Food Issues Throughout The World


Agriculture

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy and brings in at least hundreds of billions of dollars each year. The success of cultivating crops and catching fishes highly depend of climate conditions. Over the years, global warming has increased temperatures overall; although this is helpful in some places, other conditions might not be met. With the temperature rising, climates change drastically, from the nutrient levels, soil moisture, and many other conditions are vital to crops. As the temperature fluctuates, severe droughts and floods could occur from the change of tides, thus disrupting some ecosystems for fishing Centuries ago, man have cultivated crops using methods that have evolved into modern techniques to maximize efficiency for growing and harvesting crops Another danger that still affects farmers today is weeds, pests, and fungi which destroy crops. Farmers each year spent billions of dollars on fighting weeds Climate change is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty. Increasing drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift in crops and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished are three key issues.

Over the last few years high level gatherings of the World’s leaders and their advisors have repeatedly agreed that addressing the multiple needs for water for two billions or more people - the forecast population increase by 2020 - is of high priority. The challenge is to achieve a balance between using water for food while also meeting expanding domestic and industrial needs for water. The International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) estimated that current food production would have to double within the next 25 years.

The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a U.N. report warned on Monday. the demand for resources will rise exponentially. Even by 2030, the world will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water, according to U.N. estimates, at a time when a changing environment is creating new limits to supply. And if the world fails to tackle these problems, it risks condemning up to 3 billion people into poverty, the report said.

Action

It urged governments to agree on a set of sustainable development goals which would complement the eight Millennium Development Goals to 2015 and create a framework for action after 2015. To make the economy more sustainable, carbon and natural resource pricing should be established through taxation, regulation or emissions trading schemes by 2020 and fossil fuel subsidies should also be phased out by that time.

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Food Standards

There are food standards that are set to make sure the process of how food is being processed and packaged, is safe. If during the process the food gets contaminated, it will affect the human who ends up consuming it. These food standards are monitored but have been overlooked many times. That is why it’s so easy for events like an animal that has microbes living in their intestines to be the reason for a meat and poultry contamination.
Worldwide there are food standards set in place to prevent deaths from food related illness. Food standards are not the same worldwide, although a few countries have similar laws to monitor the process of food and set laws to help prevent the number of deaths caused by food related illness to grow. Codex Alimentarius is the world’s top standard body for consumer protection and fair practices in international food trade. Codex food standards are the benchmark standards for food safety. Codex Alimentarius is Latin for food code. Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice aiming at protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in food trade.

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Obesity

Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. The most common measure of obesity is the body mass index, or BMI. A person is considered overweight if his or her BMI is between 25 and 29.9; a person is considered obese if his or her BMI is over 30.
But there are other factors that also play a role in obesity. These may include: Age, Gender, Genetics, Environmental factors, Physical activity, Psychological factors, Illness, and Medication. Worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. 35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. 65% of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011. Obesity is preventable.
High-income countries have greater rates of obesity than middle- and low-income countries. Countries that develop wealth also develop obesity; for instance, with economic growth in China and India, obesity rates have increased by several-fold. The international trend is that greater obesity tracks with greater wealth.
It has been suggested that individuals who live in impoverished regions have poor access to fresh food. Poverty-dense areas are oftentimes called “food deserts,” implying diminished access to fresh food. However, 43% of households with incomes below the poverty line ($21,756) are food insecure (uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, sufficient food)

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World Hunger

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012. Children are the most visible victims of undernutrition. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million deaths. The estimated proportions of deaths in which under nutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). The world produces enough food to feed everyone. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the most recent estimate that we could find (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food. Today, almost one person of every seven does not get enough nutritious food to be healthy and lead an active life. This makes hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health in the world.

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Famine

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012.
Children are the most visible victims of undernutrition. Children who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million deaths. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005).
The world produces enough food to feed everyone. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the most recent estimate that we could find (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
Today, almost one person of every seven does not get enough nutritious food to be healthy and lead an active life. This makes hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health in the world.

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