Famine: strategies required now for long term global food security

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns of a worldwide food crisis, as early as next year.

Dr. Mark Hearn of the Department of Modern History and Politics at Macquarie University, writing in Canberra Times (October 29, 2012) says global grain reserves are at critically low levels, warning that 2013 may herald a time of worldwide famine. Due to extreme weather events, food supply may no longer be reliable.

However, he states that famines throughout history have not always been unlucky accidents. In recent years, grain has been increasingly converted to biofuels, which FAO maintains has exacerbated the food supply problem. Politics, too, has influenced famines. World War II triggered starvation that claimed nearly 20 million lives as global conflict heightened. Hearn cites Lizzie Collingham’s The Taste of War which argued that the demand for food was a central cause of the war.

Currently, the world will face shortages of potable (drinking) water, clean air, and affordable energy. Hearn says wealthy nations are increasingly seeking arable land to feed their citizens. Strategies and decisions are needed to deal with extreme weather events which impose droughts and floods (such as the drought in the Horn of Africa and the floods in Pakistan’s Indus Valley in 2010). Even the United States is suffering an unprecedented drought, consequently reducing grain stocks.

United Nations agencies, such as FAO, are currently alerting member states to the challenges of food shortages and climate conditions. Hearn suggests that as Australia has gained a seat on the UN Security Council, it should use the opportunity to help shape a strategy to secure global food supplies to prevent catastrophic famines, not just in the near future but as a long term preventative and sustainable solution.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog