World Poverty
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than one billion people
in the world today live in poverty. Jeremy Rifkin, author of Beyond Beef - the
Rise and Fall of the Cattle Industry, comments: "Increased poverty has
meant increased malnutrition. On the African continent nearly one in every four
human beings is malnourished. In Latin America, nearly one out of every eight
people goes to bed hungry each night. In Asia and the Pacific, 28 percent of
the people border on starvation, experiencing the gnawing pain of perpetual
hunger. In the Near East, one in ten people are underfed."
In Somalia, a United Nations report states that a majority of the rural population
has already exhausted food supplies and is at present limited to eating one
scanty meal a day. In the war-torn regions of Kosovo, tens of thousands of refugees
still struggle with meager rations.
World hunger is a serious problem. We have given just a glimpse of this
escalating human tragedy. The compelling truth is that never before in human
history has such a large percentage of our species - nearly 20 percent - been
malnourished. Between 40 million and 60 million people die each year around
the world from hunger and related diseases. Sadly, the toll is heaviest on the
world's children.
Malnutrition
In his forward to UNICEF's 1998 "State of the World's Children" report,
Secretary General Kofi Anan spells out a simple but most pressing truth.
"Sound nutrition can change children's lives, improve their physical and
mental development, protect their health and lay a firm foundation for future
productivity. Over 200 million children in developing countries under the age
of five are malnourished. For them, and for the world at large, this message
is especially urgent. Malnutrition contributes to more than half of the nearly
12 million under-five deaths in developing countries each year. Malnourished
children often suffer the loss of precious mental capacities.
Malnutrition is now readily linked to the poor growth of children and adolescents,
low-birth weight babies, and a child's capacity to resist illness.
The right to good nutrition
However far-reaching the benefits of nutrition may be, ensuring good nutrition
is also a matter of international law. The right to proper nutrition receives
its fullest and most commanding expression in the UN's 1989 Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
Under the Convention, virtually every government in the world recognizes the
right of all children to the highest attainable standard of health - specifically
including the right to good nutrition.
Under the Convention's pre-eminent guiding principle, good child nutrition is
a right because it is in the "best interests of the child."
Article 24 of the Convention specifies that States parties must take "appropriate
measures" to reduce infant and child mortality, and to combat disease and
malnutrition through the use of readily available technology and through the
provision of adequate, nutritious foods and safe drinking water.
Considering the above, we can only conclude that every human being on the planet
is obligated to alleviate child malnutrition on the basis of international law,
scientific knowledge, practical experience and basic human morality.
Hunger in a world of plenty
At the United Nations World Food Summit in Rome in 1996, the theme for the large
international gathering was "Hunger in a World of Plenty." United
Nations representatives and NGO's from around the world met to discuss ways
to solve this pending global crisis that continues to escalate and challenge
the conscience and sustainability of humankind in the twenty-first century.
The meeting's secretary general Dr. Kay Killings-worth explained that the problem
was not insufficient food production but inequitable distribution. "The
result is that the food does not reach the needy."
Making our lives expressions of our spirit
Author of the bestselling Diet for a New America, John Robbins writes: "The
existence of so much hunger in the world is a reality we cannot deny. It is
a reality that challenges us deeply: it asks us to become more fully human."
Robins argues that the world hunger problem is not only the responsibility of
the United Nations, but of every human being on the planet. "When we remember
those who are without food," says Robins, "something is awakened within
us. Our own deeper hungers come to surface - our hungers to live fully, to bring
our lives into alignment with our compassion, to make our lives expressions
of our spirits."
A worldwide mission to feed and educate
Food for Life, a humanitarian mission of the International Society for Krishna
Consciousness (ISKCON), is one vegetarian group trying to make a difference
in the lives of the world's hungry. Their mission "to bring about a peaceful
and prosperous world through the liberal distribution of sanctified vegetarian
food" has a twofold strategy:
1. Feeding programs
a. Free food restaurants
b. Budget restaurants
c. Emergency relief
d. Home delivery (meals on wheels)
e. Shelters (homeless, single women)
f. School and college feeding programs
g. Food distribution at temples
h. Cultural/religious festivals
2. Moral Education
a. Sales of vegetarian cookbooks
b. Interfaith meetings
c. Networking with church groups
d. Media relations
e. Religious publications
How can vegetarians and vegans contribute?
Since malnutrition is such a fundamental factor of world hunger, every year
vegans and vegetarian groups spend large portions of their budget educating
the public about the value of plant-based nutrition. However, is this really
enough?
Having visited more than fifty countries to help establish feeding programs,
my experience has shown me that the more practical solution of directly serving
a hot vegetarian meal to a hungry person has a far more tangible effect on their
stomach at that time than any million dollar education program. Don't get me
wrong. Both programs have their merit. The saying that by teaching someone to
grow food you can feed them for life still holds true. However, the right circumstances
may not always be available and so aside from the efforts of groups like "Food
not Bombs" and "Food for Life" there has not been much "practical"
relief activity from the vegetarian/vegan community.
I feel there is a need to change this imbalance. Here are some practical steps
to do just that.
1. Feeding programs
The vegetarian/vegan community could take the following actions:
a. Budget vegan restaurants
b. Home delivery (meals on wheels)
c. Shelters (homeless, single women)
d. School and college vegetarian clubs
e. Financial support for existing relief work
The practical strategies outlined above are very similar to Food for Life's
with the exception of free restaurants, emergency relief and temple distribution.
Offering financial support to vegan/vegetarian relief agencies is a simple way
to achieve the same.
1. Nutrition education to Opinion Leaders
a. UNICEF
b. World Food Program (WFP)
c. Networking with relief agencies
d. Networking with church groups
e. Media relations
f. Government publications
g. Education Department
h. Health Department
All of the above organizations and publics could be presented with professionally
packaged kits containing the latest scientific studies supporting a plant-based
diet. These kits could be produced by IVU and sold to member agencies. A very
important consideration in information distribution programs is the need for
consistency. The information should come from one source, IVU.
Conclusion
We strongly believe that it is the responsibility of every human being on the
planet to take action to eradicate malnutrition that is killing upwards of 12
million children every year. This has been pointed out by many leading vegetarians
and confirmed by the United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Despite the efforts of many relief agencies, world hunger is on the rise.
Vegetarian and vegan communities around the world should accept the challenge
to establish local feeding programs and educate not just the masses but the
world opinion leaders about the global benefits of a plant-based diet. The hungry
children of the developing world are depending on you.