It is easy to get the impression that outbreaks of acute hunger (often called “famines”) are isolated events, resulting from one-off situations such as crop failures, natural disasters or conflicts. In reality, what appear to be isolated disasters are really symptoms of a chronic lack of food security.

In 2000, 189 nations, including Canada, pledged to cut the proportion of people suffering from hunger in half by 2015, as part of the Millennium Development Goals. Today, despite those pledges, there are more than one billion hungry people worldwide.

Five key factors affect the global food system:

• Food system governance, including globalization of markets, subsidies and trade restrictions
• The impacts of climate change
• Competition for resources, particularly land, water and energy; consumer values and ethics
• Changing diets, notably an increase in demand for resource-intensive meat products
• Gender inequlaities

The combined effects of these pressures mean that increasing numbers of people will be at risk of hunger in the coming years.

Addressing root causes of hunger

CARE works with communities to address the root causes of lack of food security. One area in particular is the impact of climate change on food systems in the developing world. CARE works with communities to adapt to climate change risks, so that they are empowered to build the resilience of their community.

Rural women produce half the world’s food yet they own only one percent of the farmland. Further, women and children comprise the majority of the world’s chronically hungry people. CARE believes that to end global hunger and food security requires placing women at the heart of any response and empowering them to make change within their communities.

Feature project: Promoting food security in Honduras

In the 1960s Honduras was considered the breadbasket of Central America. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically. CARE, with the help of several partners, is working to improve quality of life in the region, while reducing vulnerability to food insecurity and natural disasters.
Learn more about the project