Will World Hunger Ever be Eliminated?
What causes World Hunger?

So can this daunting problem be eliminated from the world in the near future? A conclusion can be made if we examine both the causes of food insecurity as well as the steps being presently taken. If the former can be eliminated and/or the latter works, it would then logically follow that world hunger would soon vanish.

So, what causes world hunger? Immediately, famine-causing disasters such as droughts or floods, such as those that occurred recently in Mozambique, spring to mind. The cause is obvious: when farmland and infrastructure such as roads are destroyed or rendered useless, an immediate regional shortage of food develops, causing food insecurity and hunger.

Will disasters ever go away? Obviously not. And as the effects of human activity such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels causes rivers to silt up and the atmosphere to warm up, the frequency and severity of weather fluctuations looks set to increase dramatically. Witnesses to this trend include the severe 1995 floods along the Yangtze River in China and the harsh El Nino/El Nina inspired droughts in Africa and South America.

On the other hand, humans have indeed (of late) been trying both to reduce the problems causing the disasters (through efforts to protect the environment) as well as improving their ability to detect and predict impending disasters and reduce their impact on humans. Indeed, the advent of weather satellites has meant that the impending famine caused by the present drought in the Horn of Africa (poised to affect 15 million people in 8 countries including Ethiopia, already synonymous with starvation), was actually predicted over a year ago by scientists. As a result, the UN long ago began taking measures to prevent it, ensuring that the victims would not be so hard hit.

Next: Are disasters really to blame?