Causes of food security

There can be many causes of food insecurity. Some causes are short term and are brought about by nature being destructive, eg, when floods, cyclones, droughts, or locust plagues destroy crops and food stores.

Floods

After the cyclones

Drought

Food insecurity is also caused by humans being destructive and fighting wars. A war usually means that many will go hungry. Bombs, bullets and land mines make it impossible to plough, plant and harvest.

Wars

Sometimes the problem is in the environment. If there is not enough fresh water for all the crops the people need to irrigate; if soil erosion has been extensive; if the local rivers and seas have been overfished … then the people will suffer long term food insecurity.

Land Erosion

Sometimes the causes of food insecurity are social and economic. This can happen if farmers have very small farms, or uncertain tenure, or use poor farming techniques, and cannot grow enough food for themselves and to sell to others.

Poor farming technology

Biofuels

Despite their espousal of free market principles, both the US and the European Union have led other developed countries in providing state incentives for production of biofuels. Ambitious mandated targets are bolstered by global subsidies that totalled $20 billion in 2009, more than double the amount of foreign aid available for agriculture in developing countries.

Corn, the raw material used to produce ethanol © Network for New Energy Choices

The lure of biofuels for these governments is lower dependence on fossil fuels, together with reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Ethanol and biodiesel are manufactured from plant crops and are predominantly used as petrol additives. However, the net saving in carbon dioxide emissions from maize-based ethanol has been exposed as less than 20%.

For 2011, 40% of the US corn (maize) crop is earmarked for ethanol. This represents 15% of projected world maize production and is enough to feed over 400 million people for a year.

European targets for biofuels require a land area twice the size of Belgium and are therefore pursued by acquiring rights to agricultural land in developing countries, often those struggling with national food insecurity.

The world faces a future in which rich countries may seek national energy security through “food-for-fuel”, regardless of the state of global food security. Continued upward pressure on prices and price volatility appears inevitable.


Trade-offs between food and biofuels: a summary of the basic biofuels dilemma from Professor Rosaland Naylor, Department of Environmental Earth System Sciences, Stanford University.

The Water Data

Freshwater availability comes with a few huge caveats. While there is roughly 1.4 billion km3 of water on the planet, the vast majority, or 97.5%, is in the oceans in the form of salt water that is unfit for human consumption without first taking the salt out of it, a costly, environmentally intensive method called desalination.

Freshwater, the remaining 2.5%, is what humans (and other land based organisms) depend on for survival. Freshwater is not evenly distributed across the planet, it varies in both quantity and quality where it is found. Roughly 70% of freshwater is found in glaciers, snow, and ice, but most in areas largely inaccessible to the vast majority of us, like Antarctica and Greenland. Another 30% is groundwater – the greatest source of available freshwater for human consumption.

Source: UN Water

Only .3% of the freshwater on the planet, an estimated 105,000 km3, is the water that we find in rivers, streams and lakes. Combining these surface and groundwater sources, there is about 200,000 km3 of freshwater supplies available for human and ecosystem consumption. This is still less than 1% of all freshwater resources. Increases in melt flow and precipitation still need to be captured and stored – which is currently not the case in most places. Of concern is that groundwater supplies are not easily replenished, and if the hydrological cycle is disrupted enough, aquifers can be exhausted. Freshwater is finite, and with continued (see projected) global increases in population, hyper-water stress is likely in many regions.

Water Security Organisations

Here is a list of some organizations working on water and sanitation (WatSan) issues in multiple countries around the world.

CIRCLE OF BLUE

Circle of Blue is an international network of journalists, scholars and citizens that connects humanity to the global freshwater crisis. A project of the non-profit Pacific Institute, America’s premier water policy think tank, Circle of Blue pioneers communications and information technology with a new model for moving vital issues into the mainstream. It inspires and informs decision making with original reporting, dynamic data spaces and engaging social media.


GLOBAL WATER

Global Water is an international, non-profit humanitarian organization focused on creating safe water supplies, sanitation facilities and related health programs for rural villagers in developing countries. We believe the lack of safe drinking and agricultural water and lack of access to sanitation facilities are the root causes of disease, hunger and poverty throughout the world today.


GLOBAL GREEN USA

Global Green USA is a national environmental organization addressing three of the greatest challenges facing humanity:

• Stemming global climate change by creating green buildings and cities.
• Eliminating weapons of mass destruction that threaten lives and the environment.
• Providing clean, safe drinking water for the 2.4 billion people who lack access to clean water.
• President Gorbachev founded the organization in order to create a new approach to solving the world’s most pressing environmental challenges by reconnecting humanity to the environment.

H20 FOR LIFE

H20 for Life connects schools in the United States with schools in developing countries to complete WASH (WAter, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Schools projects. A nonprofit, all-volunteer organization run by teachers, parents, and students, H20 for Life aims to help students build an allegiance to and an understanding of their partner school through curriculum and experiential learning while raising funds for WASH in Schools projects. 100 percent of contributions raised by schools goes directly to partner school projects. All overhead expenses are funded through in-kind donations and grants.

