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An essay on the topic poverty and hunger
Poverty and food insecurity
Food shortages and poverty
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Delegation: Canada
Committee: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
Topic: Famine
Throughout the history of mankind the human race has faced the devastation of famines. Canada recognizes the need for the international community to stop famines from becoming a recurring theme. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Reference Table (the standard used by the UN), famine occurs when three of the following conditions occur: 20 percent of the population has fewer than 2,100 kilocalories of food a day, 30 percent of children are acutely malnourished, two deaths per 10,000 people, or four deaths per 10,000 children per day, pandemic illness, access to less than four liters of water per day, large-scale displacement, civil strife, and complete loss of assets and source of income. From The Great Persian Famine in where is now modern day Iran (1870-171), to the Three Years of Difficult Period (1958-1961) in China, to the United Nations officially declaring a famine in Somalia (2011), nearly every part of the world has been touched by famine. Nevertheless, famines have be...
"US-UKRAINE-FAMINE-ASSESSMENT." Ukraine General Newswire 21 Nov. 2011. Global Issues In Context. Web. 3 May 2014.
In this paper I will examine both Peter Singer’s and Onora O 'Neill 's positions on famine relief. I will argue that O’Neill’s position is more suitable than Singer’s extreme standpoint. First I will, present O’Neill’s argument. I will then present a possible counter-argument to one of my premises. Finally I will show how this counter-argument is fallacious and how O’Neill’s argument in fact goes through.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in the years 2010-2012. Ellen Gustafson has spoken in ted talks on the issue of Obesity plus Hunger equals one global food issue. One the main issues Gustafson speaks of is world hunger and how to end it. She also speaks briefly on obesity and how in comes into play with world hunger. Even though some people would argue that there just is not enough food in the world, world hunger and obesity can easily be prevented and eliminated with proper knowledge and programs.
(Reuters, 2014) The mortality occurs with the incidence of the Ebola and the starvation happens in disaster area. As nearly 200,000 people are having problem of getting food because of the Ebola outbreak (Ebola facts, 2014), fewer and fewer people can get clear foods to feed themselves. Sen’s (2000) view over mortality, “a good deal of mortality associated with famine results from diseases unleashed by debilitation, breakdown of sanitary arrangements, population movements, and infectious spread of disease endemic in the region.”(Sen, 2000, p.169) Person loses the capability of choosing to be nutritional and nourished under the circumstance of famine, which caused by diseases. It is apparent to show that those people cannot use the resource freely like free to be fed or
What do you think of when you hear the word “famine”? Do you think of natural disasters, of unpredictable tragedy, of innocent lives lost? Tragedy and death are inherent to the concept of starvation on a large scale, but the nature of some famines may have as much to do with politics as it does with the environment. What I expected to uncover as I began my research on the 1994-98 famine in North Korea was food shortages on a massive scale as a result of terrible growing conditions, extreme climates, unpredictable and unpreventable circumstances, for the most part. Admittedly, my knowledge of famine was limited to what I knew of the countryside of pre-communist China, where the most sustenance provided by the land the bare minimum was, and any number of external changes negatively effecting growth of or access to crops could equal devastation for entire regions. With that as my frame of reference, I was surprised by the uniquely political circumstances behind the famine in North Korea. The famine that killed 2-3 million in the 1990's was more closely tied to its independence from the southern half of the Korean peninsula it had once shared, to the fall of communism and the Soviet Union, than to any singular natural disaster. The millions that died did so as a result of their government prioritizing its independence over their survival, its budget over their sustenance. North Korea's famine was born of 1950's conflict, fueled by 1990's politics, and sustained by human error and hubris from within.
