6.2.4

Impacts of Food Insecurity

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Impacts of Food Insecurity

Listed below are some of the potential negative impacts of food insecurity:

Famine

Famine

  • A famine is defined as an 'extreme scarcity of food'.
  • If a famine goes on for long enough, people can starve to death.
  • Not eating enough stunts a child's growth and development, reducing children's life expectancy.
  • Humans can survive 3-4 weeks with no food.
Undernutrition or malnourishment

Undernutrition or malnourishment

  • Undernutrition is when people do not eat enough of a certain type of vitamin, nutrient or food group.
  • Like famine, not eating enough of the right nutrients stunts a child's growth and development, reducing children's life expectancy.
  • In 2017, 520 million people in Asia were malnourished and 243 million people in Africa were malnourished.
Soil erosion

Soil erosion

  • Soil erosion does long-term damage to the farming productivity of farmland.
  • When there isn't enough food to eat, farmers will overgraze their livestock, will overcultivate their land. Soil erosion will happen and the land will struggle to recover, leading to even less food production in the future.
Rising food prices

Rising food prices

  • If people demand the same amount of food, but the amount of food available has fallen, food prices will rise.
  • This means that poorer people will be the people who cannot afford food anymore.
  • However, higher prices do incentivise farmers to sell more produce (instead of keeping it for themselves) and to grow more crops in the future.
Social unrest

Social unrest

  • The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the French Revolution of the 1780s both happened when harvests were bad and people didn't have enough to eat.
  • When people are starving, they often blame their governments. This can lead to riots, civil wars, or revolutions.
  • Even in less serious crises, people will stockpile and hoard food for themselves.
Jump to other topics
1

The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1

Natural Hazards

1.2

Tectonic Hazards

1.3

Weather Hazards

1.4

Climate Change

2

The Living World

2.1

Ecosystems

2.2

Tropical Rainforests

2.3

Hot Deserts

2.4

Tundra & Polar Environments

3

Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1

The UK Physical Landscape

3.2

Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.3

River Landscapes in the UK

3.4

Glacial Landscapes in the UK

4

Urban Issues & Challenges

5

The Changing Economic World

5.1

The Changing Economic World

5.2

Economic Development in the UK

6

The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1

Resource Management

6.2

Food

6.3

Water

6.4

Energy

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