10 Places to Visit Before They Disappear from the Planet

September 20, 2016

Planet Earth is home to millions of beautiful animal and plant species, thousands of iced peaks, vast rainforests, and gorgeous islands. But climate change is causing our home to change rapidly. Much of the planet’s natural beauty is disappearing, only to be found in history books and television shows.

As the traveler in you beckons, here are some pristine spots around the world to visit before they disappear in the next few decades.

Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

One of the seven natural wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Great Barrier Reef has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the best travel destination this year. Meanwhile, rises in sea temperature and ocean acidification have been threatening the very existence of the coral reef. Tiny algae living in the coral called zooxanthellae are responsible for the beautiful colors, and when conditions change, these organisms leave the area, which leads to mass coral bleaching. 93% of the reef has been affected by the bleaching epidemic. The Great Barrier Reef may not be around for much longer as global warming continues to affect its ecosystem.

Joshua Tree National Park (US)

Photo credit: Flickr - Christopher Michel

Joshua trees are extremely distinct desert plants located in the Mojave Desert, mostly in Joshua Tree National Park in California. Named by Mormon travelers for their supposed resemblance to the prophet Joshua, these trees are suffering from the drought that’s swept California in the past several years. The Mojave Desert hasn’t received its average 5 inches of precipitation in years and these desert trees are hurting. In the past 7 months, only 1 inch has fallen, preventing the trees from reproducing. By the end of the century, the park may need a new name.

The Dead Sea (Palestine/Jordan)

The Dead Sea, home of the lowest elevation on Earth and almost 10 times as salty as an ocean, is losing 2 billion gallons of water a year. This is because of large-scale mining operations and the diversion of water from the Dead Sea’s main water source, the Jordan River. More than 3,000 sinkholes have opened up on the shoreline, leaving craters as deep as 80 feet into the ground. If you’re keen on floating in this natural wonder, better get there sooner rather than later.

Glacier National Park (US)

Glacier National Park has seen a 2 degree Celsius rise in temperature since 1990. While there were 150 active glaciers, just 25 remain today. The loss of 125 glaciers in a 165-year period is an acute representation of the losses the world will face as climate change accelerates. Scientists predict that all glaciers in the park’s main basin will have disappeared by 2030. The clock is ticking for Glacier National Park.

Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

The Galápagos Islands are famous for their biodiversity, one of the reasons Charles Darwin chose to study and develop his theory of evolution there. But, once again, climate change is drastically changing the makeup of the islands. An increase in ocean temperature has caused reef die-offs and algae blooms, as well as the loss of native species, while land animals have been affected by the decline of marine life. If sea levels continue to rise, the nesting grounds of the Galápagos penguin will disappear. The Ecuadorean government has been preparing for this by building “penguin condos” inland, and by imposing restrictions on tourism to the islands.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Home to the ruins of the medieval Inca Empire, Machu Picchu has become one of the top destinations for tourists who want to explore the ‘Lost City’ that was rediscovered in 1911. Although it stands at a majestic 2,430 meters above sea-level in a cloud forest high up in the Peruvian Andes, it has been affected by erosion, landslides, and more visitors than it can handle. The historic site could soon be wiped out unless authorities take precautionary measures, such as controlling the flow of tourists, and protecting it from urban encroachment.

Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

85 percent of the ice on Africa’s tallest peak, immortalized by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” has already melted away during the last century. Once again, climate change and deforestation are the main drivers of this rapid depletion. Scientists have predicted that the mountain’s glaciers, thought to be at least 10,000 years old, might completely disappear from this peak within the next two decades.

Madagascar Rainforest

Once 120,000 square miles, the Madagascar rainforests off the coast of Africa are now down to 20,000 square miles. The forests are being eroded by human activities like deforestation by logging and burning wood. About 75 percent of the species found here, like flat-tailed geckos, tomato frogs, and comet moths, live nowhere else on earth. Many of the island’s unique species have never been recorded, and it is feared that these species will be lost to the world before they can ever be discovered.