WORLD WATER COUNCIL

The “international water policy think tank” created in response to a recommendation of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Mission is to “promote awareness of critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management, and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on earth.” Activities include policy development; organizing meetings, including a triennial WWC Forum; monitoring the WWC’s World Water Vision; and establishing a World Commission on Water, Peace, and Security. Members of WWC are some 300 organizations in 40 countries.

What Can Be Done To Water Security?

Wastewater
Wastewater treatment is important for preventing disease and protecting the environment. Wastewater is treated by publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) and by private facilities such as industrial plants. There are approximately 2.3 million miles of distribution system pipes and approximately 16,255 POTWs in the U.S. 75% of the total U.S. population is served by POTWs, while the remainder is served by decentralized or private septic systems. POTWs treat 32 billion gallons of wastewater every day.

EPA's initial security focus has been on POTWs. The distribution of POTWs by size and percentage of population served is shown below. POTWs with existing flows greater than 10 million gallons per day (mgd) are considered large; they number approximately 533 systems. POTWs with existing flows between 1 and 10 mgd are considered medium; they number approximately 2,665 systems. POTWs with existing flows of less than 1 mgd are considered small; they number approximately 13,057 systems. For purposes of determining population served, 1 mgd equals approximately 10,000 persons served.

The graphic below shows that while 80% of the systems treat less than 1mgd, these systems provide wastewater treatment to only 11% of the population served by POTWs. In contrast, systems that treat more than 1 mgd provide wastewater treatment to 89% of the population served by POTWs.

Disruption of a wastewater treatment system or service can cause loss of life, economic impacts, and severe public health incidents. If structural damage occurs, wastewater systems can become vulnerable to inadequate treatment. The public is much less sensitive to wastewater as an area of vulnerability than it is to drinking water, however wastewater systems do provide opportunities for terrorist threats.

Water Saving

We all use dish washers, clothes washers, even showers. But have you ever asked yourself – Am I wasting water? Well here are some reasons to save and keep water smoothly flowing, and will help the community, a lot!

• Only run your dishwasher when it is full to make the best use of water, energy and detergent. A full dishwasher is more efficient than washing the same load by hand.
• Cut down on the amount of rinsing you do before loading the dishwasher. Most modern dishwashers do an excellent job of cleaning dishes, pots and pans all by themselves.

• When purchasing a new appliance, look for one offering several different cycles. This will allow you to select more energy and water efficient cycles when heavy duty cleaning is not required.
• Take a quick shower rather than a bath and save an average of 20 gallons of water.
• Install a water-efficient showerhead with a flow rate of less than 2.5 gallons per minute. (Replace an existing shower head if a one gallon bucketplaced under the flow takes less than 20 seconds to fill.)

• Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or shaving and save more than 5 gallons per day.
• Instead of waiting for tap water to get cold enough for drinking, keep a bottle of water in the refrigerator. All told, consumers can save as much as $100 per year in water bills by making these simple household improvements. Likewise, fixing leaks also saves additional repair costs from water damage.

Water Security Under Global Change

The overwhelming focus in addressing climate change and the build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has been on the energy implications. How our energy consumption and sources have driven the problem, what alternatives will best alleviate it, and how do we transition toward these alternatives in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. This is an essential and enormous part of the challenge – without an aggressive strategy to reduce GHG and transition toward a carbon-less economy, there is no seriousness to the effort and the task at hand.

But if transforming the dynamics of our energy supplies and consumption is the primary challenge of mitigating climate change, effectively managing our freshwater resources in a manner that balances both ecological and human needs is a principal challenge in efforts to adapt to climate change’s impacts. Water is the medium through which many of the consequences of climate change will be most acutely felt. Increasing variation in flood and drought cycles, changing precipitation patterns, more extreme weather events, vulnerability to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, and of course vanquished glaciers, are the realities of a changing global climate (see IPCC Fourth Technical Assessment and the Technical Paper on Water and Climate Change here).

These changes will have dramatic impacts on livelihoods. The consequences will be greatest in the areas that are most vulnerable, many of which currently lack the resources to take steps toward climate resilience on their own. There is the prospect of mass migrations of people from regions where water resources are increasingly compromised to others where there is less stress. Asia is a case in point. The Himalayas provide freshwater resources for roughly a billion people – if these sources were to significantly retreat across the span of several decades, there could be dire repercussions. All these scenarios have very real costs and consequences – economic, environmental, and human.

Causes of water security

The causes of water security are varied. Some are natural and others are as a result of human activity. The current debate sites the causes as largely deterministic in that security is a result of identifiable cause and effect. However, if water security is the point at which water stress occurs (the point at which various conflicts arise, harvests fail and the like), then there are also less definable sociological and political causes. Many of the causes are inter-related and are not easily distinguished.

