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08 October 2008
OneWorld Guides explore the issues relevant to narrowing the divide between rich and poor countries
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Global Food Crisis, Global Turning Point?
WASHINGTON, Apr 25 (OneWorld) - Occasionally, OneWorld.net will put out an alert when many of the NGOs we work with are taking on a breaking issue. Over the past year, we've done this for the crisis in Kenya, Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, and the earthquake that struck Peru in August. But this week's alert on the growing global food crisis is perhaps the most worrying one we've ever sent.
There are indications that the causes of this crisis, which is now hitting every region of the world, are systemic, and that it may not subside without a concerted rethink of global economic and environmental systems. Earlier today, Ban Ki-moon called for just this kind of rethink (in addition to an immediate mobilization of aid for those already in danger):
"The international community and its leaders in particular should sit down together on an urgent basis and address how we can first of all improve the economic system, the distribution systems, as well as how we can promote new production of agricultural products."
In a powerful overview of the situation, our friend Al Santoli at the Asia America Initiative summed it up this way:
"A new Cold War is taking shape, around energy and food. The world intelligentsia has been asleep at the wheel. While we rage over global warming, global hunger has swept in under the radar."
That is not to say that global warming isn't deserving of our rage -- indeed, it's a major cause of the global hunger we're seeing today -- but the food crisis may mark the entrance into a new era, one in which the fallout from economic globalization begins to impact all the world's people. This may be the moment when the intense interconnectedness of the global economy finally hits home -- especially for those in wealthier nations who long believed economic realities that touch the poor in developing countries could never be relevant -- or related to -- their own lives. It is rapidly becoming clear that the thirst for more and cheaper fuel is among the key factors driving global food shortages and price hikes. And those price hikes and shortages are beginning to be felt by consumers in California as well as those in Cameroon and Cambodia.
But while political leaders prepare macro-level responses, individuals and NGOs have an important role to play in stemming the crisis -- both long-term and short-term. Already, an estimated 100 million people worldwide are newly in danger of not having enough to eat. The World Food Program (WFP) has called for $750+ million to begin to address the situation.
But as Al Santoli pointed out to me yesterday, even $1 billion -- divided by 100 million people -- is only $10 per person-in-need worldwide. And that's just the beginning of the crisis, and it assumes a fundraising goal that the WFP is unlikely to meet. Individual NGOs are taking responsibility for aiding the hungry populations in the parts of the world where they are already working. The Asia America Initiative, for example, has a long-established presence in the Sulu province of the Philippines, where they've been doing peace building and development work since 2002. Al told me that $10-50 can feed a family in the region for a short period of time. $100 can buy the seeds and build the irrigation needed for them to be able to feed themselves long into the future. Right now, both initiatives are needed, and AAI is helping to make the links between Americans who want to help and those who need help far away.
There are countless other groups doing similar work to stem the crisis and amend the economic system that bred it -- both in the field and in the halls of global power. OneWorld.net's food crisis alert has brought together information about many of those groups, alongside the latest updates on the situation from around the world. We hope you'll use this info to join in the response.
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