Some countries obese others malnourished.

[outdoorsnewzealand]

I've heard that the world currently produces enough calories for everyone to be well fed. The only study I could find was from FAO 2002, p.9 that states there is enough food to produce 2700 calories per person per day. Does anyone know of more recent studies?

Now if there is enough food what is stopping it from getting to the people who need it? Some possibilities are

• Greed
• Corruption
• Logistics
• Selfishness

I'm sure there are other factors too can you think of any? What are the most important factors? What can we do about them?

[Elixir]

I recently read on soompi, an article about how country leaders discussed the global food crisis during an 18 course meal. How ironic.

There could be lots of reasons why this is...but I think it's mostly corruption. Lots of leaders have the food but won't give it to their citizens =\. Actually everything you listed relates to one another.

[Brutha]

You actually a functioning state with a free media to prevent people from starving.
Systems are important.
Starvation in the third world has nothing to do with some people in western countrys eating to much.

[evelynlim]

I believe the reasons are mainly political and power.

[SomeRandomGuy]

Part of the problem is also wastefulness. This includes both overeating (how many people in the US do you think actually eat 2700 calories per day or less) as well as throwing out good food, etc.

[Brutha]

Part of the problem is also wastefulness. This includes both overeating (how many people in the US do you think actually eat 2700 calories per day or less) as well as throwing out good food, etc.

Why do you think that food that wasn't wasted by some American would somehow find it's way to someone who is malnourished?

[SomeRandomGuy]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Why do you think that food that wasn't wasted by some American would somehow find it's way to someone who is malnourished?

No, that isn't feasible. I do think, however, that distributors ship more food to the US than is actually necessary because they are able to sell it. If we didn't waste so much food, there would be less demand in the US and more could be sent to other countries. As long as some people here are willing to pay for food just to waste it, other people are going to be without food (unless, of course, the amount of food produced is increased).

[outdoorsnewzealand]

Originally Posted by SomeRandomGuy

As long as some people here are willing to pay for food just to waste it, other people are going to be without food (unless, of course, the amount of food produced is increased).

More demand for food will drive the price up making it more difficult for poor people to afford. Then again perhaps if the price was lower some people would stop producing food and the supply/demand balance would remain much the same.

I have a very poor understanding of the political problems that cause poverty in third world countries, does anyone know of a good book or website that I could read to get a better understanding?

Also what do the people here think we can do to help with the political problems?

[Apollia]

Originally Posted by outdoorsnewzealand

I have a very poor understanding of the political problems that cause poverty in third world countries, does anyone know of a good book or website that I could read to get a better understanding?

I think one major problem might be, when "aid" is given to Third World countries, it often comes at a price - it puts the countries into debt with interest that the countries have to somehow pay back.

Here are two links which might be helpful. Not sure how credible they are.

Poverty Facts and Stats - Global Issues

Originally Posted by The above website

For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.

(About a year ago when I last glanced at this website, the quote was "The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants." - so things seem to be getting worse).

Originally Posted by The above website

The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money.

---

MyDD :: The World Bank: Worse Than Wolfowitz

Originally Posted by The above website

Over a hundred countries in the developing world have taken to neo-liberal policies thanks to the insistence of creditors from the north, including the G8, the World Bank (WB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But after 20 years, it is clear that these policies have not worked. The poor are poorer with their governments spending a lot of money to pay back loans, activists say.

Aminata Toure Barry from Jubilee South, an organisation working against globalisation and for debt cancellation, said that her country, Mali, has already paid eight times the loans it owes to creditors from the North. "But we are still continuing to pay. In fact, the loan principal has increased by three percent since 1980," she said at a seminar on The Debt Cancellation Trap by G8, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at WSF Karachi Tuesday evening.

outdoorsnewzealand wrote:

Originally Posted by outdoorsnewzealand

Also what do the people here think we can do to help with the political problems?

Maybe, give grants to Third World countries, not loans - and cancel all the existing debt.

Best wishes,
Apollia

[outdoorsnewzealand]

Thanks for the links Apollia. Some good info in there.

Originally Posted by Apollia

Maybe, give grants to Third World countries, not loans - and cancel all the existing debt.

The idea of cancelling all existing debts sounds quite extreme, but poverty is an extreme problem so maybe it's appropriate. It would have to be very carefully managed to prevent the same situation from reoccurring.

It seems that the division between countries creates a lot of the problems. Not that large countries have always done well historically speaking. The "one consciousness" that Steve always pushes doesn't seem right to me but perhaps it would be good if everyone treated others in the world as "one of their own". This is in contrast to the common competitive approach.

I think we should be thinking more along the lines of how can we make the world better ... this job is accomplished at many levels personal, family, community, nationally and internationally.

[darthangel]

Globalism.

Both "winner and losers." And the people at the short end of the stick end up working for very menial wages to produce goods/services for the better off.

And you can bet the gap keeps widening as we go along.

[outdoorsnewzealand]

Originally Posted by darthangel

Globalism.

Both "winner and losers." And the people at the short end of the stick end up working for very menial wages to produce goods/services for the better off.

And you can bet the gap keeps widening as we go along.

@ darthangel I'm very keen to hear any other alternatives that you favor as well as some of your reasoning behind your point of view on globalism.

Dictionary.com defines globalism as "the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations." That fits pretty well with my idea of what the word means ... just trying to make sure we're talking about the same thing.

I guess it comes down to who is determining "the interests of the entire world", if it is just a collection of individuals in it for their own benefit then yes it's probably going to make things worse. Globalism gives the leaders more power so I suppose the potential for corruption and subsequent inequality would increase.