Thursday, October 15, 2009

Obvious obligations II...

World Food Day is celebrated every year on 16 October – the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO]. Despite the progress and work of scientists saving millions of lives - like Norman Borlaug, the man who fed the world, who passed away last month - hundreds of millions of people still go hungry, mainly because now famines "are politically induced events, not true natural disasters", or very rarely.

Most of us don't know how lucky we are; or maybe we do but if we know we don't appreciate it.

"With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger."

The World Food Programme (WFP), sister to the FAO, is the United Nations frontline agency aimed at reducing the worldwide hunger that afflicts one in six people on earth. HERE'S what they did last year alone.

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5 comments:

Paul said...

There was a feature on this on the Today programme this morning with two reports from Africa. Trying to get any sort of food programme going there is close to hopeless. In southern Sudan the country is controlled by two groups of people who hate each other and who would rather destroy food then see their enemy get hold of any.

Span Ows said...

Yes...let's treat them like the drug dealers, eh...

Paul said...

Apparently the last time that the UN tried a food dump (it's better than it sounds) the fighting on the ground claimed 187 lives - clearly bonkers.

Paul said...

Sorry - don't mean to monpolise this but Nathalie has a friend who goes to South Africa every summer to help in the townships and even for one of the continents richer countries the levels of poverty is depressing.

Span Ows said...

Food dump...yes, that rings a bell!

Unfortunately, and without wishing to draw the obvious conclusions, the situation in South Africa has been deteriorating for a decade: crime (especially rape 'epidemic'), corruption, poverty...