In the News: Hunger Around the World
In these turbulent times, people around the world are experiencing great extremes in food security (the ability to obtain food at all times). In the US, the recent signing of the US Global Food Security Act of 2016 is a domestic step in addressing these issues, but the problems are worldwide and severe.
In some countries, there is such an abundance of food that enormous food waste has become a serious problem. In other parts of the world, climate issues, political policies, war, migration, and economic hardship are converging to create food shortages and overall lack of access to food, resulting in hunger, malnutrition and stunting. And in some Western countries, such as the US, food abundance, food waste, and hunger all co-exist.
Here are some countries where hunger - and problems related to hunger - are especially challenging:
In some countries, there is such an abundance of food that enormous food waste has become a serious problem. In other parts of the world, climate issues, political policies, war, migration, and economic hardship are converging to create food shortages and overall lack of access to food, resulting in hunger, malnutrition and stunting. And in some Western countries, such as the US, food abundance, food waste, and hunger all co-exist.
Here are some countries where hunger - and problems related to hunger - are especially challenging:
 Flickr/Nebojsa Mladjenovic
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VenezuelaAfricaMiddle EastUSIndia
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"I would love to go to school, I miss reading and writing. But if I go to school, nobody is going to bring food to my home."
--13 year old working refugee from Turkey
Flickr/Will Clayton
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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault - located halfway between Norway and the North Pole - holds the world's largest collection of seed samples.
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Inside the Global Seed Vault in Norway
Flickr/U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
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Flickr/Neil Jenkins
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"The world throws away a third of everything it produces, and people are not aware that this waste has a huge impact on the world’s nutrition, and on the availability and the prices of products in other countries."
--Mari Cruz Martin, Project Coordinator of Yo No Desperdicio (I Don't Waste) food-sharing mobile app, Spain