The Hunger Project

Mother Earth our only home is under pressureWithout a sustainable

environmental base, we will have little hope of attaining our objectives for
reducing poverty and hunger and improving health and human well-being.

-Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General, United Nations, 22 April 2010

Environmental concerns like climate change, deforestation, water scarcity,

decreasing biodiversity and soil erosion are global problems. As declared by the
United Nations, it is our global responsibility to promote harmony with nature
and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and
environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.

Its no easy task. According to the latest update on the UN Millennium

Development Goals:

Global carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) have risen to more than 30 billion metric
tons per year, a 35 percent increase since the 1990s.
Biodiversity continues to decline and nearly 17,000 species of plants and animals
are currently threatened with extinction.
Increased agricultural efforts to combat rising food prices demand ever more of
already strained improved water sources; the same sources that eight out of ten
people in rural areas still lack basic access to.
While we must all deal with the effects of these environmental concerns, people
living in conditions of hunger and poverty in the developing world are at the
greatest risk. The vast majority of people in hunger and poverty live in rural
regions, relying heavily on agriculture, with their well-being closely tied to the
natural environment. They are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather like
droughts and flooding exacerbated by climate change and bear the burden of
climate change (because they account for 80 percent of world population)

though their carbon footprints are the smallest (World Bank World Development
Report 2010).

But progress is being made. At the end of 2010, deforestation rates were
gradually decreasing and over seven million hectares of new forest have been
grown annually since 2000. The latest World Bank data has shown promising
developments in sustainable energy as well. Simple steps such as making efforts
to adopt efficient cooking stoves for biomass use have significantly reduced
carbon dioxide emissions in developing regions and increase the capacity of
limited incomes.

Building more resilient communities that can cope with environmental challenges
is at the heart of The Hunger Projects (THPs) approach.

What We Do(What THE HUNGER PROJECT DO)

Promoting sustainable farming practices. At our epicenters in Africa, partners
create community farms, where villagers learn composting, intercropping and
other methods, like drip irrigation, to improve crop yields, restore soil fertility and
make the best use of scarce resources.
Increasing access to sustainable agricultural technology. The Hunger Project
provides training and credit, mobilizing people to adopt sustainable agricultural
technology and practices, and encouraging them to demand agricultural
extension services from their government. In 2014, 68,600 of our African
partners were trained in food and agricultural practices.
Raising awareness of and building capacity to adapt to climate change. In India
and Peru, The Hunger Project and its partners hold workshops to build our
partners capacity to exercise leadership, take steps to reduce their vulnerability
and formulate strategies to mitigate climate change risks. At the regional and
international level, we also advocate for the conservation of natural resources,
the mitigation of the harmful effects of extractive industries, and the recovery
and promotion of traditional knowledge and technology that is highly adaptable
to changing climate conditions.

Facilitating reforestation and tree planting campaigns. Throughout our Program

Countries, trained Hunger Project village partners establish tree nurseries, which
can reforest their communities, control soil erosion, and become entrepreneurial
village businesses, supplying families with fruit trees that not only capture
carbon, but also provide nutrition and income. In 2014, 45,322 people in
Bangladesh participated in tree planting campaigns.