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Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction
The right to adequate food is critical for health, development, and survival. A lack of access to nutritious food can lead to malnutrition which can cause long-term health problems including poorer mental health and lower IQs.
Food security initiatives and sustainable agricultural practices are necessary to uphold this right.
Global Impact of Hunger
Global Impact of Hunger
Freedom from hunger is a fundamental human right essential for the survival, health, and development of individuals. Hunger and malnutrition impede physical and cognitive development, reduce productivity, and increase susceptibility to diseases. As many as 828 million people globally suffer from chronic hunger, highlighting the urgent need for effective strategies to combat food insecurity.
Community
Community
One critical aspect is to ensure access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. This can involve international cooperation, equitable distribution systems, and social safety nets to support vulnerable populations. Additionally, empowering local communities through education and resources can enhance food production and self-sufficiency.
Farmers
Farmers
Sustainable agricultural practices play a vital role in combating hunger. Techniques such as crop rotation, organic farming, and efficient water management help maintain soil health and increase agricultural yields. Support for smallholder farmers and investment in agricultural infrastructure are crucial for resilient food systems.
Global initiatives like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) aim to end hunger, achieve food security, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Collaborative efforts including governments, non-governmental organizations, and private sectors are essential to achieving these goals.
In sum, the right to be free from hunger is a cornerstone of human dignity and societal progress. By addressing the underlying causes and promoting sustainable practices, societies can ensure that individuals have the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives.
Causes of Food Insecurity
Causes of Food Insecurity
The root causes of hunger are multifaceted, including poverty, conflict, economic instability, climate change, and unsustainable agricultural practices. Addressing these causes requires a comprehensive approach that combines immediate relief efforts with long-term sustainable solutions.
Food Waste & Opportunity Cost Loss
Food Waste & Opportunity Cost Loss
Click the Food Security button to better understand how waste is a major player in our battle against food insecurity. This waste starts from high-impact choices of what is grown, to lesser impacts such as disease, spoilage, and other waste along the production to plate system.
Livestock & Greenhouse Gases
Livestock & Greenhouse Gases
Livestock production produces a variety of greenhouse gases including carbon, nitrous oxide, and methane. These gases in turn (in addition to rising temperatures) can stunt crops in several ways.
Carbon dioxide stunts crop growth, reducing protein and vitamin content in major global crops such as rice and wheat.
Nitrous oxide contributes to acid rain.
Farming Impacts on Soil
Farming Impacts on Soil
Livestock farming has an outsides impact on soil health, both in respect to fertilizers and herbicides used to produce feed, as well direct impact from their hooves, manure, urine, and grazing habits. Almost half of Earth's habitable land is used for farming, with livestock and their feed crops using the majority of that land.
Farming & Water
Farming & Water
More water is used for farming than any other human practice. Livestock use a far greater amount of water than other types of farm production.
In addition to using an outsized proportion of Earth's fresh water resources, livestock also produce a lot of pollution. Some of the biggest livestock specific pollution includes:
Manure and urine
Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used on their feed
Medications including sheep dip and antibiotics
Slaughterhouse and meat processing facility waste
Leather factory waste including heavy metals
These sources of pollution can not only make people sick directly, but also impact crops and wildlife. For example diseases and parasites from meat processing plants can harm fish, impacting future fish catch which in turn can increase hunger.
Pollution
Pollution
Both industrial and natural pollution sources threaten our food production and quality.
Soil Pollution
Soil Pollution
Some pollutants such as lead may be naturally present in certain places, but human activities have long impacted soil health, while new chemicals including plastic and PFAS are impacting everything from how soil holds water to the health of organisms that promote soil health, including worms and fungi.
Solutions
Solutions
Personal Level Actions
Personal Level Actions
Plant Based Diet & Shopping Habits
Plant Based Diet & Shopping Habits
Since animal products use so many resources and cause so much pollution, learning to cook plant-based meals, is a simple and relatively affordable method of reducing our ecological impact, while freeing up resources for our fellow Earthlings.
Grow Food at Home
Grow Food at Home
Anything from a few potted fruits or vegetables to a personal food forest can help boost food security. People in apartments can use containers to grow anything from herbs and tomatoes to expensive mushrooms.
For those with limited space, consider non-traditional growing options such as roof or balcony gardens, wall gardens, or even some guerilla gardening.
Community Level Action
Community Level Action
Combat Hunger via Charities
Combat Hunger via Charities
On our Combat Hunger page we focused on trying to find organizations and programs which aim to reduce hunger via strategically sensible methods such as reducing food waste (along with emissions and other ecological harms) by helping to get foods that would otherwise be wasted to people who would otherwise go hungry, as well as vegan organizations who provide people in need with sustainable food options instead of animal products which contribute to food insecurity and pollution.
