World Disasters Report - International Federation of Red Cross and ...

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Malnutrition spreads
Malnutrition is far more widespread than hunger. As explained in Chapter 2, at least
1 billion people are undernourished and lack key vitamins and minerals, while at the
same time a staggering 1.5 billion people are overweight or obese (see Box 2.1 for definitions).
The latter groups are likely to suffer long-term, debilitating and costly health
problems: from heart disease and various cancers to diabetes (WHO, 2011). The risks
to health of obesity are not only a problem for high-income countries or for the more
affluent in low- and middle-income countries, but increasingly for poor countries and
poor people in high-income countries.
The challenge is to create a food system that will enable everyone to be food secure in
a sustainable and fair way. This requires action beyond the food system itself, as well
as within it.
Box 1.2 Global aspirations, still unmet
“Everyone has a right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself
and his family, including food...” (Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).
“States Parties... recognize the fundamental
right of everyone to be free from hunger...”
(International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, 1966).
“Every man, woman and child has the inalienable
right to be free from hunger and malnutrition
in order to develop fully and maintain their physical
and mental faculties. Society today already
possesses sufficient resources, organisational ability
and technology and hence the competence to
achieve this objective. Accordingly, the eradication
of hunger is a common objective of all the
countries of the international community, especially
of the developed countries and others in a
position to help” (World Food Conference, 1974).
“We pledge to act in solidarity to ensure
that freedom from hunger becomes a reality”
(International Conference on Nutrition, 1992).
“We, the Heads of State and Government,
or our representatives, gathered at the World
Food Summit at the invitation of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
reaffirm the right of everyone to have access
to safe and nutritious food, consistent with
the right to adequate food and the fundamental
right of everyone to be free from hunger.
“We pledge our political will and our common
and national commitment to achieving
food security for all and to an ongoing effort
to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an
immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished
people to half their present level
no later than 2015.
“...Food should not be used as an instrument
for political and economic pressure. We
reaffirm the importance of international cooperation
and solidarity as well as the necessity
of refraining from unilateral measures not in
accordance with the international law and the
Charter of the United Nations and that endanger
food security” (World Food Summit, 1996).
Source: Tansey and Rajotte, 2008
Bigger challenges ahead
Creating a well-fed world will be even more challenging in the face of climate change,
growing competition for resources, including land and water (see Box 1.3), increasing
inequality within most countries (Sutcliffe, 2004) and continued high levels of public
spending on research and development that focus on perfecting weapons of destruction
rather than facilitating the creation and maintenance of resilient food systems as
part of securing long-term human security (Abbott et al., 2006).
It is not clear how quickly climate change will affect food and farming. Many countries
and regions seem to be experiencing far greater variability in weather patterns and
more extremes – floods, droughts, storms, heatwaves and cold spells – which together
with changes in growing seasons affect food production. According to the FAO:
“An aspect of the consequences in terms of food security, specifically, of
the impacts of global warming includes but is not limited to the following:
changes in the growing seasons’ length as well as the timing and amount of
precipitation; changes in the snowfall season, the runoff season, the rainy
season, the timing of flood recession farming, the hunting season, the fishing
season, the water season; changes in the timing of outbreaks and increases in
vector-borne diseases; rice farming following the replacement of saline water
intrusion in rivers by freshwater after onset of rains (e.g. Mekong River);
extended seasonal food crisis because of long-lasting drought conditions (e.g.
“Monga” in Bangladesh), and so forth. Speculation about the foreseeable
impacts of changes in seasonality is virtually boundless” (FAO, 2009).
Effective water management is central to maintaining food supplies. Yet many current
methods of producing food are using unsustainable freshwater sources, such as fossil
aquifers in the Arabian Peninsula, or sources threatened by climate change, such as glacial
melt waters. Others use rivers that cross borders, where disputes may arise over dams
and abstraction rates. The potential for conflict arising from disputes about water is
growing; this adds to the complexity of tackling future food production (Brown, 2011).
Box 1.3 Human rights to water and sanitation
All people have the right to water and sanitation.
The obligation that water and sanitation
are available, accessible, affordable, acceptable
and safe for all without discrimination at all times,
must be progressively realized by states within
World Disasters Report 2011 – Focus on hunger and malnutrition 17
CHAPTER 1
available resources. States must take concrete
and targeted steps towards ensuring universal access
to water and sanitation. Where domestic resources
are insufficient for such efforts, states must
seek international cooperation and assistance.