PLEASE - TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Pope Benedict XVI recently said that hunger and malnutrition had no place in the modern world. Hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world where the levels of production, resources and knowledge are enough to bring an end to these types of dilemmas and their consequences.
A cooked food vendor along the streets of Bangkok, Thailand
To mark the 2008 World Food Day, the Director General of Food and Agricultural Agency (FAO) Jacques Diouf said, “Our planet produces enough food to adequately feed its entire population.” Yet, nearly 854 million women, men and children will go to sleep on an empty stomach. Mr. Diouf, further said, “The right to food calls for a shift in paradigm from charity to rights. Ensuring that every human being has an adequate and stable supply of food is more than a moral imperative - it is the realization of a basic human right.
Skyrocketing food prices in many parts the world is causing major problems and undermining gains made in the reduction of global poverty. During my recent trips to many Asian countries, people have complained about the increase in cost to feed their families. I have listened to taxi drivers who complained about making less money nowadays and finding it difficult to bring food home.
Selling Bread on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The inflation in food price has caused riots and tensions in many Asian, African and Middle East countries. According to the World Bank President Robert Zoellick, “ Food prices have been driven higher, in part, by drought in Australia and in central Europe, and more demand for food in wealthy Asia. From 2005 through 2007, world wheat prices rose 70%, corn gained 80%, and dairy prices nearly doubled, up 90%.” Mr. Zoellick has said two billion people across the world are struggling with high food prices, and 100 million extra people in poor countries may be pushed into poverty by the crisis.
Valerie Gee, in her article entitled, “The New Hunger,” appeared in the issue No 55 of Asia Geographic writes, “ In Asia, inflated food prices have led to scenes of social unrest, most notably in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines. The sharp rise in prices have hit the poor hardest because food represents a much higher proportion of their expenditure than that of richer populations - a good 60 to 80 percent, compared to the 10 to 20 percent in industrialized countries.” According to the World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency, believes that 100 million people who were not facing urgent hunger six months ago are now in peril.
Even in the United States, the richest nation on earth, demand at food banks is up nearly 20 percent over last year. US food prices are expected to rise up by five percent this year. Next year, nearly 28 million American - that is one in ten Americans - are expected to use food stamps and that will cost the tax payers $39 billion.
The time has come for the world leaders to take a fresh look at the problems we have today. A new look at the problems the world is facing, involving consultations with experts from a wide spectrum of economic sectors, devoid of any personal and national interests and finally involving the people directly affected in the decisions must take place immediately. The solution calls for a combined effort that involve the application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches.
More than a century ago, Baha’u’llah, the Founder Prophet of the Baha’i Faith explained that recognition of the fundamental spiritual principle of our age, the oneness of humanity, must be at the heart of a new civilization. The foremost among the principles of the Bahai teachings is the oneness of humanity, which, the Baha’i writings state, “implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world had not yet experienced.” And at the heart of this change stands Baha’u’llah’s imperative: “Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.”
In a concept paper entitled, “ Valuing Spirituality in Development,” written by the Baha’i International Community for the World Faiths and Development Dialogue, London in 1998, stated “that the economics of food production and distribution will have to be reoriented and the critical role of the farmer in food and economic security properly valued.”
Raw papaya salad (SomTum) is very popular among people from North-East of Thailand
The paper further states, “Issues of food, nutrition, health and shelter are central to the challenge of providing an adequate standard of living for all members of the human family. The issues cannot, however, be tackled solely as technical or economic problems. Eliminating hunger and malnutrition, establishing food security, providing adequate shelter and achieving health for all will require a shift in values, a commitment to equity, and a corresponding reorientation of policies, goals and programs.”
Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith in addressing the basic needs in food and shelter, said,” In such a world society...(t)he economic resources of the world will be organized, it sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated... The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral and spiritual life of the entire human race.”
The well-being of mankind, it’s peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.” - Baha’u’llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha’i Faith
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