United States of America produces far more food than they could possibly manage to consume while they import the surplus. The question is how comes that some people lack this food that is claimed to be in surplus and go as far as the extent of dying? Scientists and researchers have come up with possible causes of what might have led to the rapid rates of death as a result of starvation. Some of the well-known factors that cause hunger in the United States of America as well as other continents such as Africa include poverty, AIDS, lack of infrastructure, ignorance, lack of clout, conflicts and war, environmental overload and also discrimination. For this essay, we will look at the various economic and political factors that cause the high rise on hunger and starvation in
Many philosophers and individuals have argued that we are obligated to try to eliminate world hunger. But often these philosophers and individuals provide different reasons as to why we are obligated to reduce world hunger. On the one hand we have individuals like Peter Singer who take the utilitarian point of view. Utilitarianism argues that our actions should increase the overall happiness in the world. On the other hand we have people like Onora O’Neill who sides with the Kantian point of view. The Kantian point of view argues that we should eliminate world hunger because the nature of this act is good, hence it makes it right. Although, both sides arrive at the same conclusion, that doesn’t mean that we should accept that both ways of thinking
There are many causes to hunger in Africa and other developing countries some include; weather conditions, poor agriculture, limited resources, natural disasters, and economy. (Robbins, 2012). The hungry people are not censurable. Hunger isn’t just the issue, the gist of the issue in its self, is economy. Close to one billion people live in deep penury, in the world today. (Robbins, 2012). If you don’t have money then you don’t have food, it is as simple as that. Poverty, food prices, and hunger are inextricably linked (Anderson, 2007). So the real question is; how can poverty be solved to stop hunger? One sixth of the world does not have enough food to be healthy and active. (Robbins, 2002). It takes 30 billion dollars to feed the hungry for a year. (Boren Project, 2013). If every person in the United States gave ten cents, world hunger could be stopped for a whole year. (Boren Project, 2013 and USC, 2014). Eve...
There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...
In the past ten years the world population exceeded six billion people with most of the growth occurring in the poorest, least developed countries in the world. The rapidly increasing population and the quickly declining amount of land are relative and the rate at which hunger is increasing rises with each passing year. We cannot afford to continue to expand our world population at such an alarming rate, for already we are suffering the consequences. Hunger has been a problem for our world for thousands of years. But now that we have the technology and knowledge to stamp it out, time is running short.
Niger and Sierra Leone, the two poorest countries in the world only have a GDP of around 500 dollars per capita. Which, compared to Canada’s 27,000 dollars per capita, is considerably low. In the 48 poorest countries, an average of 2$ a day is made by each working person. Imagine living off 2$ a day in Canada, you couldn’t even buy a Big Mac and a drink for 2$. This is making starvation a very serious problem in 3rd-world countries, not to mention their low immune systems, used for preventing disease, not working right from the lack of nutrition.
Hunger is the most pressing issue we face. One out of every eight people in the world today suffers from chronic undernourishment caused by food scarcity. 19,000 kids die everyday from hunger. The world has more than 1.5 times enough food to feed everyone on this entire planet although with some people making less than two dollars an hour, it is hardly imaginable to be able to. At least the number of people who die everyday of famine is going down every year because more and more people care. We want to keep this number going down not only by the year, but also by the day. If we want this to happen, we have to take action. Now.
One of the most complex issues in the world today concerns human population. The number of people living off the earth’s resources and stressing its ecosystem has doubled in just forty years. In 1960 there were 3 billion of us; today there are 6 billion. We have no idea what maximum number of people the earth will support. Therefore, the very first question that comes into people’s mind is that are there enough food for all of us in the future? There is no answer for that. Food shortage has become a serious problem among many countries around the world. There are many different reasons why people are starving all over the world. The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all.
Without access to outside food the population in poorer countries drops and is “checked” by crop failures and famines. But access to outside food could be a problem because “if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their populations can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their “need” for aid”(333). Poorer countries’ populations could surpass richer countries, then poorer countries will receive even more resources and give basically nothing, while the rich receive even less but give
Famine prevention is contingent on political arrangements for entitlement protections such as re-allocation of food or the re-creation of the minimum level of incomes and entitlements needed by those who face entitlement failures (169). Democratically elected leaders have an incentive to create political arrangements to protect entitlements because in order to be reelected and retain power, they must cater to the needs of the citizens. The characteristics of a democracy that ensure entitlement protections are the multi-party system (ensures political rivalry), freedom of press (criticisms can be levied), and free elections (accountability to the people). very good Failure to prevent a famine will lead to significant political consequences for leaders who have to win elections and face public criticism. Therefore, they have an incentive to create social safety nets and programs to prevent a sudden loss of entitlement that lead to