Gemma Ware, The Conversation and Daniel Merino, The Conversation
This is a transcript of episode 16 of The Conversation Weekly podcast The racial hunger gap in American cities and what do about it. In this episode, we look at some of the reasons behind racial disparities…
A food bank in Alameda, California during the pandemic. Why are so many Americans struggling to get the food they need?
John G. Mabanglo/EPA
A future of heat and strife or humanity’s finest hour – our response to climate change today will define the 21st century.
An avocado orchard in Tzaneen, South Africa. Food insecurity in the country went up in the wake of COVID-19.
Photo by Guillem Sartorio/AFP via Getty Images
Government support for farmers, higher rainfall and grain imports have helped sub-Saharan Africa stave off food insecurity, but the region isn’t out of the woods yet.
A soldier looking over a maize field where Somali farmers are tending a crop in Dollow, northern Somalia.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/GettyImages
For decades Somalia has been in a near-constant state of food insecurity. This is due to a combination of stagnant crop production, a rapidly increasing population and political unrest.
People visit fruit section of a grocery store on Guadeloupe, an island group in the southern Caribbean Sea.
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Debt relief would improve Caribbean states’ response to global crises.
A tomato vendor attends to buyer at a makeshift food market established to cushion the effect of COVID lockdown in Lagos.
Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
To overcome food insecurity, especially in a pandemic, Nigeria’s emergency preparedness requires a total overhaul of it’s agri-food supply chain.
A group of young men wait on a road for work in South Africa. A staggering 74% of the country’s youth are jobless.
Photo by Frederic Lewis/Getty Images
Relying solely on job placement as an indicator of successful intervention misses out on outcomes that are equally important, or more so, amid high structural unemployment.
Largely as a result of school nutrition programs, today’s kids are eating more fruits and vegetables.
Sol Stock via Getty Images
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has further destabilized global food chains supplies. Technological innovations like blockchain can help address these challenges.
Food insecurity affected many students even before the pandemic hit, with international students the worst hit. But students and universities have shown a lot can be done to end the problem.
Countries must develop more efficient adaptation strategies to make food supply systems more climate-resilient.
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Large-scale droughts can have cascading impacts on food security. They can reduce yield, increase food prices, trigger changes in consumption and lead to unstable supply.
Local diets need to be sustainable, linked to human health and environmental sustainability.
shutterstock/ Jaime Garcia M
Indigenous foods such as cowpeas can improve people’s nutrition and help them cope with the hunger brought about by the effects of COVID-19 on foreign food imports.
Farmers, Rui Vaz village, Santiago island, Cape Verde.
https://www.alamy.com/farmers-rui-vaz-village-santiago-island-cape-verde-image62196524.html
Food safety agencies have assessed the risk of acquiring COVID-19 from contaminated food or food packaging. They found that currently, there’s no evidence that the virus is a food safety risk.
Through the Paris Agreement, the world’s countries agreed to work to keep global warming well under 2 degrees Celsius.
Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images
The US is formally back in the Paris climate agreement as of today. As one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, it has a lot of work to do, with food security, health and safety at stake.
Fruit and vegetables at a market in Kenya. The WHO is pushing for consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, fish and unsaturated fats.
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When a pandemic hits, questions that immediately arise include what impact there will be on public health, the economy and other aspects of society. Another set of questions involves response priorities…