Food Aid and Famine

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Recommended: The problem of world hunger

Food Aid and Famine

The opening paragraph of a report written in 1999 by the Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) made for

grim reading:

"Almost 800 million people in the developing world do not have enough

to eat. Another 34 million people in the industrialized countries and

countries in transition also suffer from chronic food insecurity"

It is apparent that globally there is a serious problem with providing

enough food to eat to everyone that requires it.

Fig 1

-----

The pie chart above shows the extent of the global under-nourishment

problems - and shows that 525 Million under-nourished persons are

accounted for in Asia (China, India, "Other Asia & Pacific").

[IMAGE]

This report will, by its conclusion, have studied whether 'Food aid is

(never) the answer to famine' or not. In order for this conclusion to

be firmly established, it is required that a definition for what a

famine is, and what it's causes are, is brought to the fore.

Moving on from this, we will need to investigate areas in which famine

is a regular, or even seemingly constant occurrence, where food aid

has been offered to solve the problems, and look at it's subsequent

effects, both positive and negative.

After looking at the effects of food aid provision, a look at

alternatives that have been suggested by groups such as the FAO, the

World Food Programme (WFP), and the charitable, non-government

organizations (NGOs) like Oxfam.

The conclusion I expect will, after considering the evidence

presented, show that food aid is a short term solution for some, but

will never satisfy all of the needy - an...

... middle of paper ...

...d preferences for an active and healthy life"

The Aim of the World Food Organization (1996 World Food Summit),

which became the definition of Food Security.

Bibliography

The author of this report would like to thank the following resources:

Textual Resources

Geography: An Integrated Approach

David Waugh

International Thompson Publishing 1995

Global Challenge: A2 Level Geography for Edexcel B

Alistair McNaught

Michael Witherick

Longman Publications 2001

AS Geography Essentials

"What on Earth Is Going On?"

A Report written by Dr Fiona Bushall PHD

March 2002

Online Resources

British Broadcasting Corporation (News) Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Food & Agriculture Organization Website: http://www.fao.org

World Food Programme Website: http://www.wfp.org

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