In Asia, Africa and Latin America, well over 500 million people are living in "absolute poverty". over 9 million people die worldwide each year because of hunger and malnutrition. 5 million are children. Some 1.2 billion people suffer from obesity. For the price of one missle, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years. EVERY 3.6 SECONDS, SOMEONE DIES OF HUNGER. Famine is the last hurrah of long-term hunger. How does this persist in the 21st Century?Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Niger, Ethiopia...the list keeps growing of countries that are currently or will soon be experiencing famine. How can this continue?Below, see some perspectives from our guest blogger, Jamie P (The imagine is taken from the following website? members.tripod.com/ ~afronord/hsdoc/famine.jpg)
Is Famine a Man Made Problem?
Famine can be traced back to the roots of civilization and seen throughout the annals of history. This empirical fact leaves one to conclude famine is inevitable, given the occurrence of natural disasters associated with the passage of time (http://library.thinkquest.org). And while environmental catastrophes have reigned supreme as the cause of famines for many years, is it still true today? In other words, economically and technologically speaking, does the world today possess a certain prowess that would allow man to circumvent the hardships inflicted by Mother Nature? One scholar laments that “Once we begin to see beyond the rather seductive and ironic depictions of the famine encounter, we will be in a position to recapture a glimpse of the real causes of famine and cautiously avoid the conflation of natural calamities with ‘man made’ famines”(Araia). Yet, other experts cling to environmental attributions, stating that natural disasters still lie at the root of all widespread hunger (FitzGibbon and Hennessy). I would argue, however, that while this second point, respectively, may initially be the culprit, pernicious famine is exacerbated largely by man. Thus, while Mother Nature may initiate hunger, man bears the onus for creating or at least not averting widespread famine.
Famine may be referred to as ‘the regional failure of food production or distribution systems, leading to sharply increased mortality due to starvation and associated disease…’ (FitzGibbon and Hennessy). Historically speaking, in a majority of the situations where this definition comes into play, natural disasters are the initial cause. Many possibilities exist within this realm including drought, earthquakes, flooding, tidal waves, and insects such as locusts (http://library.thinkquest.org/).
Pestilence is also an environmental condition which can lead to famine. It is commonly known that diseases of epidemic proportions such as AIDS and Malaria are highly prevalent in many of the African countries. These Sub Saharan territories, in which the threat of famine always exists, are crippled when entire chunks of the population fall prey to these infectious diseases which thus severely curtail a population’s ability to produce or acquire food (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Yet, while all of these environmental issues, are certainly problems, countries internally and internationally should be able to circumvent these issues to prevent the wide spread famine that follows the initial hunger.
The natural disasters stated above do not necessarily result in a famine. A flood may wipe out the crops for an entire country which causes initial hunger; yet, famine happens later when many die of starvation due to poor governance. Colonialism is an example of this phenomenon.
The colonialization of the imperial powers in the African countries caused many problems. Their insistence on growing cash crops continues today so that “…the persistence of using good land to grow ‘cash crops’ such as coffee, tea or cashews for export, continues in many countries today. Often the best land is used in this way” (FitzGibbon and Hennessy). In addition, the problem is not exactly lack of rainfall “…but the vulnerability of a given society that wholly depends on a rain-fed agriculture” (Araia). Theories abound as to why exactly Africa remains underdeveloped today. Whatever the exact cause may be, exploitation of colonial powers certainly did not help Africa’s long term development. This underdevelopment only perpetuated famine today.
Poor governmental planning is also a cause of famine. While a natural disaster may devastate the crops in a region, a sound government should have stored enough food or resources to acquire sufficient provisions to prevent widespread death from starvation. Also, the world community should step in to remedy the problem. Poverty is also rampant in Africa, and many situations occur in Sub Saharan countries today where food exists but the people are simply to poor to buy it. Obviously, fixing these solutions are easier said then done; yet, it demonstrates how in these circumstances, famine is caused by man and not the environment.
In addition to man exacerbating the hunger that stems from a natural disaster, certain famine occurs completely void of environmental problems. War, including internal strife, which persistently has ravaged the African continent for decades, often involves pillaging, looting, and burning. This has caused thousands to go hungry and die as a result of this man made famine (FitzGibbon and Hennessy).
