Lesson 14

• Food Security


  When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life
• Global Food Security


  International efforts to address the need that people around the world have for reliable sources of quality food
• 3 Main Aspects of Food Security

  • Food Availability
  • Food Access
  • Food Utilization
• Food Availability


  Having a sufficient supply of food available on a consistent basis, either locally produced or imported from other places
• Food Access


  Having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet
• Food Utilization


  People making appropriate use of food, based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, and having access to water and sanitation for preparing food and maintaining proper hygiene
• Hunger


  A severe lack of food which causes suffering or death
• 3 Types of Hunger

  • Acute Hunger
  • Chronic Hunger
  • Hidden Hunger
• Acute Hunger


  The most extreme form of hunger and arises frequently in connection with crises like droughts due to El Niño, wars and disasters
• Chronic Hunger


  A state of long-term undernourishment where people suffer if their daily energy intake for an extended period of time is below what they would need for a healthy and active life
• Hidden Hunger


  A form of chronic hunger where important nutrients are lacking, such as iron, iodine, zinc or vitamin A, leading to serious diseases
• Reasons Why Hunger Exists

  • Wars and Conflicts
  • Natural Disasters
  • Poverty
  • Inequalities
  • Biased Global Trade
  • Poor Governance
  • Waste of Resources
• Wars and conflicts cause farmers to flee, leaving them unable to cultivate their fields, destroy roads and agricultural infrastructure, and limit trade leading to food scarcity and high prices
• Natural disasters like droughts and floods destroy harvests, and with climate change, extreme weather events are increasing
• Hunger is a consequence of poverty, as those who are poor have insufficient money for food and cannot provide for their health and education
• Inequality between rich and poor is increasing, with the richest 1% possessing nearly half the global fortune while the poorest have almost no chance to free themselves from hardship
• Unfair trade agreements and subsidies create market access and price advantages for enterprises from industrial nations, while developing countries primarily export raw materials with profits skimmed off
• Governments in developing countries often do not align their policies to the needs of the poorest population, lack strategies to promote agriculture, and corruption is a major obstacle to development
• If everyone lived as the rich countries do, resources like water and land would soon be exhausted, leading to expansion of deserts, soil erosion, water scarcity and extreme weather phenomena as a result of climate change
• Monoculture production methods used in the banana industry in Latin America and Africa can destroy entire ecosystems, consume large amounts of agrochemicals that pollute water supplies and impact worker health