). In poor and developing countries, most of the small farms today are likely local contractors for giant corporations or under legal contracts, making farmers vulnerable to debts and without any legal help. In the third world countries situation is even worse. For instance, in India, “free trade” policies introduced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have forced many farmers from rural areas into massive debts due to which over 210,000 small and poor farmers have committed suicide since 1998 (Winter 2012). In a way, growing corporate control over global food security is the most hidden but root cause of high rate of hunger and starvation in the today’s world. Governments and Their Policies Another significant cause of the massive global hunger index is the corrupt governments and defective policies. Government ideologies often reflect on the overall progress and living standards of the people in that country. For instance, radical communist and dictatorial policies of the North Korean government have led to numerous economic sanctions on the country. Also, the conservative and unfriendly approach of its government towards other states has isolated the country and its people from the outer world (Stanton & Lee 2014). Due to oppressive government policies and no opportunity for development, the people in North Korea are suffering in the extreme poverty. According to the 2014 report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on North Korea, the North Korean Leader, Kim Jong-un, squandered about $ 645,850,000 on his own lavish lifestyle and about $1.4 billion on the ballistic missile program, while the country’s 88% of population is under poverty line and every third children is malnourished and underweight (Stanton & Lee 2014). In Nigeria, a number of supreme politicians steered billion of dollars in oil revenues into various private bank accounts around the world, while the country’s over 50% of population lived on the earning of just one dollar a day (Winter 2012). In the past, Zimbabwean farmers were planting various kinds of grains. During the 1960s Green Revolution, the international organizations and government forced the farmers to plant new hybrid kind of maize which had comparably large grains, quick growth, and was easy to sell (Conant & Fadem 2008, p. 233). The government bought majority of local maize production and resold to other countries where food was expensive. Soon, maize became the most popular and common food to eat in the country. However, as the draught came in late 1980s and 1990s, the national maize production dropped drastically. Even though many families had stored grains for emergency, much of the grains were rotten which was unlikely with the traditional types of maize. Eventually, Zimbabwe had to ask the UN for food aid (Conant Fadem 2008, p. 233-236). Similar to Zimbabwe, many developing and poor countries from Africa and Asia shifted their agriculture production of basic grains and common crops to “cash crops” like, coffee, rubber, cotton, and tobacco to gain massive export revenues. The lack of diversification in agriculture production made such countries more valuable to famine and hunger strikes (Brown et al. 2011). Also, the uneven and flawed government policies of mass food production for exporting rather than satisfying the local food demands have intensified the hunger and starvation in the third world countries. For instance, according to the 2014 report of the Global Harvest Initiative (GHI), Brazil is the top exporter of poultry and soy in the world, much of which is exported to Europe, the US, China, and other Asian countries. With the annual agriculture production growth of 4.4%, the country is on the verge of producing twice what it needs to satisfy the local food demands by 2030. However, due to the policy of government to focus on increasing agriculture export rather fulfilling local food demands, over 14 million of people in Brazil are suffering from hunger (Kurczy 2013). Lack of management and vision of government are also responsible for high hunger index in some countries. For example, despite regular natural calamities, Uganda has no food reserves, causing massive famine and starvation during each strike of natural disaster. Also, even though almost 80% of African population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihood, with the exception of South Africa and Nigeria, African countries have regularly refused to allocate at least 10% of their state budgets to agriculture (Conant Fadem 2008, p. 240-245). The government policies of developing and poor states are not only responsible for high global hunger index, the harsh politics of developed countries is also equal to blame. During the era of Green Revolution, the global production dramatically increased. The combination of Green Revolution and massive allocated subsidies to farmers which were adopted since the Great Depression led to huge grain surpluses in the US. The US was able to sell some of the surplus to countries like, India and Mexico, but with every state that was becoming self sufficient, the threat of a glut erupted (Collier 2008). The US required places to dump its excessive production, and the US government tackled the issue by purchasing the surplus and giving it away in the form of Food Aid, even though it destroyed local markets and local farmers (Collier 2008). Such politics is significantly highlighted during the famine