By Daisy Quincey-Brooke –

“200 million or more people have starved to death or died of hunger-related disease in the past two decades, and as many as a billion people are chronically undernourished today” (Ehrlich et al, 1993:2) [1]. 27 years later and around 2 billion people still don’t have regular access to safe and nutritious food [2]. Levels of food insecurity are too high and if we go on like this, these numbers will rise as we move further away from a nutritionally secure society. We all need food otherwise we wouldn’t survive but some people can’t access sufficient levels due to income, employment, race/ethnicity and disability [3], which is extremely unfair as, in most circumstances, these situations are hard or impossible to overcome. Food security has been an issue for several years now but it has tried to be solved, in fact ‘zero hunger’ is the second sustainable development goal written by the United Nations to achieve by 2030 [4].

World hunger map for 2020. Source: Fnweirkmnwperojvnu, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The problem of population increase

Ehrlich, Ehrlich and Daily’s review on food security, population and environment [5], focuses on the negatives surrounding the increasing population, highlighting if no changes are made demand will outgrow supply. Their research illustrates how population was already too high for the Earth and its resources to manage at the time the review was written, never mind todays population and definitely not predicted future populations. In fact, they state that Earths comfortable carrying capacity would be under 5.5 billion (which was the population of the world in 1993) [6]. It also underlines the effects undernourishment can have as it increases the vulnerability to diseases, as well as causing a decrease to “the educational potential of tens of millions of children” (Ehrlich et al, 1993:5) and having major impacts on the political stability of the countries most affected [7]. This could lead to further downfall and inequality across nations, proving just how vital food is.

The consequences of no change to the global situation

“Providing sufficient food both for people now undernourished and for the projected additions to the population during the next half-century would require nearly tripling food production by 2040” (Ehrlich et al, 1993:5) [7]. This is an unlikely feat, meaning levels of food insecurity would increase even further, having knock on effects by creating a world with even more severe levels of inequality and poverty than today. These inequalities would not only be nationwide but likely to be prevalent in our day to day lives, possibly affecting me or you which is why change needs to start now!

How can we help tackle this problem?

Reducing food waste is an effective way we can help the cause as individuals, but governments can also help by creating objectives like improving trade and treatment of farmers [8] in a hope to reach a stable future for all, not just those who have the available resources to create one for themselves.

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References

[1] Ehrlich, P.R., Ehrlich, A.H., and Daily, C.G. (1993) Food security, population and environment. Population and Development Review 19, 2 [23.11.20]

[2] Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2020). The State of Food and Nutrition in the World 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64KLuGzGxEQ&feature=emb_logo [24.11.20]

[3] Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ND). Food Insecurity. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity#6 [24.11.20]

[4] United Nations (ND). Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ [24.11.20]

[5] Ehrlich, P.R., Ehrlich, A.H. and Daily, C.G. (1993) Food security, population and environment. Population and Development Review 19, 1-5 [23.11.20]

[6] Ehrlich, P.R., Ehrlich, A.H., and Daily, C.G. (1993) Food security, population and environment. Population and Development Review 19, 4 [23.11.20]

[7] Ehrlich, P.R., Ehrlich, A.H., and Daily, C.G. (1993) Food security, population and environment. Population and Development Review 19, 5 [23.11.20]

[8] Conserve Energy Future (ND). What is Food Insecurity? https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-food-insecurity.php [25.11.20]