Transcript Document

World Hunger and Politics
Per Pinstrup-Andersen
Prepared for:
BioNB321
The State of the Planet
Cornell University
February 6, 2008
Why do you think poverty and
hunger are widespread in
developing countries?
A. Because poor people are lazy
B. Because they have too many children
C. Because their governments do not care
enough
D. Because rich countries exploit poor
countries
E. None of the above
Hunger and the Planet
 What does hunger have to do with the planet?
 A hungry planet is not a sustainable planet
 Hungry people are poor
 They depend on natural resources
 They cause environmental degradation
 Their livelihood is threatened
 Poverty eradication and sustainable
management of the planet must go hand-in-hand
How many preschool children die
of diseases related to hunger and
poor nutrition during a 75-minute
class period?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
6
75
400
750
Don’t know
 In the next 75 minutes 1400 children
will die
 750 due to hunger and malnutrition
 That is 5-6 million per year
 It is preventable!
 Every fourth child in developing
countries is malnourished
 Almost 3 times the U.S. population is
hungry
The Triple Burden of Hunger
and Malnutrition:
1. Energy and protein deficiencies:
Hunger
2. Specific nutrient deficiencies:
Hidden Hunger
3. Excessive net energy intake:
Overweight & Obesity
The World Food Summit
Goal
To reduce by half the number
of people suffering from
hunger
Global Progress Towards Meeting
the WFS Goal
Actual
WFS Goal
Extrapolated
1000
824
797
815
794
Million
800
600
382 Million
400
412
200
0
199092
199597
200002
2015
Which continent has the
largest number of people
suffering from hunger?
A.
Africa
B.
Asia
C.
Latin America
D.
Don’t know
Where Are the Hungry?
NENA, 39
Million
NENA
LAC 39
53
India
221
China
142
Other Asia &
Pacific
Sub-Saharan
Africa
156
204
Source: FAO 2004
Where Are the Underweight
Children?
I
Source: UNICEF 2006
,
a
i
es
6
Et
hi
Nig opia
eri
,
a, 6 6
China, 7
Pakistan, 8
Total
146 Million
on
d
n
Bangladesh, 8
India
57
Rest
48
Where Are the Low-Birth
Weight Babies Born? 0.4
IS
C
/
E
CC
Total
20.3 Million
LAC
1.1
WANA
1.4
Asia 2.0
South Asia
11.4
SSA 4.0
Source: UNICEF 2006
Rural and Urban Hunger in Developing
Countries
Rural
70.0%
Urban
30.0%
The Rural Poor Need:
1. Access to assets
 Education, health, nutrition
 Land
 Water
 Knowledge
 Credit and savings
 Employment
2. Access to technology
3. Access to markets
4. Appropriate institutions
Poor families spend
up to 50-70%
of income on food
Why is agriculture
important?
 Most hungry people are in rural areas
 The food comes from there
 Farmers are stewards of natural
resources
Policy Priorities
 Investment in public goods for agriculture
 Science and technology
 Markets
 Infrastructure and institutions
 Investment in human resources
 Health care
 Education
 Removal of trade distorting subsidies
 Integrated natural resource management
Rhetoric
Declarations
Plans
Targets
Action
Freedom from Hunger as a
Human Right
 The UN Declaration
 A right or a privilege?
 No enforcement, no penalty
Other Rights: Enforcement
 Property rights
 Animal rights
 International trade
 Legally enforceable rules
 International institutions
 WTO vs. UNICEF, ILO, and FAO
Action vs. Failure to
Take Action
 Killing vs. letting die
 Genocide?
 Crime against humanity?
Why We Should Care
 Ethics
 Economics
 Stability
 Environment
 Future of our planet
In the global village, someone else’s
poverty very soon becomes one’s
own problem: of lack of markets
for one’s products, illegal
immigration, pollution, contagious
disease, insecurity, fanaticism,
terrorism.
UN 2001
“Today’s real borders
are not between
nations, but between
the powerful and the
powerless”
Kofi Annan
Why do you think poverty and
hunger are widespread in
developing countries?
A. Because poor people are lazy
B. Because they have too many children
C. Because their governments do not
care enough
D. Because rich countries exploit poor
countries
E. None of the above