Global issues: the environment and hunger

This  page attempts to indicate the links between our earth and poor and hungry people. See also Hunger, the environment and climate change 2009

A basic orientation to some key environmental  issues was given by the BBC in its series  Planet under Pressure.  It covers six issues

• Feeding the world

• World water crisis

• Soaring energy demand

• Species under threat

• Fighting pollution

• Tackling climate change

We will add a seventh issue

• "overconsumption"

We place overconsumption in quotes to indicate that it is a topic to be discussed, not assumed. Are patterns of consumption, especially in the developing countries, sustainable.  Is there waste or meaningless consumption?  What is the impact on very poor people?

The world's poor people confront all these issues.  They struggle for food.  A very large number live in countries where water is scarce.  Though their energy demand is low, scarcity and high energy prices restrict their energy use, even for basics such as food preparation.  Poor fisherman depend on fish species which are rapidly being depleted; and poor people often live in close proximity to species under threat, and vie with them for resources such as land.  Pollution is a major problem for poor people, for example those in slums and who those who depend on water from polluted rivers.  It is predicted that climate change will threaten coastal areas with flooding, and reduce rainfall in already rain short areas.  Finally, people in developed countries, with their high standards of living, command many more resources and goods than poor people in developing countries, thus, it can be argued, increasing scarcity for poor people.

This report is divided into sections including:

• Climate change, global warming and hunger and other effects on poor people

• Developed country consumption ("over-consumption") and its effect on key factors (such as climate change and food prices) and thus on poor people

• Other environmental issues in developing countries

• General

Climate change, global warming  and the effect on poor people

Developed country consumption ("over-consumption") and its effect on key factors (such as climate change and food prices) and thus on poor people

In Agbogbloshie, a slum in Accra, the capital of Ghana, adults and children tear away at computers from abroad to get at the precious metals inside. Left, David Akore, 18, and other foragers. At the dump, the machines are dismantled and often burned to extract metals for resale. The equipment in this digital cemetery come mainly from Europe and the United States, sometimes as secondhand donations meant to reduce the "digital divide'' — the disparity in computer access between poor nations and rich. Photo: Pieter Hugo/New York Times

A global graveyard for dead computers in Ghana (Photo slideshow) New York Times  August 15, 2010

I 

Fishermen repair their nets in the Mexican coastal town of Ciudad del Carmen. Thirty-one years after the Ixtoc oil rig explosion and spill, there's not much fishing work. Photo: Chris Granger/Times-Picayune

Ixtoc oil well blowout in Gulf of Mexico: 1979 disaster parallels and lessons Ramon Antonio Vargas New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 4, 2010

 Hannah Baage walked through polluted Gio Creek in Kegbara Dere. She said recently, “There is Shell oil on my body.” Photo:Jane Hahn/New York Times More Photos  

Half a world from the Gulf, giant oil spills have occurred every year for the past 50 years in the Niger Delta Adam Nossiter New York Times June 16, 2010

 Loggers at Masoala National Park. In the past year, the illicit trade in a scarce species of rosewoods has increased at least 25-fold. Photo: Toby Smith/Reportage by Getty Images

Shaky rule in Madagascar threatens trees Barry Bearak New York Times May 25, 2010 See Hunger Notes special report: Harmful economic systems

Raimundo Teixeira de Souza held the residents’ card of his stepson who was killed, probably in a land dispute. Teixeira de Souza was forced to sell his land for a pittance to more powerful farmers, who roam this Wild West territory with rifles strapped to their backs.  Photo: André Vieira/New York Times

Land grabs widespread in lawless Amazon region of Brazil--government now trying to impose greater order Alexi Barrionuevo New York Times  December 26, 2009 Growing demand for soybeans threatens Amazon rainforest Lester R. Brown  Earth Policy Institute January 10, 2010

Other environmental issues in developing countries

Pastoralism unraveling in Mongolia due to low wool prices and high number of goats, creating environmental damage Sarah J. Wachter New York Times  December 8, 2009

The Ogiek are traditionally forest dwellers, hunting antelope with homemade bows and harvesting honey. In the past 15 years, because of ill-planned settlement schemes (the government essentially handed out chunks of forest to cronies), 25 percent of the trees in the Mau forest have been wiped out. Photo: Tim Freccia/New York Times

Ogiek tribesman may be driven from their ancestral forest home in Kenyan plan  Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times November 14, 2009

A grove of huarango trees sits amid the sand dunes at the edge of Ica, Peru. The trees help balance the arid valley, capturing moisture coming from the west. Nonetheless, villagers are cutting down the last remaining trees.  Photo: Tomas Munita/New York Times

The ecosystem in Peru is losing a key ally--the huarago tree  Simon Romero New York Times November 7, 2009 Cutting down huarango forests caused the collapse of the Nazca civilization 1500 years ago Jody Bourton BBC News November 2, 2009 

A key environmental but also human welfare issue is genetic diversity of the plants that we depend on for life, and the human impact on these plants. The key world-wide issue is the end or very near end to a vast number of genetic varieties of plants, due to the world market in plant foods such as wheat, corn and potatoes. The problem is  a conflict between ordinary farmers and genetic diversity and the market. Farmers have been growing things for hundreds of years, even  millennium,  in specific locations.  The plants have adapted to these locations, which are more than a variety of tourist destinations, but also include adjustments to soil types and insect and other predators. On the market side, specific characteristics have been selected for, such as high yield,  without sufficient concern for other characteristics which may take several or many years to reveal themselves, such as disease resistance.   The problem is compounded by the insensitivity of the market to such 'hypothetical' or long run dangers, and the fact that in the market, lower cost trumps everything or at least is a very powerful hand, so much so that a few varieties have taken over production of key crops.  If a disease or other problem--think the Irish potato famine--occurs, many people will be in difficulty.

In this chamber and two others, millions of seeds will be protected from natural and man-made disasters. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built to withstand an earthquake or nuclear strike. Photo: John Mcconnico/ AP

Earth's future rests on the seeds we save Adrian Higgins Washington Post March 6, 2008

The rate of mangrove loss is higher than the loss of any other forest type. Mangroves protect coastal areas against erosion, cyclones and wind. Mangrove forests provide habitats for many animals like crocodiles and snakes, tigers, deer, otters, dolphins and birds. A wide range of fish and shellfish also depends on these coastal forests. Photo: FAO

An alarming 20 percent of mangrove forest area has been destroyed since 1980 Food & Agriculture Organization  February 8, 2008

General

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