Washington, DC. The planet produces more than enough to feed its population, so the lingering question that keeps UN workers up nights, is why are 20 million people at risk of starving to death at this point in history?
This world produces enough food to feed all its citizens. When one region is suffering severe hunger, global humanitarian institutions, though often cash-strapped, are theoretically capable of transporting food and preventing mass starvation.
Just this year, South Sudan slipped into famine, and Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen are each on the verge of their own. Famine now threatens 20 million people, more than at any time since World War II. As defined by the United Nations, famine occurs when a region’s daily hunger-related death rate exceeds 2 per 10,000 people.
The persistence of such severe hunger, even in inhospitable climates, would be almost unthinkable without war. And you’ll never guess WHO is the driving force behind those wars. Can you say USA? I knew you could.
Each of these four countries is in a state of chaos by design. While humanitarian assistance can save lives in the immediate term, none of the food crises can be solved in the long term without a stable peace. The threat of violence can limit or prohibit aid workers’ access to affected regions, and in some cases, starvation is a deliberate war tactic, one America excels at in CIA and State Department actions worldwide.
Whole generations are at risk of lasting damage stemming from the vicious cycle of greed, hate, hunger and violence that produces these famines. Children are always the most affected, as even those who survive may be mentally and physically stunted for life. Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Congo, the Central African Republic, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan has left millions hungry in those places, too.
The United Nations continues to warn of impending disaster as the western nations continue regional wars for hegemony and corporate greed, meanwhile the earth’s residents die while one nation continues it’s global reign of terror on hummanity wrapped in a lie that everything is a “war on terror.”