Tomato Frog
Photo credit: Francesco Veronesi

Chameleon unique to Kirindy Forest, Madagascar
Photo credit: Frank Vassen

Maldives

This nation is comprised of hundreds of beautiful islands in the Indian Ocean and is the lowest-lying country on Earth. It could also become the first country to be entirely submerged by water within the century if sea levels continue to rise. The Maldivian government has actually bought land in other countries for citizens who might be displaced because of climate change.

Sundarbans, India and Bangladesh

Located on the India- Bangladesh border, the Sundarbans is a low-lying delta region in the Bay of Bengal, home to numerous endangered species, including the world’s last population of mangrove-dwelling tigers. However, due to pollution, deforestation, and continued reliance on fossil fuels, sea levels here are fast rising, causing the coastlines to rapidly erode. Thousands of inhabitants of this World Heritage Site have been displaced already. In the years to come, the environment will continue to change in dangerous ways.

Time is running out to visit these destinations! Our world is filled with unbelievably beautiful wonders of nature, but as climate change continues to affect the planet these places will no longer remain. It’s important we remember not to take the beauty of this planet for granted.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON GLOBAL CITIZEN

GARIMA BAKSHI

Garima, a Digital Content Intern at Global Citizen, believes that each person is a reservoir of power and potential that can be utilized positively. She brings her love for feminism, spicy food, and Harry Potter from her hometown of New Delhi.

MADELINE SCHWARTZ

Madeline is also a Digital Content Intern at Global Citizen. She has always been passionate about this world and social justice. She plans to study oppression's effects on culture at Oberlin College, and is constantly searching for new ways to express herself.

4 Ways Climate Change Is Affecting Food Security Right Now

August 17, 2016

1. The people who are causing the least emissions are suffering the most

More extreme weather conditions are already producing unprecedented droughts and flooding across the developing world. Just this month the severity of the El Nino weather system threatens to leave 4 million people in Papua New Guinea without water. The nation is one of the poorest countries in the world 83% of its food is produced in-country, meaning severe weather could be catastrophic for food security.

2. Poorer women are bearing the brunt of this suffering

Given that in many of the world’s poorest countries women are acknowledged as owners of crops rather than land, when extreme weather conditions hit they are more vulnerable to destitution. For example, a yield of crops can be totally washed away by a flood but the land it’s on cannot, so the crop owner is worse-off while the landowner does not lose their asset.

Women also lack access to timely climate information. For example, when El Nino struck Peru in 2002, only fishermen were informed due to its potential to affect fish supplies, despite women managing all household budgets.

3. It's affecting how many fish there are in the sea

According to a recent report from the UN climate panel, extreme changes in weather and ocean conditions have meant that fish catches in some of the tropics are down between 40 and 60%.

4. Prices are increasing, which means political instability

Food prices were seen as a contributing factor to the Arab Spring Uprising in 2011.

The decline in water availability caused by climate change, as well as erratic flood-drought patterns, has already led to increasingly unstable food prices across the world. Many developing countries are having to rely on food imports, which is particularly expensive given global transportation costs are rising as well.

Many have suggested an increase in food prices were at the root of such recent political upheavals as the Arab Spring. While political change is not always a bad thing, it does pose a risk- an IMF report charting food prices from the 1970’s argues that there is a strong link between rising food prices and ‘deterioration of democratic institutions.’

This trend is only likely to get worse- estimates from the Institute for Food Policy Research suggest prices for certain foods, including maize and sorghum which are the staple diet for a majority of sub-Saharan Africans, could increase by over 100% by 2050.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON GLOBAL CITIZEN

SAM JONES

@jonesscl

Sam Jones is a Campaigns Assistant for The Global Poverty Project. He has a background in public affairs and communications, and his writing has previously been features in New Statesman and Global Citizen. In his spare time, he is a committed campaigner for social and gender equality and plays in a hardcore punk band. Once, he saw Woody Allen coming out of a hotel, but was too scared to talk to him.

5 Ways to Be a Better Global Citizen in 2016

February 15, 2016

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE PEOPLE like you this year. People who see humanity not as separate, distinct groups which should never mix (and of which theirs is coincidentally the best), but as a single mass of people who are all in the same boat, who all have the same basic fears and wants. People like you — whether you call yourself a global citizen, a cosmopolitan, an internationalist, or just a chill dude who wants to live-and-let-live — are the people who are going to make the world a better place in 2016.

