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...
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.
"US-UKRAINE-FAMINE-ASSESSMENT." Ukraine General Newswire 21 Nov. 2011. Global Issues In Context. Web. 3 May 2014.
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.
Sheeran, Josette. “Preventing hunger: sustainability not aid.” Nature 479.7374 (2011): 469+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
poor towns which have had a lack of food sources due to the serious poverty,
World hunger is one among many problems faced in this world today. About twenty-four thousand children under five die every day. Even though there is a lot of food in the world, some people in the world cannot reach these foods because they are poor. About one tenth of the world population is suffering from chronic hunger every year. Because of the hunger problem, majority of the people suffer from blindness, anemia, malnutrition related problems and other diseases because they are not getting enough
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 response to the recent failure of the international community to prevent the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa since July 2011, Suzanne Dvorak the chief executive of Save the Children wrote that, “We need to provide help now. But we cannot forget that these children are wasting away in a disaster that we could - and should - have prevented” she added, “The UN estimates that every $1 spent in prevention saves $7 in emergency spending.” (Dvorak, 2011).
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
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.
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.
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.
Impoverished countries are suffering because of overpopulation. Overpopulation remains the leading driver of hunger, desertification, species depletion and a range of social maladies across the planet (Tal, 2013). If you look at the world most of the countries that are dealing with these problems it is due to overpopulation. Impoverished countries do not have the money or resources to help them overcome this issue (Tal, 2013). Impoverished countries also do not have the medicine or technology to even prevent the most common of illnesses (Tal, 2013). Malnutrition is also affecting...
Hunger and poverty have been a major problem in the world, which has being leading most people to death than cancer, Ebola, and malaria do. More than thousands of people die from hunger and poverty, and most of the people who suffer most are children below the age of ten. Hunger and poverty have contributed to the world food crisis that has an impact on the economy, the environment, and political issues. People living with hunger and poverty are more than those living a successful life in both developed and developing the world. Hunger makes victims live underweight, causing numerous of sickness to their health. Lack of
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