With the increase in the global population from 6.4 billion in 2003 to 7.4 billion in 2013 to over 8 billion in 2023, we now face not only global hunger issues but nutritional issues too.
According to the WHO unhealth eating patterns from 1990 to 2010 have outpaced dietary improvements in most parts of the world, including poor regions of the world. The British Medical Journal “The Lancet” in a 2015 report predicted that by 2020 almost three in four (75%) of all non- transmittable diseases will be diet related – heart disease including diabetes, cancer and other noncommunicable diseases.
In 2008 according to the WHO nearly four-fifths (75%) of all deaths relating to non-transmittable diseases – heart disease, cancer etc. affecting low and lower-income countries and not in first world countries as one might expect.
800 million people were suffering from hunger – an insufficient daily calorie count, according to a 2014 report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA). This problem is further compounded by dietary deficiencies which causes “stunting” in growth. Stunting not only reduces the growth height of a child but impairs cognitive functions and a weakened immune system. Approximately 1.8 billion children suffer from stunting and 2 billion from nutritional deprivation which causes long-term health problems into adult life.
WHO estimate half a million children each year go blind due to vitamin A deficiency, and 1 in 5 maternal deaths are due to iron deficiency.
Intensive farming which is being promoted to tackle our population explosion is not the solution.
Intensive farming practices have been linked to a range of environmental problems. These include land pollution, deforestation, habitat destruction and degradation, introduction of chemicals to ecosystems, food chains and environments, and loss of biodiversity.
The high concentration of livestock in factory farms inevitably results in a build-up of animal waste. When factory farms spray liquid manure onto fields, the amount of waste applied often exceeds what the crops can take up, leaving the rest to escape into the air or runoff into surface waters. This improper collection and disposal of untreated animal waste can harm soil health, local water supplies, and human health.
Pesticides and fertilizers used on crops fed to animals are a major contributor to land pollution. Inevitably, a portion of fertilizers washes into waterways along with eroded sediments and this can lead to the creation of dead zones that kill aquatic life. Additionally, use of artificial fertilizers in place of manure can eventually deplete soils, making them lose their ability to hold water and makes them subject to erosion.
Livestock production already consumes 83% of global arable land and consequently there is a clamour to reallocate forests into agricultural land. It’s estimated that between 1991-2005, 70% of deforestation in the Amazon Basin could be attributed to the beef industry. Meanwhile, global forests, once a crucial carbon sink, have been cut down at such an alarming pace that they are now a net contributor to GHG emissions.
Countries in red (see above map) who’s populations have tripled in the last 65 years has increased the global population by almost 60% from 1960 – an increase of 4.5 billion people. Of the 4.5 billion, 66% of the increase came from lower or lower middle income countries.
There appears to be a correlation between low income countries and rapid population growths, which may be compounded by:
- Foreign Aid which is mainly used to prop up governments via military aid.
- Corrupt government with an unfair wealth distribution
- Global corporations
There should be a debate to save our planet.