Easterwood 1

Chase Easterwood

Mr. King

English I

24 October 2018

Goal Two: Zero Hunger

Imagine waking up in the morning, not knowing when your next meal will be. Your

stomach is always growling, and your family cannot provide you with the meals you need. This

is what life is like for the 815 million children that suffer from malnutrition in the world today.

The UN has discovered that the majority of people that are undernourished live in developing

countries, where about 13% of the population lives in hunger. The word hunger is defined “not

as outright starvation, but as chronic malnutrition that arises from routine failures of political and

economic democracy” (Johnson 1). This means that hunger is mainly caused by a lack of

consideration and change by the government. An issue as big as this one needs to be solved, so

that is why the UN has been working hard to make sure one day nobody will be left hungry.

Although people of all ages are affected by hunger, it is the children that receive the most

consequences. “Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 percent) of deaths in children under five”

(un.org) . The goal of “Zero Hunger” is to provide food and resources to every child and family

suffering from malnutrition around the world. The UN plans on achieving this goal by 2030. By

that time, everyone around the world will have meals all year, and nobody will be in danger of

starvation.

The UN’s plan is to end world hunger forever, but why did they choose this goal? One

reason is because in the early 2000’s, the price for food dramatically increased, which lead to the
 Easterwood 2

demand for these foods to increase as well. One author wrote, “Food problems at the present

stage of development of mankind is that due to improper and overly intensive use of natural

resources, increasing demand for livestock products, increasing per capita food consumption and

other factors” (Abdulkadyrova 1). Meaning that people overuse natural resources, which is

leading to a lack of these products. This inspired the UN to make a change. They did this by

supporting local farms, so the price of produce would lower. An expert stated that, “To farm

successfully, smallholders need secure access to land and water, affordable electricity, better

access to financial services, paved roads and transportation to get their products to market, and

access to technology for up-to-date and reliable market information” (ifad.org). They also tried

to reduce the amount of food that was being wasted around the world. Finally, they did their best

to provide meals to children who are dealing with starvation. Although the UN has made a huge

difference, a lot still needs to be done. For example, there are still millions of children suffering

from malnutrition, so we need to figure out a way to get those children the food that they need. If

we can accomplish this, hopefully world hunger will cease to exist.

The UN is not the only organization that is trying to end world hunger. Another group

that has made a difference is UNICEF. According to their website, “Through its programmes in

more than 90 countries across the world, UNICEF is working to make good nutrition a reality for

the children, families and communities that need it most” (unicef.org). Hopefully, this

organization as well as others with the same goal, can have success and world hunger will be

ended forever.

If world hunger continues, these suffering children and adults will continue their struggle

because of the lack of nutrition. The UN, along with UNICEF are working hard to end this, but it

is ultimately our job to make a difference locally. Imagine a world where there is little to no
 Easterwood 3

suffering, everyone has the resources they need, and the amount of hunger-related deaths is

reduced to none. This could happen if we all work together to end world hunger for good. It is

your choice whether or not you want to take the responsibility or not. Put yourself in the

children’s shoes and think about how desperately you would want someone to help.
 Easterwood 4

Works Cited

Johnson, Nan E. “World Hunger (Book).” Rural Sociology, vol. 66, no. 4, Dec. 2001, p. 648.

EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,custuid&custid=s8455861&

db=f6h&AN=5983728&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“Goal 2: Zero Hunger - United Nations Sustainable Development.” United Nations, United

Nations, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/.

Abdulkadyrova, Madina A., et al. “Global Food Security Problems in the Modern World

Economy.” International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, vol. 11, no.

12, Jan. 2016, pp. 5320–5330. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,custuid&custid=s8455861&

db=eric&AN=EJ1115556&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

“What We Do.” UNICEF, 24 Dec. 2015, www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_action.html.

IFAD. “Preprod.” Impact, www.ifad.org/web/guest/impact.