World Food Distribution

When discussing global food distribution it becomes quite obvious that we do not live in an equal world. Referring to numbers and statistics would show you that the percentual share of malnutritioned people in the developing world has gone down over the last few decades; in 1970 it was 37% and 2007 17% (facts from Wikipedia) - since that population has gone up considerably more than with 100% the actual number of people has gone up. Bear in mind that since 1970 the per capita world food production has gone up! How does this equation work? It is quite simple, in some countries the population consumes more.

Can The Planet Sustain Us?
At the current rate of food production, if it could be evenly distributed, there is more than enough to feed each single individual well. The fact is that in some parts of the world food is thrown away everyday. Obesity and other food over consumption related problems are common in big parts of the developed world. But it is not that simple. What has to be done is to start effective food production where people are malnourished, it is not realistic to think that anything else is possible in the near future. Transport costs and the perishable nature of some products are reasons to that.

Some scientists argue that even though our planet can sustain us right now, we are heading for a catastrophe. This would be because nature´s reaction to changes is not direct. Soil gets exhausted and that might only become evident in a few hundred years. If this is true, we have to start regulating our birth rates and our food distribution. There are numerous examples of civilizations that have gone under due to these circumstances, to think that we know better might be a huge mistake that our future generations would pay for.

The Way Forward
Effective agriculture has not been developed in most parts of the starving world. This has to be done first and handled by knowledgable scientists that not only think in a 5 year perspective. This costs money so world wealth probably has to be re distributed for those means, this is of course already done but in no way has it been enough or successful so far. There are huge biological, logistical, cultural, educational and political problems in the way.

Another more controversial one is to start to limit the population growth rate in these regions effectively. This sounds harsh but is in my view necessary to be able to get these countries away from malnutrition. In China the one child rule was very efficient and I think we all understand how big the population of China would have been without it. Arguments like it violates peoples rights and life is sacred can be balanced with what right it is too starve and how sacred suffering is.