Another example of man made famine is genocide. Often, dictators in power will suppress food from their enemies in order to eliminate them. Hunger is also used as a tool in order to cause certain sects of the population to comply. Sometimes, it can be harnessed as a means of punishment. Examples include Ethiopia and the Sudan where internal strife and the government’s suppression of food for factions of their populations occurred. Graft can also produce famine in a population. In corrupt governments, which are pervasive in Africa, food and aid from other countries is sometimes confiscated by corrupt officials who then sell the resources for their own profit preventing the aid from getting to the people it was intended for (FitzGibbon and Hennessy).
Sudan serves as an example of a direct link between government and famine. In this case, in 1997, the northern government decided it would not allow international planes to land in the South to administer aid because of the civil war that was occurring. In essence, they thought that by stopping the aid, they could eliminate their enemy by starving them to death and also illicit support by placing blame for the food shortage on their enemy (FitzGibbon and Hennessy).
A similar example occurred in Ethiopia in the mid 80’s where the government halted the flow of food into Eritrea during a famine because of threatening rebel forces. “Through these actions, the government hoped to reduce the support for Eritrean rebels, and eventually to force them to surrender. However, these acts caused many thousands of deaths within Eritrea” (FitzGibbon and Hennessy)
Another example in which government is to blame is Niger. Nigerian leaders denied there was a food shortage and turned away 19 million dollars from the World Food Programme (WFP). The governmental leaders accused the WFP of exaggerating the problem and denying the mass starvation (http://news.bbc.co.uk).
Natural disasters certainly are a problem and they live up to their name, disaster. Today, however, it seems that man is the true disaster in regards to famine. Examples abound where famine after a natural disaster could have been prevented if there had been proper planning and support from the international community. If utilized properly, technology, production, and distribution could ensure that there are adequate resources to feed the entire world population. Also, in today’s day and age, famine is solely a man made problem with the persistence of poor governance, war and poverty. Despite natural disasters being the root of some hunger and loss of food, man is the ultimate cause of death due to starvation.
Helpful Websites: http://chora.virtualave.net/ghelawdewos-famine2.htm
http://www.ucc.ie/famine/roots/pdfs/Roots%20of%20Famine2
24 comments:
Jamie,
I agree with you when you say that famine is initiated by nature but worsens as a result of man kind. It is true that governmental planning or foreign aid could prevent some of the famine, but i would like to propose one more reason that famine might be so prevalent in these countries. Perhaps it goes back to the corruption of African leaders. their abuse of monetary resources and their general lack of care for their people could be a large reason these countries are running into so much trouble. Maybe, if the leaders cared about their citizens welfare they could avoid some of the strife associated with the shortages of food.
Jeff L.
Jamie,
Well written. I agree that famine is a man-made disaster. If properly managed, there could be enough food produced in this world to feed all inhabitants. The man-made problem "feeding" the famine crisis is the idea of "class" difference. Only those who can "afford" food can eat and live. Until we get over the idea of "class", there will always be people starving all around the world, even in the US.
I think that enabling everyone to eat would produce additional problems including the dramatic increase of the global population. If such a redistribution of food is actually implemented, I think it should be done with educational amendments to prevent the abuse of the system leading to the eventual need to develope an even more extensive food distribution system in the future.
I definately think that famine is a man-made problem that we all need to address.
It's something we should all think about and appreciate everytime we choose to waste food.
Jamie,
I agree with your position. Nature can start problems with famine, but since governments do not do enough to fix the problem, they are actually adding to it. Along with governments taking action to fix the famine problem, they also need to have more long-term planning for natural disasters that will occur in the future. For example, many governments do not allocate enough resources to the agriculture sector in the first place. In most cases, they waste resources on military expenditures, corruption, clientelism, etc. instead of giving it the agriculture sector which contains the majority of the population. So when a disaster does strike, governments have little means to fix it. One example was the government of Zimbabwe. Government officials did not allocate anything to the agriculture sector, so when a drought came, the harvest that season was poor. And as a result, the people had nothing to eat. African governments need to efficiently manage resources so that they can deal with a natural disaster when it strikes. If they have the means to do so in the first place, it is a shame that they can let their people suffer at their own hands.
--Kristy G
In one of our readings, the author claims that there has been no substantial famine in a free democratic country with a relatively free press. I think this underscores the whole issue. While i do think that other governments could be doing more to end over all hunger, the very governments of the countries experiencing famine are standing in the way. As long as countries like North Korea refuse to even admit they have a famine problem in the face of overwhelming facts, how much can the world community do. If countries would be more attentive to their citizens and more willing to admit problems, the world community could react faster.
