‘Too many people, not enough food’ isn’t the cause of hunger and food insecurity
‘Too many people, not enough food’ isn’t the cause of hunger and food insecurity
Gisèle Yasmeen
Senior Fellow, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs,
University of British Columbia
Nearly one in three people in the world did not have access to enough food in 2020. That’s an increase of almost 320 million people in one year and it’s expected to get worse with rising food prices and the war trapping wheat, barley and corn in Ukraine and Russia.
Climate change related floods, fires and extreme weather, combined with armed conflict and a worldwide pandemic have magnified this crisis by affecting the right to food.
Many assume world hunger is due to “too many people, not enough food.” This trope has persisted since the 18th century when economist Thomas Malthus postulated that the human population would eventually exceed the planet’s carrying capacity. This belief moves us away from addressing the root causes of hunger and malnutrition.
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