Spring 2005 SPECIAL FOCUS: Vol. XVII, No. 1 HUNGER $15.00 Every five seconds, a child dies of hunger – that is 720 children an hour, every day. Despite Available in: earlier gains in reducing hunger in the 1990s, the number of hungry people grew by 18 million Arabic, English, Spanish and Ukrainian in the last half of the decade. There are some 800 million people in developing countries, or 18 percent of the world’s population, who suffer from hunger. Two hundred million children In this issue: under the age of five are malnourished and underweight, even though the world is producing 1 Special Focus: more food now than ever before. Since the early 1970s, food production has tripled and the Hunger price of major cereals has fallen by about 76 percent. Sufficient food supplies at low cost exist 4 Health and to keep up with the world’s population growth. If provisions were distributed equitably Environment: around the world, everyone would be able to consume a diet of 2,760 calories a day. Climate Change in the Arctic According to UN Secretary-General Kofi United Nations Millennium Declaration, an ambi- Annan, hunger and poverty are closely linked. He tious document affirming the right of every human Key Findings of states that, “Hunger perpetuates poverty, since it being to development. These measures, collectively the Arctic Climate prevents people from realizing their potential and known as the Millennium Development Goals Impact contributing to the progress of their societies. (MDGs) target combating hunger and disease, Assessment Hunger makes people more vulnerable to diseases. among other crucial problems. Despite all efforts, 6 Food for Thought: It leaves them weak and lethargic, reducing their progress in reducing hunger in the developing Women’s Rights ability to work and provide for their dependents. world has slowed to a crawl. and the Abortion The same devastating cycle is repeated from Debate in America generation to generation and will continue to be, Conflict and hunger Famine can be the result of natural disaster, List of female we take effective action to break it.” “firsts” 1849-1973 In an attempt to reduce world hunger, UN but it is often used as a weapon of war and member states participated in the International repression. The Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 8 Chornobyl Update: Conference on Nutrition, (Rome, December (Holodomor), for example, was the consequence Disasters – Natural 1992) convened by the World Health of the official collectivization of farm land under and Manmade Organization (WHO) and the UN Food and Josef Stalin. He used starvation as a weapon to 9 E-Waste “Recycling” Agricultural Organization (FAO). The conference break Ukrainian resistance to communism and Exporting our released the World Declaration on Nutrition in caused the deaths of 7 to 10 million people within problems which 159 nations pledged to make all efforts to two years. The nature of war has been changing from wars between nations to wars within 10 Did You Know? eliminate or substantially reduce famine and starvation by the year 2000. nations, according to United Nations statistics. 11 Good News! In September 2000, 189 nations ratified the The dire situation in Sudan is the latest example 12 Voices 12 14th Conference: Health & Environ- ment at the UN 16 Point of View: How Many Rights to Freedom and Justice? Source: Global Future; The children’s suffering is neglected WIT’s World Ecology Report 2 Spring 2005 of the use of man-made famine as a weapon of genocidal 2050. South Asia recorded an increase of 14 million warfare. In the Vanni region of Sri Lanka, for example, the people living in poverty between 1992 and 1999, population is on the brink of starvation because the mostly due to setbacks in India and Pakistan. government has banned the use of fertilizer. The G Yemen’s population is projected to jump from about 20 government’s purported reason is that the fertilizer could be million today to 71 million in 2050. used by the Tamil Tiger rebels to make bombs. The experience in Rwanda, Africa’s most densely Hunger and population growth fuel each other where populated country, highlights the ramifications of land resources are already limited. Rapid or persistent population scarcity. Rapid population growth led to farm fragmentation, growth can force farmers and fishermen to over-exploit land degradation, deforestation, and famine. These stresses fragile ecosystems and deplete more food resources. This, in ignited ethnic strife, erupting in civil war in the early 1990s turn, speeds the rate of urbanization, often leading to and culminating in the horrific genocide of 1994. Violence dangerous, overcrowded and unplanned settlements, with was much more concentrated in the communities where the poor sanitation, a lack of potable water and disastrous air food supply was most inadequate. Most of the 3 billion pollution. people to be added to the world population in the next 50 Hunger and Health years will be born in areas