I am distressed at reading Times of India and Hindustan Times reports on the recent UN report on climate change.. the articles do NOT communicate the urgency of the peril we are all in.
During the second half of the twentieth century, global food availability and access developed rapidly enough to keep abreast of population growth. As a result, many countries improved their food security and made impressive achievements in reducing hunger and malnutrition.
But now, World hunger is rising year on year - nearly a billion people suffered from chronic food deprivation in 2017, where a few years ago, these numbers were falling. Persistent instability in conflict-ridden regions, adverse climate events in many regions of the world and economic slowdowns that have affected more peaceful regions, all help to explain this deteriorating situation.
In 2017, one in 7 people in South Asia was undernourished - a rate equalled or surpassed only by the Caribbean and many parts of Africa.
The number of people facing crisis-level food insecurity (requiring immediate emergency action to safeguard their lives and preserve their livelihoods) continues to increase as well - from 80 million in 2015, to 124 million in 2017. Severe food insecurity is higher in 2017 than it was in 2014 in every major region, except North America and Europe.
Anaemia is also growing in the world with grave consequences for brain development and physical output of those who are anaemic. Anaemia in pregnant women affects their to-be born children also, and life-long. In the years 2006-2016, India could reduce anaemia among women of reproductive age by only 4 percentage points, from 57 to 53 %. This tells us starkly about the lack of greens and nuts in the diet of women in our country.
Climate variability and extremes are a key force behind the recent rise in global hunger. The number of extreme climate-related disasters, including extreme heat, droughts, floods and storms, has doubled since the early 1990s. These harm agricultural productivity, contributing to shortfalls in food availability, with knock-on effects causing food price hikes and income losses, that reduce people’s access to food.
2011–2016 have been characterized by a number of severe droughts in many regions. Some of these feature among the most extreme droughts historically (e.g. state of California in the United States of America; Australia), while others were unusually prolonged and spread over larger areas (e.g. Somalia, Southern Africa, India, and the Dry Corridor of Central America).
Exposure to more complex, frequent and intense climate extremes is threatening to erode and reverse gains made in ending hunger and malnutrition. The cumulative effect of changes in climate is undermining all dimensions of food security – food availability, access, utilization and stability.
Severe droughts linked to the strong El Niño of 2015–2016 affected many countries, contributing to the recent uptick in undernourishment at the global level. In that period, there were below-normal rainfall levels over a large area of the globe. Information from country food balance sheets pointed to reductions in food availability and price increases.
Changes in climate are already undermining production of major crops (wheat, rice and maize). Countries try to compensate for domestic production losses through imports, though supplies are often limited. Overall, more countries are vulnerable to the risk of food insecurity and malnutrition now, than they were in the early 1990s.
During the second half of the twentieth century, global food availability and access developed rapidly enough to keep abreast of population growth. As a result, many countries improved their food security and made impressive achievements in reducing hunger and malnutrition.
But now, World hunger is rising year on year - nearly a billion people suffered from chronic food deprivation in 2017, where a few years ago, these numbers were falling. Persistent instability in conflict-ridden regions, adverse climate events in many regions of the world and economic slowdowns that have affected more peaceful regions, all help to explain this deteriorating situation.
In 2017, one in 7 people in South Asia was undernourished - a rate equalled or surpassed only by the Caribbean and many parts of Africa.
The number of people facing crisis-level food insecurity (requiring immediate emergency action to safeguard their lives and preserve their livelihoods) continues to increase as well - from 80 million in 2015, to 124 million in 2017. Severe food insecurity is higher in 2017 than it was in 2014 in every major region, except North America and Europe.
Anaemia is also growing in the world with grave consequences for brain development and physical output of those who are anaemic. Anaemia in pregnant women affects their to-be born children also, and life-long. In the years 2006-2016, India could reduce anaemia among women of reproductive age by only 4 percentage points, from 57 to 53 %. This tells us starkly about the lack of greens and nuts in the diet of women in our country.
Climate variability and extremes are a key force behind the recent rise in global hunger. The number of extreme climate-related disasters, including extreme heat, droughts, floods and storms, has doubled since the early 1990s. These harm agricultural productivity, contributing to shortfalls in food availability, with knock-on effects causing food price hikes and income losses, that reduce people’s access to food.
2011–2016 have been characterized by a number of severe droughts in many regions. Some of these feature among the most extreme droughts historically (e.g. state of California in the United States of America; Australia), while others were unusually prolonged and spread over larger areas (e.g. Somalia, Southern Africa, India, and the Dry Corridor of Central America).
Exposure to more complex, frequent and intense climate extremes is threatening to erode and reverse gains made in ending hunger and malnutrition. The cumulative effect of changes in climate is undermining all dimensions of food security – food availability, access, utilization and stability.
Severe droughts linked to the strong El Niño of 2015–2016 affected many countries, contributing to the recent uptick in undernourishment at the global level. In that period, there were below-normal rainfall levels over a large area of the globe. Information from country food balance sheets pointed to reductions in food availability and price increases.
Changes in climate are already undermining production of major crops (wheat, rice and maize). Countries try to compensate for domestic production losses through imports, though supplies are often limited. Overall, more countries are vulnerable to the risk of food insecurity and malnutrition now, than they were in the early 1990s.
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