When writing my draft, I initially approached the paper differently, using veganism as a solution to eradicating world hunger. Seeing that it was a very difficult assumption to support and because of the lack of evidence found to validate my assumption, I took a different approach and decided to approach it in a less radical form which I believe would be easier to accept.
The United Nations Development Program supports the implementation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, commonly known as Global Goals. SDGS intends to collectively end undergoing environmental, political, and economic issues associated with our growing world. Goal 2, Zero Hunger, proposes the end of all forms of hunger by 2030. Hunger is an issue that punishes both developing and emerging countries. We have a huge task, beginning with a humane commitment of not only to reduce but to eradicate poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in a sustainable way. When we speak of a sustainable world we cannot leave anyone behind. Presently “the vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished” (UNDP, 2017).
To successfully reach the Zero Hunger goal by 2030, global reformations endorsing sustainable agricultural practices are needed such as rural road rehabilitation, job opportunities for women and men equally, and investments in agriculture. Facilitating access to food, expanding production and consumption of healthy food while minimizing food loss and waste, will consequently contribute to improving health and education. Since the year 2000, increased agricultural development has contributed significantly in the declining of undernourished people “from 930 million down to 793 million”, (UNDP, 2017) although this is progress, our goal is to eradicate hunger.
“Modern industrial agriculture runs on the principle of economics of scale. Efficient, highly automated technology produces grain in almost unimaginable yields, which more than doubled in 30 years in the united states. In 1900 an American farmer grew enough food to feed 7 people; today she or he feeds 96”, requiring a smaller workforce, leaving farmers without jobs. According to The World Bank Data, in 1990 41 percent of Americans worked in agriculture; by 2000, it was only 2 percent (WB, 2017). By producing more and employing less, poverty also has increased and solely benefits the capitalist economy. “Such yields are heralded as saving the starving masses…The overall number of those hungry continues to increase, however, estimated at over 850 million chronically undernourished people in the world, or about 8 percent of the total world’s population. About 75 percent of the world’s malnourished children live in countries with net food surpluses.” (Thompson, 2007).
Food waste and loss is a major contributor to world hunger. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, states that “1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption is wasted every year” which makes up one-third of the total food produced. In a world where there is a surplus in food production, it is difficult to believe that “815 million people still go to bed hungry and for 66 million primary school-aged children attend class hungry across the developing world” (UNDP, 2017).
While both, developing and medium-and high-income countries, contribute to food waste and losses, there are unique preventable measures that can be taken to lessen waste on both ends of the spectrum. “In developing countries, food waste and losses occur mainly at early stages of the food value chain and can be traced back to financial, managerial and technical constraints in harvesting techniques as well as storage and cooling facilities” (FAO, 2017). In order to minimize the amount of food waste, money into road infrastructure needs to be devoted as well as the proper equipment to keep food fresh during transit. Unlike the reality of the developing countries, “medium- and high-income countries food is wasted and lost mainly at later stages in the supply chain…the behavior of consumers plays a huge part in industrialized countries ” (FAO, 2017). In the richer countries, every year “222 million tons of food is wasted” (FAO, 2017) solely by consumers. Consumer waste education is effective in contributing to global food waste reduction but is not limited to consumers. Our government can be a powerful tool in initiating environmental consciousness.
In the article: Ease Hunger With a Better Food Rescue System by Diana Aviv, the CEO of Feeding America, Aviv expresses that a key way the United States of America’s government could cut back on food waste is by encouraging businesses to donate funds and excess food to local food banks or Feeding America… Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization (Aviv, 2016). Tax deductions proposed by the government such as the Federal Food Donation Tax Deduction is an example of a government incentive for “small businesses including farmers, restaurants, retailers and food manufacturers… to donate wholesome food to charities (Aviv).
Not only can this reduce the overabundance of food production directly correlated to food waste, it will also lead to limiting greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere which agriculture contributes to greatly too. “Farms emitted 6 billion tons of GHGs in 2011, or about 13 percent of total global emissions. That makes the agricultural sector the world’s second-largest emitter… most farm-related emissions come in the form of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Cattle belching (CH4) and the addition of natural or synthetic fertilizers and wastes to soils (N2O) represent the largest sources, making up 65 percent of agricultural emissions globally” (Russell, 2014). Greenhouse gas emissions have long been studied by scientists and now due to recent models, we have been able to correlate the effect these gases have on climate change. “Global warming continues to intensify many atmospheric extremes leading to significant increases in the frequency and severity of heat waves, droughts, bushfires, tropical and extratropical cyclones, tornadoes, hailstorms, floods and storm surges in many parts of the world. According to these studies, climate change will trigger world-wide losses from all sources” (Glasby, 2002, p 337). This would have an even larger effect on world agriculture, overproduction will lead to destruction, and a very costly one. Just in the past decades, “global economic losses increased from $US 3.9 billion per year in the 1950s to $US 40 billion per year in the 1990s” (Glasby, 336) due to extreme weathers and climate.
“In the capitalist system, scarcity is structurally necessary and built into its functioning. In a system that is driven mainly by the motive of constant growth of money and because capital cannot say ‘It is enough’, there is no concept of sufficiency” (Mies & Bennholdt-Thomsen, 1999). It is important for people to believe that earth’s resources are finite for us to eradicate poverty and hunger and escape our unethical consumption problem.
The Zero Hunger goal presents a proposal to combat hunger, misery and its structural causes, which generate social exclusion. Having food security means that all families are able to feed themselves with the regularity, quantity, and quality necessary to maintain their physical and mental health. We have the technology and expertise necessary to eradicate hunger and to empower our fellow nations.