14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past few years, food prices have gone up nearly two-fold, and experts have been scrambling to explain the phenomenon. In a new analysis, they managed to identify the factors that led to this situation. Starvation is now running rampant all over the world.
Scientists agree that global warming, diminishing water supplies and burgeoning populations are the main reasons why food is in such short supplies, and also so expensive. Things are only getting worse, researchers warn, calling on authorities for solutions.
While some of the world's poorest areas display poverty and starvation at all corners, Americans throw away about 40 percent of the food they buy, according to a scientific study conducted in 2009.
That is a 50 percent increase since 1974, when people living in the United States only threw away 20 percent of the food they bought for their own consumption, LiveScience reports. Around the world, one in seven people goes to bed hungry at night.
That is the equivalent of nearly 1 billion people. Officials statistics from the United Nations show that hunger, starvation and related conditions kill more people annually than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis do together. The fact that this would happen has been known for years.
Experts warned that rising global temperatures would lead to climate change. They told authorities that droughts would multiply, that precipitation patterns will change, and that glaciers fueling rivers with water would dwindle. But no one took action based on this knowledge.
The world is now reaping the “benefits” of such gross negligence, while politicians still debate – from a strictly political point of view – the very existence of global warming. What is clear is that action needs to be taken soon, in order to fix the current situation.
Estimates now indicate that food prices will double again by 2080, leaving even more of the population exposed to poverty and starvation. The effects of global warming will become even more present by that time as well, further exacerbating the risks.
“Recent global food price hikes threatened to create a new food crisis in [least developed] nations, where the poorest people often spent three-quarters of their income on food,” a recent statement from the UN reads.
“Only through greater investment in sustainable agriculture – a long-neglected area – could those nations ensure both food security and competitiveness on the international markets,” it adds.
The fact that the world's population will reach 9 billion by 2044 will only make matters worse. What is becoming increasingly obvious is the fact that something needs to be done about this, and fast.