Poverty & hunger ‘08
Blog Action Day ‘08 -dedicated to raising awareness about poverty- and Global Handwashing Day have come and gone, and the World Food Day dawns; all of them with no discernible positive impact whatsoever to the lives of the downtrodden worldwide. And their ranks are swelling by the day…
The international goal of cutting hunger by half by 2015 appears “even more remote” after 75 million new people joined the ranks of the famished last year, a United Nations agency said Tuesday.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that high food prices have reversed the gains made towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015.
Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Rome-based agency, said Wednesday that the number of malnourished people rose from 850 million to 925 million in 2007.
And the World Bank,
Developing nations face a sudden convergence of food, fuel and financial crises [..] Countries already suffering food and fuel price inflation may now also see declines in exports, trade and investment as a result of financial turmoil that is becoming increasingly global, says World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick.
The number of malnourished people globally will grow by 44 million, to 967 million, in 2008, after several countries experienced double-digit food inflation.
Which of us is next? And who’s going to bail us out when we hit rock bottom?
Related links:
- Crop Prospects and Food Situation – No.4 (FAO, 10/08)
- The State of Food and Agriculture 2008 (FAO, 10/08)
- Rising Food and Fuel Prices: addressing the risks to future generations (World Bank, 10/08)
- Hunger’s global hotspots (World Food Programme, 15/10/08)
