In his World Food Day 2000 message, the Director of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation said:
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The scourges of hunger and poverty are morally unacceptable and have to be defeated. Hunger and chronic malnutrition diminish human life. The lack of physical or economic access to safe, nutritious and healthy food at all times leads to negative consequences for peoples and nations. |  |
Source: Diouf, J. (2000) World Food Day message.
The focus of the module is on the concept of 'food security' and strategies through which this may be attained. As such, the module acts as an introduction to the study of sustainable agriculture in Module 15.
The new understanding about population discussed in Module 13 indicated that older traditional views about 'over-population' need to be reviewed. Uncritical views about overpopulation are often associated with images of 'famine', 'world hunger' and 'the starving millions'. While these images can be tragically real in times of severe drought, repression and war, they tend to create images of dependency that are not always correct.
The relationship between hunger and population levels is not a simple one. For example, population densities in the Netherlands and Singapore are among the highest in the world but few people would say they are over-populated.
As a result, many people are asking questions like 'What criteria should be used to define overpopulation - and overpopulated in relation to what?' 'Why are we growing food for export when local people are hungry?' These questions indicate that we need to take more account of the processes that cause hunger and famine. These processes are also explained in this module.
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To distinguish between the symptoms and the root causes of hunger and population pressure on food resources; |
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To better understand perspectives from the South on issues related to population, hunger and food security; and |
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To appreciate issues and dilemmas in teaching about population and hunger. |
| 1. Hunger and malnutrition in the world |
| 2. The root causes of hunger |
| 3. Food First Fundamentals |
| 4. Towards food security for all |
| 5. Reflection |
| _____ (1996) Food and sustainable development: Special issue, Our Planet, 8(4). |
| _____ (1995) Hunger in a World of Plenty, New Internationalist, No. 267. |
| Boucher, D. (ed) (1999) Paradox of Plenty: Hunger in a Bountiful World, Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, San Francisco. |
| Lappe, FM and Collins J. (1998) World Hunger: Twelve Myths, 2nd edition, Grove Press, New York. |
| O'Neill, H. and Toye, J. (eds) (1998) A World Without Famine! New Approaches to Aid and Development, Development Studies Association, London. |
| Shah, M. and Strong, M. (1999) Food in the 21st Century: From Science to Sustainable Agriculture, CGIAR System Review Secretariat, World Bank, Washington DC. |
| Sweetman, C. (ed) (1999) Women, Land and Agriculture, Oxfam, Oxford. |
| Thrupp, L. (1998) Cultivating Diversity: Agrobiodiversity and Food Security, World Resources Institute, Washington DC. |
| Tweeten, L. (ed) (1997) Promoting Third-World Development and Food Security, Praeger Publishing, New York. |
| United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (1999) Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome. |
| World Bank (1996) Gardening for Food Around the World, Development Education Program World Bank, Washington DC. |
Internet Sites
This module was written for UNESCO by John Fien and Margaret Calder using material originally written by John Fien for Teaching for a Sustainable World (UNESCO - UNEP International Environmental Education Programme).