Causes of food security:

• Natural disaster, such as earthquakes or hurricanes
• Water contamination resulting from stormwater runoff
• System malfunctions
• Power outages
• Vandalism
• Human error
• Major water main breaks
• Sabotage/terrorism
• Waste leakage
• Civil unrest

Earthqueaks.

Hurricanes.

Water main breaks.

Civil unrest

Food security organisations

CARICOM/CARIFORUM

(Caribbean Community/Forum).

A Regional Programme was prepared in 2002 in close collaboration with the CARICOM/CARIFORUM Secretariat and subsequently approved by the Council of Ministers responsible for Trade and Development. The US$26 Million RPFS benefits 15 Small Island Developing States. It is financed in part by the FAO Trust Fund for Food Security (resources amounting to US$5.3 million from Italy), supplemented by US$1 million from other trust funds and almost US$5 million from FAO's Technical Cooperation Programme. A second and expanded phase of the Programme has been approved.

Pacific Islands Forum

A Regional Programme supports 14 Small Island Developing States. It was prepared in February 2002 with a budget of US$11.47 million. It is partly financed by the FAO Trust Fund for Food Security (resources amounting to US$7.064 million from Italy) and supplemented by US$2.8 million from FAO's Technical Cooperation Programme. A second and expanded phase of the Programme has been formulated and approved.



The Southeast Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade (SEACON)

A regional non-government and non-profit organization based in Malaysia. SEACON, as a network, is formed through partnership with grass-root and civil society organizations in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR. The main agenda for SEACON has been targeted towards providing a coordinated approach as well as integrated initiatives and research in areas of food security and fair trade, covering the 4A’s food security pillars: Availability, Accessibility, Affordability and Acceptability, founded on the principles of food sovereignty and human rights. SEACON upholds strongly that “Every person has a right to food, and food being safe, nutritious, acceptable, available, affordable and accessible at all times”.



UEMOA 
(West African Economic and Monetary Union)

A Regional Programme, which covers 8 countries within the Union, is supported by a UEMOA trust fund (US$4 million) and 3 Technical Cooperation Programme projects (totalling US$1 million), covering phytosanitary control, zoosanitary control and food safety. A second and expanded phase of the Programme is being formulated.



ASEAD 

ASEAD is aimed at improving the quality of agricultural statistics together with analysis of economic data in Thailand.
Accurate and timely data will give better serves to the governments and the private sectors both in Thailand and Asian countries.
ASEAD is a joint project by Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)

Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts - to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

FAO's mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy.


and MORE

What can be done on food security?

Specific programs to improve food security for those in need include:

• helping people improve their farms and productivity;
• constructing food stores and improving roads so that food can be moved to where it is needed or where it can be sold;
• promoting national and international trade to encourage economic growth and poverty reduction;
• improving the status of women and girls so they have more control over the areas in which they have traditionally been involved and can access new areas;
• ensuring that people, and especially children, receive food in emergency situations;
• promoting rural development, including sustainable agricultural, fishery and forestry production and management of natural resources;
• preparing for disasters and emergencies to meet transitory and emergency food requirements in ways that encourage recovery and rehabilitation
• “people centred” strategies such as setting up community based grain banks, helping rural households diversify their sources of income, and social protection schemes;
• improved water management practices such as building infrastructure for more efficient irrigation systems and small-scale water capture, storage and use;
• adopting farming practices aimed at conserving soil moisture, organic matter and nutrients –such as crop rotation and using mulch stubble and straw;
• using short-cycle seed varieties that allow for harvesting before the peak of the cyclone season.

Food Security under Global Change

Naturally, these climate changes have direct effects on agricultural production. It is anticipated that for moderate global average temperature increases (estimated between 1-3oC), there will be an overall increase in global food production. Additional temperature increases, however, would cause an o v erall fall in food production.

So who are likely to be the winners as the climate changes and who are likely to lose out? In very general terms, some regions at lower latitudes will become hotter and drier with a shortened growing season. Small scale and subsistence farmers will be at particular risk. The AR4 has also confidently predicted that by 2020, rain fed agricultural production will fall by 50% in many African countries. A number of arid and semi-arid areas may simply fall out of agricultural production. In contrast, other regions, in higher latitudes and including parts of Europe and the western USA, will become warmer and wetter with an extended growing season. This provides the potential of an increased level of production, though producers may need to adapt and change their agricultural techniques and the types of crops grown. The ability of a country to respond to this may well depend on its preparedness and wealth.

If predictions based on the current levels of global warming are realised, between 75 and 250 million people will be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change. By 2030, production from agriculture and forestry is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia due to increased drought and fire. By 2050, freshwater availability will be decreased in Central, South, East and S E Asia. Coastal areas will be at increased risk of flooding from the sea or the river megadeltas.

Overall, this means that we can expect malnutrition levels to increase in some of the worlds most vulnerable populations. Additionally, we need to anticipate more droughts, heat-waves and floods. This article has focused on the impact of climate change upon food security through agricultural production effects alone. However, the impact of climate change on other sectors like human health through changes in infectious disease vectors will also impact food security but are difficult to quantify.