of 2003 in Ethiopia. It was known fact that despite availability of grain supplies in the storehouses of Ethiopia, the large quantity of food aid was shipped from the US. It is mainly due to the written contract between the local government and the agricultural lobby that all Food Aid must be produced in the US and must be shipped on the US ships (Williams 2010). Even international agencies like, World Vision and Catholic Relief highly promoted such Food Aid. When the Bush government tried to revise aid policy by encouraging more local food to be bought, the global aid agencies protested against it. It is a hidden politics of self-interest. As one African farmer has stated, “American farmers need African famine” (Williams 2010). Today, farmers in developed countries enjoy massive subsidies and facilities from their governments, allowing mass crop production in low costs. Compare to it, the agricultural production cost in poor countries remains higher due to the lack of subsidies and advanced facilities to local farmers (Schaeffer 2011). Consequently, the low cost food imports from developed countries to poor countries lead to loss of business for local farmers, increasing their poverty and hunger. Mozambique, the African state with the large fertile soil, has the ability to emerge as a top exporter of corn or rice to all of Africa. Instead, it is dependent on foreign imports simply due the inefficiency of government and its reluctance towards the issue (Schaeffer 2011). Climate Change The growing industrialization, pollution, massive deforestation for corporate agriculture, excessive use of fertilizers have caused disastrous effects on the environment. Due to global warming, drastic climate changes have been identified in many parts of the world, affecting the agricultural production of the region. In recent years, farmers have witnessed an increase in desertification, deforestation, drought, and soil erosion. In combination with deforestation, over-cropping, and overgrazing, poor agricultural practices are destroying productive lands. In poor and developing countries, farmers usually possess only small plot of lands. Destruction of such land by a natural disaster or soil pollution is enough to cause a hunger crisis among the poor communities (Conant Fadem 2008, p. 230-236). Global warming is a serious issue. Scientists have found that mere 10C rise in temperature from the optimum yielding temperature causes around 11% drop in crop production (Brown et al. 2011). Countries such as, North Korea, China, and Haiti are suffering from heavy soil losses each year. Water crisis in the form of drought and flood affect millions of people in Sub-Sahara every year. Drastically changing climate and growing number of natural disasters have raised a serious threat of food crisis in the nearest future (Brown et al. 2011). Potential Solutions Many international agencies and governments propose the increase in food aid to poor and developing countries as a solution to tackle with the global hunger and starvation. It is necessary to understand that such solutions might tackle the issue for temporary, but certainly it won’t make much difference in suffering of poor societies. Such solutions will definitely help corporate giants and agricultural lobby. In order to solve the issue of global hunger, it is necessary to adopt policies that would effectively diminish the root causes of the issue. The local governments play a crucial role in it. It is necessary to provide subsidies, agricultural facilities, and fair access to market for local farmers. Education, employment, fair food supply, health care, and infrastructure facilities will certainly help poor people to come over the poverty trap and feed own families for at least 2 times of meal. Considering the growing threat of global warming, it is important to look after the environment and adopt eco-friendly methods of farming. Last but not the least, peace and stability in society is essential for allowing stable food production in the country. Conclusion Global hunger is one of the most serious, yet the most neglected issue in the today’s world. Over millions of people suffer from hunger and starvation around the world. Poverty, constant armed conflicts, corrupt governments and their flawed policies, corporate control, and global warming are the root causes of the issue. Corruption, harsh politics, and pollution are the major barriers which have worsened the issue. It is necessary to spread awareness about the root causes of global hunger and rather than blindly donating for food aid, it is necessary to encourage people to fight collectively against the hidden politics and agricultural lobby. With the sincere efforts and positive approach, it is possible to achieve the objective of total elimination of hunger and starvation from the world map. Reference List Ahmed, AU, Hill, RV, Smith, LC, Wiesmann, DM, & Frankenberger, T 2007, ‘The world’s most deprived,’ The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), p. 1-130, viewed 10 January 2015, . Brown, L, Oxfam, & McKillop, A 2011, World Development book case study: current problems with world food supply, New Internationalist, viewed 10 January 2015, . Can We End World Hunger?- Facts & Infographic 2013, www.mapsofworld.com, viewed 10 January 2015, . Collier, P 2008, The Politics of Hunger, Foreign Affairs, viewed 10 January 2015, . 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