This isn't the best way to combat hunger, but with how broken our current food system is, these organizations provide desperately needed band aid measures which can potentially help stem the issues instead of contributing to them (for example the problems that come from overproducing animal products to the point that even food charities can't help get rid of it all).
Educational & Hands-On Options
Educational & Hands-On Options
Getting hands-on experience with growing food and spreading locally-applicable skills can help improve nutrition locally, and affordably. This can be done on private land, in community green spaces including community gardens, as well as on school grounds. You can work alone or in a club, give or take lessons, or incorporate into a school curriculum which can reduce costs while increasing student nutrition.
Systematic & Business Changes
Systematic & Business Changes
Vegan Agriculture
Vegan Agriculture
Reducing the significant resource use and waste caused by the livestock industry relies not only on what people choose to eat, but also on what farmers choose to grow and what companies choose to serve.
Composting
Composting
Reducing waste means retaining valuable nutrients within our food systems. Composting can be done at home, on the farm, as well as at the community scale.
Civic Action
Civic Action
Contact Your Representatives
Contact Your Representatives
By contacting your local and national level representatives, you can help encourage them to help us work towards more sustainable and equal distribution of nutrition at the local and national or even international levels.
Subsidies
Subsidies
Currently subsidies (aka tax-payer money) is going primarily to massive corporations who are buying up every corner of our food system, taking advantage of people and planet, profiting off destructive practices, and even making people sick. Very little of this money goes to small or family farms, or farmers of healthier foods such as fresh produce or nuts. Organizations such as the Agriculture Fairness Alliance are working to reverse this pattern of government misspending, in order to create a kinder, healthier food production system.
Zoning Codes & Ordinances
Zoning Codes & Ordinances
Depending on your location, you might have to contend with HOAs or certain zoning rules about land use. Some people have been sued or even put in jail for growing fruits, vegetables, and even flowers in on their own land.
Certain instances, such as banning livestock from urban and suburban landscapes do make sense for a water security and health perspective. People underestimate the amount of manure produced by chickens, pigs, and cows, but this waste can quickly build up causing serious smell issues, potential pathogen spread, as well as water pollution during even small rain events.
Organizations
Organizations
International
International
International Food Policy Research Institute "provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Together with our partners, we generate needed evidence for country- and region-led policies that contribute to poverty reduction and help ensure that all people have access to safe, sufficient, nutritious, and sustainably produced food. Through multisectoral research and engagement with stakeholders, IFPRI informs effective policies, programs, and investments that contribute to productive livelihoods and sustainable, resilient, and equitable agriculture and food systems."
Africa
Africa
South Africa
South Africa
Abahlali baseMjondolo (The Residents of the Shacks) " is a movement of the poor in South Africa. We are an autonomous, democratic, membership-based social movement comprising more than 150,000 members, operating in 93 branches in 4 provinces. We are committed to building the democratic power of the oppressed from below, and using our collective strength to create a world in which land, wealth and power are shared fairly. Our politics is rooted in a universal commitment to affirming and defending human dignity as we struggle for land and housing, to foster communities of care, self-nourishment, and solidarity."
North America
North America
USA
USA
Agriculture Fairness Alliance (AFA)® "a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, is committed to:
Driving transformative policy changes to make plant-based food affordable and accessible for all, stimulate local plant-based agricultural systems, and support farmers in the transition from animal to plant-based farming.
As a leading voice for veganism in federal policy, our direct lobbying efforts in Washington, DC delivers a powerful, policy and food narrative changes directly to Congress.
At AFA our legislation & Farm Bill asks prioritize the allocation of subsidies and bailouts towards plant based foods and prioritizes ensuring funding goes to under-represented communities or communities that our food system has stolen from in the past. By doing so, we can help rebuild the economic strength of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Women farmers and consumers."
The National Black Food and Justice Alliance "represents hundreds of Black urban and rural farmers, organizers, and land stewards based nationwide working together towards an intergenerational, urban/rural movement to map, assess, train and deepen the organizing, institution building and advocacy work protecting Black land and work towards food sovereignty.
Together, we are designing, building and protecting the nourishing, safe and liberatory spaces our communities need and absolutely deserve."
Illinois
ISAP (Illinois Sustainable AG Partnership) "envisions Illinois as a sustainable agriculture system that results in improved soil health, water quality, profitable and resilient agriculture systems, and thriving communities."
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