Dieser Internet-Auftritt kann nach dem Tod des Webmasters, Peter Strutynski, bis auf Weiteres nicht aktualisiert werden. Er steht jedoch weiterhin als Archiv mit Beiträgen aus den Jahren 1996 – 2015 zur Verfügung.

1,02 Milliarden Menschen hungern

Welternährungsorganisation FAO verkündete neuen traurigen Rekord *

Die Zahl der Hungernden in der Welt überschreitet in diesem Jahr als Folge der Weltwirtschaftskrise eine traurige historische Schwelle: Erstmals leiden über eine Milliarde Menschen unter Hunger und Unterernährung, also jeder sechste und insgesamt 100 Millionen Menschen mehr als 2008. Die alarmierenden Zahlen legte die UN-Organisation für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft am Freitag in Rom vor.

Rom/Bonn (dpa/ND). »Diese lautlose Hungerkrise gefährdet erheblich den Weltfrieden und die Sicherheit«, warnte Jacques Diouf, Generaldirektor der UN-Organisation für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (FAO): »Wir brauchen dringend einen breiten Konsens darüber, dass der Hunger in der Welt völlig und rasch ausgerottet wird.« Die notwendigen Programme dafür müssten endlich auf den Weg kommen.

Das 21. Jahrhundert drohe zum Hungerjahrhundert zu werden, warnte Barbara Dieckmann, Präsidentin der Welthungerhilfe, angesichts der neuen FAO-Zahlen. Zwei von drei Hungernden lebten auf dem Land, also müsse die Hilfe dort ansetzen.

Dieckmann verlangte für die Bekämpfung von Hunger und Armut »nur ein Prozent der von den Industrieländern aufgelegten Konjunkturprogramme«, zusätzlich zur Entwicklungshilfe. »Die jüngste Hungerkrise ist nicht die Folge ertragsarmer Ernten in der Welt, sondern wird von der Wirtschaftskrise hervorgerufen, die zu niedrigeren Einkommen und erhöhter Arbeitslosigkeit führt«, hält die FAO fest. Die Armen hätten damit noch geringere Aussicht auf Nahrung. Diouf spricht davon, dass sich die Weltwirtschaftskrise und die in vielen Ländern hartnäckig hohen Nahrungsmittelpreise zu einer »gefährlichen Mixtur« vermengten.

Mehr Investitionen in die Landwirtschaft verlangte Kanayo F. Nwanze, Präsident des internationalen Agrar-Entwicklungsfonds IFAD: »Viele Arme und Hungernde sind Kleinbauern in Entwicklungsländern, sie brauchen Zugang nicht nur zu Saatgut und Dünger, sondern auch zu maßgeschneiderten Technologien, Infrastruktur, Finanzierung und Märkten.« Gerade in Zeiten globaler Krisen sei es für die meisten Entwicklungsländer das tragfähigste Sicherheitsnetz, in die Zukunft der Kleinbauern zu investieren, um die Ernährung sichern zu können.

Die meisten unterernährten und hungernden Menschen leben in Entwicklungsländern, die Mehrheit von ihnen (642 Millionen) in Asien und in der Pazifik-Region.

* Aus: Neues Deutschland, 20. Juni 2009


1.02 billion people hungry

One sixth of humanity undernourished - more than ever before **

19 June 2009, Rome - World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1 020 million people going hungry every day, according to new estimates published by FAO today.

The most recent increase in hunger is not the consequence of poor global harvests but is caused by the world economic crisis that has resulted in lower incomes and increased unemployment. This has reduced access to food by the poor, the UN agency said.

"A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined with stubbornly high food prices in many countries has pushed some 100 million more people than last year into chronic hunger and poverty," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. "The silent hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world peace and security. We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions."

"The present situation of world food insecurity cannot leave us indifferent," he added.

Poor countries, Diouf stressed, "must be given the development, economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural production and productivity. Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth."

"Many of the world's poor and hungry are smallholder farmers in developing countries. Yet they have the potential not only to meet their own needs but to boost food security and catalyse broader economic growth. To unleash this potential and reduce the number of hungry people in the world, governments, supported by the international community, need to protect core investments in agriculture so that smallholder farmers have access not only to seeds and fertilisers but to tailored technologies, infrastructure, rural finance, and markets," said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

"For most developing countries there is little doubt that investing in smallholder agriculture is the most sustainable safety net, particularly during a time of global economic crisis," Nwanze added.

"The rapid march of urgent hunger continues to unleash an enormous humanitarian crisis. The world must pull together to ensure emergency needs are met as long term solutions are advanced," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme.

Hunger on the rise

Whereas good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, hunger has been slowly but steadily on the rise for the past decade, FAO said. The number of hungry people increased between 1995-97 and 2004-06 in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. But even in this region, gains in hunger reduction have been reversed as a result of high food prices and the current global economic downturn (see background note).

This year, mainly due to the shocks of the economic crisis combined with often high national food prices, the number of hungry people is expected to grow overall by about 11 percent, FAO projects, drawing on analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing countries. In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan Africa 265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53 million; in the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and in developed countries 15 million in total.

In the grip of the crisis

The urban poor will probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global recession, because lower export demand and reduced foreign direct investment are more likely to hit urban jobs harder. But rural areas will not be spared. Millions of urban migrants will have to return to the countryside, forcing the rural poor to share the burden in many cases.

Some developing countries are also struggling with the fact that money transfers (remittances) sent from migrants back home have declined substantially this year, causing the loss of foreign exchange and household income. Reduced remittances and a projected decline in official development assistance will further limit the ability of countries to access capital for sustaining production and creating safety nets and social protection schemes for the poor.

Unlike previous crises, developing countries have less room to adjust to the deteriorating economic conditions, because the turmoil is affecting practically all parts of the world more or less simultaneously. The scope for remedial mechanisms, including exchange-rate depreciation and borrowing from international capital markets for example, to adjust to macroeconomic shocks, is more limited in a global crisis.

The economic crisis also comes on the heel of the food and fuel crisis of 2006-08. While food prices in world markets declined over the past months, domestic prices in developing countries came down more slowly. They remained on average 24 percent higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006. For poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power. It should also be noted that while they declined, international food commodity prices are still 24 percent higher than in 2006 and 33 percent higher than in 2005.

The 2009 hunger report (The State of Food Insecurity in the World, SOFI) will be presented in October.

** Source: www.fao.org



Zurück zum Thema "Armut, Hunger, Massenelend"

Zur Globalisierungs-Seite

Zurück zur Homepage