State of Global Hunger: Global Hunger Index 2010

It has been suggested that global hunger, rather than being halved in pursuit of the Millennium Development goals is actually getting worse. However, according to the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI),  published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),  hunger and food security in many nations has not changed over the last decade.

The GHI is calculated for 122 developing and transition countries countries and it’s rates are based on three equally weighted indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate. Twenty-nine countries, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have levels of hunger that are "extremely alarming" or "alarming." Of the nine countries in which hunger levels rose eight were in Africa, including: Liberia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). North Korea was the only country outside Africa to show an increase in hunger levels, which has been blamed on negative trends in economic growth and food production.

The report claimed that "the high prevalence of child under-nutrition is a major contributor to persistent hunger," the biggest contributor to the global figure, accounting for almost half of the score.

Addressing issues during pregnancy and the first two years of life could provide critical opportunities for preventing future health problems among children, as undernourishment during early childhood (those first two years) can cause irreversible, long-term damage.

“In order to improve individual GPI scores “countries must accelerate progress in reducing child malnutrition. Considerable research shows that the window of opportunity for improving nutrition spans from conception to age two. After age two, the negative effects of under-nutrition are largely irreversible" said Marie Ruel, director of IFPRI's poverty, health and nutrition division and co-author of the report. Furthermore, the need to attend to the health of all women, but specifically mothers was also highlighted as “crucial to reducing child malnutrition” by Bärbel Dieckmann, the chair of the German NGO Welthungerhilfe, who explained that “Mothers who were poorly nourished as girls tend to give birth to underweight babies, perpetuating the cycle of under-nutrition.”  The report estimated that the burden of child undernutrition could be cut by 25-36 percent by providing universal preventive health services and nutrition interventions for children under two and their mothers during pregnancy and lactation.

While major gains have been made over the last 20 years in reducing hunger and undernourishment (hunger levels fell by one quarter), the number of hungry people has recently begun to rise. The report defines world hunger levels as "serious" and notes that recent spikes in food prices has pushed the number of undernourished people in the world beyond one billion.

To download the Data, click here. 

Window Farming: Growing Food in your Flat

A new project has introduced city slickers with a new, innovative way to grow food in their homes, by using their  creating new ways  apartment windows.  The Windowfarm project creates kits that allow urban apartment dwellers to grow a diverse group of plants in a modular, hydroponic "farm" kit that hangs in front of window frames.  

Windowfarms use repurposed plastic bottles (supplied by the purchaser) along with a pump and irrigation system that circulates nutrient-laden water to your plants. The vertical systems open design allow apartment residents to grow up to 32 vegetable plants in a typical apartment window, ranging from tomatoes, snow peas, and lettuces, to many other vegatables, allowing urban dwellers to produce their own fresh produce and herbs year- round, as well as potentially cutting down on grocery bills.  The company also sees the projects as a potential way to address food deserts in areas experiencing food poverty and environmental injustices (particularly low income neighborhoods).  While this may be an idealistic view, the company has also created educational units to be used in classrooms, and runs a contest so that even schools lacking funding can incorporate them into science/ classroom curriculum. 

The company considers the projects to be “R&D-I-Y, or research and develop it yourself.” Windowfarms founder, Brooklynite Britta Riley, sees the kits as a “public mass collaboration on hydroponic food growing research & development,” and a way for non-experts to contribute to the green revolution.  Currently over 17,000 people world over have joined the window farming community and the kits are being used as far as China and


To learn more about Windowfarms kits, click here.
To listen to more about Windowfarms on NPR, click here.

Changing the Way We Eat - TEDx comes to Manhattan

On February 12, 2011, TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” will take place in New York City.  The day long event will highlight various aspects of the sustainable food movement and current projects and work being done to shift the current food system from industrially-based agriculture to one in which healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all.

Speakers with various backgrounds in food and farming will share their insights and expertise and relevant information from this years TED conference will be reviewed.  The event hopes to promote the development of new synergies and new ideas to help bolster the sustainable food movement.

To learn more, click here.

To apply, click here.

NYC's Greenhouse for Growing Little Gardeners

Photo credit: Phoebe Zheng/The Epoch Times

Monday marked the launch of the NYC Greenhouse Project a 1,420 square-foot, state-of-the art rooftop greenhouse in Manhattan. 

To read more in the Epoch Times, click here.

To read more on the NY Times City Room Blog, click here.

To watch the launch, click here.