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Causes of World Hunger - Coggle Diagram
Causes of World Hunger
Food Waste and Shortages
In high-income countries, 40 percent of food is wasted because people buy more food than they can consume.
In low-income countries, where the vast majority of the world’s hungriest people live, most food loss occurs during the early stages of growth, harvest and storage.
Another reason for food shortages is up to 40 percent of food grown in some countries is spoilage. Smallholder farmers do not have adequate storage facilities to protect their supplies against pests and weather.
The period leading up to a harvest is known as the “hungry season.” Food from the previous harvest runs out and families cut back on meals. This period of time may last for months depending on the size of the previous harvest.
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Poverty
Most people who are hungry are living in extreme poverty, defined as income of $1.90 per day or less.
The largest group of people in the world in extreme poverty are smallholder farmers in developing countries.
One in three children in low- and middle-income countries suffers from chronic undernutrition. Without a sustainable source of income at a sufficient level, young children and their families do not have access to nutritious food, clean water or health care.
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People do not have the land to grow enough food to supply themselves with enough to eat year round, and they earn so little income from what they sell that they cannot afford to purchase food from other sources once their own supply runs out.
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In the U.S., hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food, but rather the continued prevalence of poverty. To the surprise of many, most Americans (51.4 percent) will live in poverty at some point before age 65.
Climate Change
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Millions of people living in fragile, disaster-prone areas have limited resources to adapt to climate change and are highly vulnerable to extreme weather events - like floods, droughts or hurricanes - when they hit.
Lives and livelihoods are lost as homes, land, livestock, crops and essential food supplies are destroyed.
The lack of food and nutrition, which has been building up since the disaster hit, now explodes into a full-blown crisis. Families become largely dependent on humanitarian aid.
Climate change is damaging food and water security in significant ways. This is the greatest environmental challenge the world has ever faced.
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A devastating earthquake in 2010 affected one-third of Haiti’s entire population and required large amounts of food aid and other assistance. Haiti’s economy and its ability to produce food has not fully recovered.
Poor Infrastructure
Poor infrastructure causes hunger by making it difficult — sometimes impossible — to transport food to areas of a country where there are shortages.
Crops need water to grow. Irrigation infrastructure is unaffordable to most farmers in developing countries. A lack of water and sanitation infrastructure are leading causes of hunger and malnutrition.
Women and girls in developing countries spend hours each day fetching water because of a lack of infrastructure, pulling women away from other productive activities and girls out of school.
People have died of hunger in one region of a country while there was plenty of food in another region. The roads were so poor it was not possible to reach all who needed the food to survive.
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Infrastructure like roads, irrigation canals, and flood defenses are often in bad shape across Afghanistan. The financial barriers, however, are too high. Families face two options, struggle to survive or move to cities.
Conflict
Hunger is both a cause and effect of war and conflict. Wide-scale poverty and hunger lead to frustration and resentment with governments that appear to ignore hungry people’s plight.
The poorest members of society suffer the worst during war and conflict. Homes are destroyed and communities of people are displaced.
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Yemen is one of the world’s most dire hunger crises. Over half of the population – 16.2M people – don’t know where their next meal is coming from. This includes 2.3M children under the age of 5 who require treatment for the most severe malnutrition, of which 400,000 are at risk of dying without treatment.
Food systems in conflict-affected countries are often characterized by a high level of informality, structural weakness, and vulnerability to shocks.
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