A fairer world - The Tasmanian Center for Global Learning

Did you know?
  • India exports food, yet over 200 million of its people are undernourished. * 
  • Globally, food production per person increased in the period 1960-1990, despite population growth. *
  • One third of the world's population, about 2.7bn people, would experience severe water shortage within the next 25 years. *

Food and water

A hungry man is not a free man.
Adlai Stevenson

Eight hundred million people go to bed hungry every night. One-third of the world’s preschool children are malnourished, endangering their physical and mental development. The main cause of hunger is not lack of food; there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. People go hungry because they have neither the resources to grow food nor the money to buy it.

The solution to hunger lies in sustainable development for the world’s poor. For this to occur, high-income countries must end the unfair subsidies and trade barriers that deny farmers in low-income countries a fair price for the goods they produce.

The percentage of people with access to safe drinking water has increased since 1990, but more than a billion people still lack safe water. Because of population growth and global warming, water scarcity will be one of the greatest problems facing humanity this century.

See also The global economy and Agriculture.

Learn more about food and hunger
  • Food First  seeks to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger. Visit their site and discover the twelve  myths that many people have come to accept about global hunger.
  • Save the Children has a section on Hunger and Malnutrition which includes success stories and general background.
  • FIAN International is a human rights organisation that fights for the right of everyone to have adequate food. Their site contains a variety of resource materials.
  • Two sites that focus on world hunger are HungerWeb and Bread for the World. Both include good background materials and lists of relevant links.

Learn more about gaining access to safe water
  • UNESCO's Water Portal looks at all aspects of the world's water situation, including the challenges to life and well-being.
  • An organisation that works to broaden access to clean water is Water Aid Australia. On their site, you will find an analysis of global needs, policy strategies for change, development issues and country information sheets, plus an assessment of the likely returns from improving water availability and sanitation.


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