Introduction
Food insecurity is a complex problem that affects the economy, demography, ecology, and many other areas of development of states and their societies. Speaking about food insecurity, one should consider the issues of food accessibility and quality, as well as the utilization and stability of food (Gundersen et al., 2021). Threats to food security usually include population growth (especially its sharp jumps) and an underdeveloped agricultural system. Geographical factors constantly influence the problem since the lack of farmland and water for irrigating the soil leads to fatal consequences. The factor of increased food prices is one of the most significant in the problem under discussion. In addition, some countries suffer from food waste, which affects the starving population negatively. An even more visible problem in this context is the waste of water, which further harms regions that suffer from a lack of clean drinking water.
Mapping of Food Insecurity
The Middle East, Asia, and Africa are the most famine-prone regions. Scientists estimate that “Approximately 30 million people in Africa face the effects of severe food insecurity, including malnutrition, starvation, and poverty” (Venditti, 2022). In addition to this problem, these societies struggle with others: protracted wars, human rights abuses, and corrupt governments. Countries suffering from hunger are those countries whose citizens are consistently undernourished. Thus, in recent years, Afghanistan has become a leader because more than 90% of the inhabitants (or 40.4 million) are prone to hunger. In Mali, South Sudan, and Somalia, about 60% of people are hungry. 50-55% of the hungry are Syria, Niger, and Lesotho residents. Yemen, Benin, and Guinea have not passed the 50% threshold for the number of hungry but show statistical results very close to this figure. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly worsened the situation of starving regions (Gundersen et al., 2021). The total number of hungry people has increased by about 20-30 million. The global community is expected to recover from the effects of the pandemic for many years to come.
Causes of Food Insecurity
Mass starvation on Earth has many causes, which can usually be divided into different subgroups. The most important anthropological one stands out among all the reasons: military conflicts. Protracted wars, from which the regions of the Middle East suffer, hurt agriculture. The most dangerous consequence here is the deplorable prospect: such areas will not soon be able to restore agriculture and suitable infrastructure. Weapons spoiled the quality of the soil and reduced the number of forests. Chemical and biological weapons are the most dangerous in this regard, as they cause irreparable damage to the lands, leaving behind literally scorched dead areas.
Climate change is another issue that is very relevant to today’s society. Globally, a modest increase in average temperature does not seem like big trouble (Gundersen et al., 2021). However, going into more detail, it could cause some regions to experience severe heat waves from which no crop can escape. Before climatic changes, areas with stable political systems that have not known wars for a long time are powerless. Climate change allows scientists to make disappointing predictions about the addition of the number of hungry people in the next 15-20 years.
Poverty, poor infrastructure, an underdeveloped civil society, and short-sighted economic policies join other causes of food insecurity. Gender inequality is considered one of the leading causes of food insecurity. Women in the poorest (almost always patriarchal) regions are employed in plant care, harvesting and sales. However, their work is often unpaid or poorly paid, and their working conditions are often too harsh. There is no one to protect the rights of such workers; therefore, the agricultural industry is not developing.
Implications
Societies suffering from hunger tend to be very unstable, which also affects politics. The social consequences of the food crisis include general discontent and the inability to move society to a civilized level. In such communities, as a rule, the price of life is low, the threshold for tolerance of violence is high, and life expectancy is low. These societies are very different in priorities from countries where, even if people generally do not live satisfactorily, but do not suffer from a lack of food and water.
Unstable moods in political life give rise to hungry protests, which are brutally suppressed, and usually do not cause upheaval either in residents or in the international community. Politicians are not usually the will of the people in such countries, and their level of trust is deficient. Inequality, in turn, is ubiquitous in such countries. Political discontent and cruelty alternate with apathy against the backdrop of lean periods, when people are forced to spend their strength on finding food for themselves and their families.
The adverse effects of famine on the health of such societies are also evident. Lack of food security hurts women’s reproductive health; they have an increased risk of miscarriages or stillbirths (Gundersen et al., 2021). There is an increased risk of having a child with a disability who will not be able to live long within the framework of the general poverty of the state and the health care system. The risk of developing anemia and other problems of the cardiovascular system increases. Long-term fasting (or stable underfeeding) ultimately harms brain development; physiologically, people become more prone to anxiety, and it is easier to go on aggressive actions without fear.
Global Initiatives and Institutions
The UN has been busy helping and controlling starving regions for many years. The UN has created the Food Security Initiative, which is aimed at supporting areas in need. The UN has had a System Standing Committee on Nutrition for over a decade. This committee worked before the COVID-19 pandemic on the hunger problem. Now, the committee took on a new focus of work with an increase in the number of hungry people. The committee operates under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council. One of the oldest and most general famine relief programs is the World Bank (established in the 1940s), which selects regional programs. The issue of food insecurity is dealt with by environmental committees. For example, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was not created as a direct famine relief program (Food security and nutrition – a global issue: Key UN bodies, 2022). Still, as mentioned above, the environment often directly impacts the problem of hunger. Therefore, such programs help regions in need. For about 50 years, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has already existed, which allows different countries to establish agriculture and infrastructure.
Conclusion
The concept of food insecurity is complex and brings together many aspects. Currently, the African, Middle Eastern, and partially Asian regions are most susceptible to this problem, in which the risk of hunger among citizens is more than 50-60%. Food crises have different causes: natural or environmental, as well as anthropological, such as wars and chemical and biological weapons. The lack of food security negatively affects the social and political aspects of states and puts the entire population’s health at significant risk. Since the last century, many programs and institutions (primarily based at the UN) have been created to help countries in need to improve agriculture and avoid the problem of hunger.
References
Food security and nutrition – a global issue: Key UN bodies. (2022). United Nations. Web.
Gundersen, C., Hake, M., Dewey, A., & Engelhard, E. (2021). Food insecurity during COVID‐19. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(1), 153-161.
Venditti, B. (2022). Interactive map: Tracking world hunger and food insecurity. Visual Capitalist. Web.