Starvation, Hunger, and Impoverishment
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Contents
Context
- In developing countries, almost 5 million children under the age of five die of malnutrition-related causes every year and another 800 million are unable to lead a normal life because of chronic hunger. (UN FAO Hunger Facts, 2014) http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/icn2/toolkit/hunger-facts/en/
- “Between now and 2050, the global population is projected to rise from about 7 billion to 9.2 billion, demanding a 60 percent increase in global food production.” (UN FAO Hunger Facts, 2014) http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/icn2/toolkit/hunger-facts/en/
Facts
- According to a report from from the United Nations, the World Bank, and others, and signed by 58 nations (the IAASTD report), the calories that are lost by feeding soy, vegetables, and grains to animals, instead of using them directly as human food, could feed an additional 3.5 billion people. (2008) http://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/meat-and-animal-feed.html, https://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/toolbox/references/the-environmental-crisis.-the-environments-role-in-averting-future-food-crises-unep-2009.pdf
- A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by two environmental scientists, a physicist, and a molecular biologist determined "plant-based replacements for each of the major animal categories in the United States (beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs) can produce twofold to 20-fold more nutritionally similar food per unit cropland." and that "replacing all animal-based items with plant-based replacement diets can add enough food to feed 350 million additional people, more than the expected benefits of eliminating all supply chain food loss." https://www.pnas.org/content/115/15/3804
- A Cornell University ecologist calculates that we could feed eight hundred million more people in the United States with grain that livestock eats. (1997) http://news.cornell.edu/stories/1997/08/us-could-feed-800-million-people-grain-livestock-eat
- A University of Minnesota study found that "36% of the calories produced by the world’s crops are being used for animal feed, and only 12% of those feed calories ultimately contribute to the human diet (as meat and other animal products)." http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ERL.....8c4015C
- According to a peer-reviewed study published by the World Resources Institute in 2014, titled “Creating a Sustainable Food Future,” it takes on average 24 calories of plant feed to produce one calorie of food from animals. (average of figures on the graph on page 37) http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/wri13_report_4c_wrr_online.pdf
Secondary Sources
- Eighty percent of the world’s starving children live in countries where food is given to livestock that will then be shipped to and eaten in more affluent countries. http://comfortablyunaware.com/blog/the-world-hunger-food-choice-connection-a-summary/
(This fact sheet was originally authored by Greg Fuller. The contents may have been edited since that time by others.)
