{"id":211592,"date":"2022-05-16T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=211592"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:06:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:06:42","slug":"inequality-tightens-its-grip-on-the-most-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/05\/inequality-tightens-its-grip-on-the-most-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Inequality Tightens Its Grip on the Most Vulnerable"},"content":{"rendered":"

13 May 2022 – <\/em>Please do not say you were not aware that the world produces enough food to feed all human beings on Earth, while nearly double the combined European Union\u2019s population go to bed hungry\u2026 every single night.<\/p>\n

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Every year, 570 million tons of food are wasted at the household level people. Global food waste accounts for 8\u201310% of greenhouse gas emissions.
\nClaudia Ciobanu\/IPS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And please don\u2019t pretend you did not know that 20% of all humans \u2013those who live in the wealthiest countries\u2013 waste about 35% of the food they buy, throwing it in the garbage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poverty, armed conflicts and corruption are also to be blamed in poor countries for wasting food \u2013although in a much lesser volume\u2013, due to the lack of adequate stocking infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Africa as a whole contributes to about two to three per cent of global emissions that cause global warming and climate change. However, the continent suffers the heaviest impacts of the climate crisis, including increased heat waves, severe droughts and catastrophic cyclones, like the ones that hit Mozambique and Madagascar in recent years<\/div>\n

In short, every year, 570 million tons of food are wasted at the household level, according to the UN Environment Programme\u2019s (UNEP<\/a>)\u2019s Food Waste Index Report 2021<\/a> report.<\/p>\n

This amount of wasted food is sufficient to feed the millions of hungry people.<\/p>\n

Moreover, global food waste accounts for 8\u201310% of greenhouse gas emissions, UNEP warns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the intensive agriculture industries dump in lands and seas huge amounts of food either because they are \u201cugly\u201d \u2013therefore not nice enough to be marketable\u2013, or to keep their prices the most highly profitable possible.<\/p>\n

The triple planetary crisis<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Food waste accelerates the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution, according to the world\u2019s environmental body.<\/p>\n

Just take the case of a vast continent like Africa \u201355 countries home to 1.4 billion humans\u2013 causes a negligible 2% to 3% of all global greenhouse emissions<\/a>, however it falls victim to more than 80% of the world\u2019s climate catastrophes.<\/p>\n

All the above, and other innumerable consequences, have a common name: inequality.<\/p>\n

Inequality is not just about a morality issue: inequality kills one person \u2026 every four seconds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From billionaires to trillionaires<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Add to all the above the fact that as the COVID-19 pandemic devastates the poor, the world\u2019s 10 richest have multiplied their wealth into trillions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The numbers are unbelievably staggering: the world\u2019s 10 richest men more than doubled their fortunes from 700 US billion to 1.5 trillion US dollars\u2014at a rate of 15,000 per second or 1.3 billion a day, according to a new study from Oxfam International, IPS journalist Thalif Deen<\/a> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese phenomenal changes in fortunes took place during the first two years of a Covid-19 pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall, and over 160 million more people forced into poverty\u201460 million more than the figures released by the World Bank in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grabbed<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

As this happens, conservative estimates indicate that 811 million human beings are extremely hungry, close to the abyss of famine and death.<\/p>\n

These millions live in the poorest regions of the world, those which have enormous natural resources \u2013oil, indispensable minerals for giant technologies, private corporations, fertile soils grabbed<\/a> by big business, etc\u2013 just do not eat.<\/p>\n

Playing with fire<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

But there is much more evidence showing how the most vulnerable are left behind in one of the worst health crises in decades: COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

See what the World Health Organization<\/a>\u2019s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said<\/a> on 4 May 2022: the best way to save lives, protect health systems and minimise cases of \u201clong COVID\u201d is by vaccinating at least 70% of every country\u2019s population \u2013 and 100% of most at-risk groups.<\/p>\n

Although more jabs have become available, a lack of political commitment, operational capacity problems, financial constraints, misinformation and disinformation, are limiting vaccine demand, he added while warning that COVID treatment is still often \u2018out of reach\u2019 for the poor.<\/p>\n

Manufacturers\u2019 record profits<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

While \u201cwe\u2019re playing with a fire that continues to burn us\u201d, he said that \u201cmanufacturers are posting record profits\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that \u201cwe cannot accept prices that make life-saving treatments available to the rich and out of reach for the poor\u201d.<\/p>\n

Acute food and water shortages<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Back to the staggering impacts of the climate crisis on those who contributed the least to cause it.<\/p>\n

In East Africa only, 25 million humans now face acute food and water shortages due to the climate crisis, as already projected a few months ago by the scientific community.<\/p>\n

The driest conditions<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

The East African region, and in particular, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya, are experiencing the driest conditions and hottest temperatures since satellite record-keeping began, the world\u2019s environmental body reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, as many as 13 million people are currently experiencing acute food and water shortages and a projected 25 million will face a similar fate by mid-2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists are blaming climate change for the current crisis in a part of the world that is least able to cope with.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrica as a whole contributes to about two to three per cent of global emissions<\/a> that cause global warming and climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the continent suffers the heaviest impacts of the climate crisis, including increased heat waves, severe droughts and catastrophic cyclones, like the ones that hit Mozambique and Madagascar in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things will only get worse<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Furthermore, scientists and experts project that things will only get worse for Africa if current trends continue.<\/p>\n

According to the 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report<\/a>, \u201ckey development sectors have already experienced widespread loss and damage attributable to anthropogenic climate change, including biodiversity loss, water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and reduced economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current drought hitting East Africa has been particularly devastating to small-scale farmers and herders across the Horn who are already vulnerable to climate related shocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment in the Horn of Africa we are witnessing vulnerable communities being disproportionately affected by climate change who are least able to buffer against its impact,\u201d said Susan Gardner, the Director of UNEP\u2019s Ecosystems Division.<\/p>\n

Famine<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

In the case of one East African country: Somalia, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA<\/a>) reported that the drought emergency has deteriorated to a point where the country is facing the risk of famine.<\/p>\n

And that about 4.5 million people are affected, of whom nearly 700,000 people have been displaced from their homes in search of water, food, pasture and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

The UN relief web also informs<\/a> that:<\/p>\n