World Hunger Rises as Climate Change, Conflict Curb Food Access

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The number of people suffering from hunger climbed to an eight-year high in 2017 as extreme and erratic weather, conflicts and economic slowdowns limited food availability.

Those categorized as hungry increased by 16.6 million to 821 million, the highest since 2009, according to the United Nations. It warned of the alarming signs of rising food insecurity and high levels of malnutrition as more people go undernourished in Africa and Latin America.

“Climate variability and extremes are already undermining food production in some regions,” the Food and Agriculture Organization and four other agencies said in a report Tuesday. “If action is not taken, the situation is expected to worsen as temperatures increase and become more extreme.”

Undernourishment and severe food insecurity have increased since 2014 in all parts of the world except Europe and North America, the report showed. Hunger is significantly worse in countries where agriculture is highly sensitive to severe drought, as well as changes in rains and temperature, and where a high share of the population depends on farming.

Conflict in nations such as Yemen and economic crises in countries like Venezuela have restricted people’s access to food, making staples less affordable.

Some key findings in the report:

• Almost 151 million children under five were too short for their age, though that’s an improvement in recent years.
• 50 million children aren’t heavy enough for their height.

Adult obesity is on the rise, with more than 672 million, or one in eight, obese, the latest findings show. While the problem is most significant in North America, it’s also increasing in Africa and Asia, where rates have been the lowest.

The report was also jointly prepared by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Source: Bloomberg Business News