Jeff,
I could not agree with you more. Unfortunately, today, a large cause of famine in Africa is due to corrupt leaders. In my blog, I mentioned the problem of graft in which food aid is sold by the local governments to the highest bidder which often prevents the food from reaching the people it was intended for. Another example is that of Niger. Here, corrupt government officials refused to recognize the famine crisis in their country insisting the rumored food shortages mere was propoganda. As a result, they turned down millions of dollars worth of aid and many of their people starved to death. So, again, I couldn't agree with you more. The awful truth to the matter of famine today is that millions have died unnecessary deaths due to these corrupt and narcissistic leaders.
Rosalyn,
In response to your question, obviously solving the issue of famine is easier said than done. While I feel famine as a whole could be prevented internally and by the world community, that is not an easy task. I think one thing, however, that discourages international aid is the corruption that has been proven to take place within Africa. Often times, unless their is a full scale commitment on the part of the doner to go into the country and personally administer the aid, there is no guarentee that it will reach those that are truly in need. This leads countries and people to reavaluate donations.
It is often easy to say, that is not my problem, or I don't need to worry about that in response to famine or other problems. I think pictures like the one you mentioned in the beginning of the blog rattles people out of their complacency and compels them to donate.
In reguards to uniting the international community to stop the threat of famine, again this is easier said than done. In my blog I argued that famine was a man made problem, and I pointed out how to avoid or fix some of those ills such as better planning and an end to corruption. I also pointed out however that this would be no easy task. It seems the interntional community is unable to agree on just about anything today so I don't know.
I think a good start may possibly be a U.N document, similar to environmental and anti tourture declarations made in the past, that would pledge international commitment and aid in the event of any famine. We know, however, from previous such documents that countries drag there heals. You would have different countries debating if a famine was actually occuring, whether or not it actually called for aid, and if Bill Clinton was involved you would have a dispute over the word is.
Another possible solution would be to take preventetive measures and have the world community improve resources and different measures to counteract the effects of natural disasters.
Other than these two possibilities, I'm not sure. Did you have any solutions in mind when you posed this question. If so, I would be interested to hear them.
Matt Colip,
Thank you and very interesting response! It's seems many problems in the world today stem from an inherent class struggle, and I think you can make that arguement in regards to famine, although other factors, as I think you would agree, come into play. For instance, man induced famine, in which corruption rules, can be a tool of a totalitarian government, regardless of class or money, in order to kill off a sect of their people.
Secondly, everyone always talks about how we need to end global food shortages, but few take into account the populations surge that would result. This is another interesting and valid point you have. And your right, if we were to somehow unite the entire world community and stop death from starvation, there would be a few things we would have to work out first.
Kristy,
Obviously, I completely agree. Famine occurs and is sometimes even made worse by man. Great example with Zimbabwe, and I would like to expand on the underdevelopment of many agricultural sects. Often times, these countries still rely solely on cash crops implemented by colonial powers years ago. These types of crops do not lend themselves to being stored and helping out in the event of an environmental disaster.
Also, in some of these countries, the land is so infertile and dry, whether due to nature or over use, that money would be better spent getting these people a suitcase rather than pouring money into a fruitless land.
As you say, it is a shame that thousand die because the officials are to corrupt and callous, or that there was just a blatant disregard to take the steps necessary to avoid a famine.
Matt G,
I too came across this statistic, and your right it does reveal a point. Despite the imperial powers leaving a devestating and lasting problem in Africa, sometimes these countries today need to take a degree of responsibility. I think famine, as you highlighted is a great example of that. The same problem you mentioned in North Korea previously occured in Niger. And with all the aid that is squandered due to these corrupt officials, some of the blame must certainly lie with them. Not to mention that they are directly and solely responsible, sometimes, for initiating famines within their respective countries.
You also mentioned that African governments often stand in the way when other countries are trying to do their part. You are completely right. During the civil war in the Sudan, a few years back, the government blocked aid helicoptors from landing because they wanted to starve off their enemies.
This may be completely off topic and out of focus but rosalyn d. questions about mobilizing awareness and response had me wondering....when was the last time you felt guilty when you tossed away half your food at the dining hall because the burger wasn't 'just the way you like it' or the fries weren't fresh off the frier. How many times do we grumble about simple things or demand only 'certain' types of food because somehow hot chocolate with whipcream is so much more different without it.