where land resources are scarce. Hunger has many levels, from malnutrition in developed Hunger and over-population countries to starvation in North Korea: food shortages interact Hunger is linked to population growth. High fertility rates with structural vulnerabilities; poverty is compounded by (average total number of children one woman bears) are HIV/AIDS: malnutrition brings increased susceptibility to exclusively found in the poorest illness. Millions of people, including nations, where women often have 6 million children under the age of six or more children. The five, die each year as a result of insecurity caused by hunger- “High fertility rates are hunger. Of these millions, relatively related high infant mortality rates exclusively found in the few are the victims of the famines causes parents to have more that attract headlines, video crews children, earlier, as a form of poorest nations, where and emergency aid. Far more die insurance, thus driving up the women often have six unnoticed, killed by the effects of birth rates. It is not surprising, or more children.” chronic hunger and malnutrition, a then, to find that in every country "covert famine" that stunts where infant mortality rates have development and cripples immune dropped, decline in birth rates has systems. followed. The underlying truth is that the same social factors Where prevalence of hunger is high, mortality rates for giving rise to hunger also aid an abet population growth infants and children under five are also high, and total life rates. Unfortunately, modern family planning techniques expectancy is low. In the worst affected countries, a newborn continue to face obstacles rooted in prejudice and fear, child can look forward to an average of barely 38 years of including social and religious traditions as well as political healthy life, compared to over 70 years of life in "full health" barriers to expanding women’s opportunities. One in four in the 24 wealthiest nations. pregnancies in developing countries is unwanted and many The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is ravaging many of the more are unplanned. Widespread resistance to contraception same countries where hunger is most widespread, has reduced in the Philippines, for example, has resulted in one of the average life expectancy across all of sub-Saharan Africa by highest fertility rates in the world outside of Africa. nearly five years for women and 2.5 years for men. Even after An astounding 99 percent of all population growth takes compensating for the impact of HIV/AIDS and other factors, place in developing countries. Developed countries, which the correlation between chronic hunger and higher mortality held roughly one-third of the global population in 1950, rates remains striking. Numerous studies suggest that it is far now represent less than one-fifth of the world’s population from coincidental. Since the early 1990s, a series of analyses and the percentage is expected to shrink annually. have confirmed that between 50 and 60 per cent of all childhood deaths in the developing world are caused either G Eastern Europe leads in population decline, followed directly or indirectly by hunger and malnutrition. by Western Europe. As might be expected, the vast majority of the 153 million G Over the next 47 years, Africa is expected to increase underweight children under five in the developing world are its population by 119 percent, adding 1 billion people. concentrated in countries where the prevalence of G The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the undernourishment is high. Even mild-to-moderate populations of Western Asia will more than double by malnutrition greatly increases the risk of children dying from common childhood diseases. Overall, analysis shows that the WIT’s World Ecology Report Spring 2005 3 risk of death is 2.5 times higher for children with only mild according to the World Health Organization. malnutrition than it is for children who are adequately G Pregnant women, new mothers who breastfeed infants and nourished. And the risk increases sharply along with the children are among the most at risk of undernourishment. severity of mal nutrition (as measured by their weight-to-age ratio). The risk of death is 4.6 times higher for children Hunger and Obesity suffering from moderate malnutrition and 8.4 times higher Reducing hunger and undernourishment in pregnant for the severely malnourished. women and in children could prevent them from becoming Infectious diseases are the immediate cause of death for overweight and obese, and reduce associated health costs in most of the 11 million children under the age of five who later life, according to a study released today by the Food die each year in the developing world. But the risk of dying and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The study pulls from those diseases is far greater for children who are together a growing body of empirical evidence that suggests hungry and malnourished.