There are a few suggestions to raise simple awareness amongst college students....fast for a day....or participate in a hunger banquet and see the typical staple diet of some less developed regions. It's an eye opener and can invoke a lot of guilt which is why we avoid thinking about these simple things.
As much as we may not be solving the famine in other parts of the world, let's not be nit picky about simple things and be a little more conscious of our own actions.
Anonymous,
I do agree with your additional mention of human-induced famine and corruption as a primary causes. Famine is an interesting challenge, to fix it requires fixing many other problems as mentioned. I wonder what our generation will bring to the famine table.
Dear everybody,
In no way at all are we being disrespectful, may we offer options you may want to ponder about on this sad issue. We truly believe the Light of Truth would shine and bring an end to all woes. Kindly visit http://www.theoriginalpath.com
"Do we human beings have deliberately closed our ears, pay no heed and unmoved and are untouched by the cry of the hungry small children, by the tears and moan of young children and mothers and the weak who are in pain and in distress and who are living in all kind of fears and are haunted by them. They wake up every morning with hope, hoping for sympathy and help from the rest of the world. However at the end of the day hope remains hope. What is left is frustration that accompanies them towards the night. Sleep on the ground, blanketed by the dew and under the darkness of the night. This is how the life of the people in some parts of the world today especially the poor among the refugees in the refugee’s camps are." ~TheOriginalPath.com~
Thank you
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Jeff
I agree with you but not completely aes many people should stop and think for a moment. What if no one can stop the famine? A great example of this was in ireland with the potato blight. Millions starved as no one knew what was killing all the potatoes.
In Africa victimes to the the famine are caused by weather problems, albeit that is caused by pollution but it is mostly due to where africa is located. The whole country is nearly a desert.
I agree totally about the corruption of politacal leaders but I think that that the famine can be serperated into three catogories: manmade, Natural and both.
A this is only my opinion from my knowledge of famines I welcome people to criticize me and disagree with as long as you have taken note of what I have said.
Kelvin sun (Grade 5)
Hello congratulations you did an excellent work with this blog about Is Famine a Man-made or Natural Disaster? I would like to know more about this topic and please when you have any update contac me please to read it. thanks for sharing!!
Hi all,
Great article! I think it really brings up some valid points around the causes of famine. However I just wanted to say that although yes these countries are often led by corrupt governments/leaders the fact still remains that these countries in crisis are paying billions of dollars a year in debt servicing to developed countries. And then there is the issue that in order to gain extended time periods to pay back these loans developed countries and financial institutions such as the world bank, international money fund and the paris club can place conditionalities on less developed countries. These conditions often include highly capitalist focused macro economic policies which almost ALWAYS have negative impacts for the lowest classes and pay little attention to the cultural and environmental needs of these countries. self-subsistance farmers and pastorialists are completely ignored and it is these people who tend to suffer most in times of famine. It is not what causes famine that we should be looking at but rather WHO causes food insecurity which leads to not coping in times of famine.
Hope my english was okay. :D.
Your English was great. Thank you for your comments.
70% of man is evil above all else save family and ally association. The principle of life was to comply to build together for the forces of natural and wild life was a greater threat to man as a whole. Today only nature is the ultimate treat to mankind. Now its just other humans in the way of prosperity in most of the civilized developed world. The ruthless mindset of has propelled mankind into a well oiled killing machine. Out of sight out of mind to many of humanities biggest and almost unsolvable problems. The Caucasian man has caused 70% of all of earth woes anyone who believes other wise simply is not living in reality its very hard to admit be true. False religion and man twisted religion, bad ideas laid waste to all of the major conflicts of the world.
Julius Jude. Thanks guys, you really help me a lot, but come to think of the topic. Don't we also agreed that our attitudes also contributes to famine? people of selfishness destroy fertile lands meant for farming. in my country people, both young and old,especially the youth destroy farmlands just for money. and we the youth who have to engage ourselves in agricultural sector are seeking for "white colour jobs" by migrating from lands full of milk and honey to slums cities. famine can be reduce and completely out of the continent if we the youth go back to till our fertile lands for food. aid is good but truth to be told, aid is burying Africa continent.
I'm so pleased to have been a small part of the work you've been doing. Enjoy your "retirement" and God bless you richly!
financially support to natural disaster effected people
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