That sounds like a daunting task, but it’s not, really. There are 7 billion of us, after all, and the world is ours to make. You can do small things, here and there, and all of those small things multiplied by 7 billion will turn into big things. But if it still sounds daunting, here are a few more things you can do to be a better global citizen.

1. Get on board with fighting climate change.

Easily the biggest challenge facing our world right now is climate change. All of our other problems — war, poverty, famine, disease — will only get worse with climate change, and the window on stopping the worst effects of climate change is getting smaller by the day.

This is a huge project that requires global cooperation, but there are a few simple things you can do to help:

Get your home better insulated and turn down your heat and air conditioning this year. This is one of the biggest energy sucks in the home.
Eat less meat. Especially beef. Meat contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, so if you can, go veg as much as possible, and if you can’t, at least try cutting back. Try meat-free mondays.
Donate to green-friendly charities. Check out the ones on this list at Project Greenify.
Vote for politicians who aren’t in denial about climate change.

2. Fight global poverty.

There’s actually good news on this front: on a global scale, we’re winning the fight against poverty. It is far from over, but, as The Atlantic reported in December, this was the best year in humanity’s history for the average human. We beat the terrible ebola outbreak in Guinea and Sierra Leone, we cut child mortality in half since 1990 and world hunger is on the decline.

But a lot still needs to be done. You can start by donating to charities like Give Directly, which just gives your cash straight to extremely poor individuals in Kenya and Uganda. GiveWell, an organization that ranks the effectiveness of charities, lists them as one of the most effective charities on the planet. You can also use popular microfunding sites like Kiva, or extremely effective charities like Oxfam. If you want to make sure you get the best bang for your buck, check out the charities on GiveWell, and also on effective altruism site The Life You Can Save.

3. Support global education

A smarter world is a better world, and unfortunately, many people — especially in the developing world — don’t have access to quality education. Unfortunately, as GiveWell points out, improving education in the developing world is an incredibly difficult process, and it’s a process that can’t be done exclusively from the outside. The only charity GiveWell has given their stamp of approval is Pratham.

4. Support women’s rights.

Women’s rights is a pretty great place to start if you want to bring an end to things like violence and poverty. Experts have found that when women in developing countries are given control of the money, they are more likely to use the money to life themselves and their families out of poverty than men are, and educating women in developing countries makes them more likely to avoid unwanted pregnancies and more likely to start making money on their own, breaking the cycle of poverty.

Oxfam has some simple tips for how to support global gender equality.

5. Vote.

For people who are American citizens as well as global citizens, 2016 is going to be a pretty big election year. By voting in the upcoming election — and by paying attention to all of the races and not just the presidential one — you’re participating in democracy and making your country a stronger place. Democracy anywhere is a good thing, and while voting alone does not a democracy make, it is a vital element.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MATADORNETWORK.COM

MATT HERSHBERGER

@MattHersherberger

Matt is a writer and blogger based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, who has lived in London, Buenos Aires, DC, and Beijing. His hobbies include profanity, Scotch consumption, and human rights activism. You can read his blog at Catching Wise, follow him on Facebook here, or check out his other work here.

8 People Who Broke the Law to Change the World

November 10, 2015

1. Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is, hands down, one of the most important and celebrated figures of our lifetime.

Mandela represents equality, fairness, democracy and freedom in an often unequal, unfair and undemocratic world. But he wasn’t always seen like this…

Twenty-five years ago he was getting his first taste of freedom after being imprisoned for 27 years. Yes, you read that right. For what? What could he have done to get such a long sentence? Well, he stood up for what he believed. In 1942 he joined the African National Congress and fought against apartheid in South Africa, and was imprisoned for sabotage.

Without Nelson Mandela’s commitment to the abolition of apartheid in the face of oppression and imprisonment, the world could be a very different place. It is because of Mandela, and others like him, many more people live a free and fair life.

To honor his bravery and determination, we take a look at 7 other brave and committed people who have been prosecuted or persecuted for standing up for what they believe in:

2. Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.

Now the Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma, she spent 15 years under house arrest for advocating for democracy.

Suu Kyi, who was heavily influenced by Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent protest, helped to found the National League for Democracy. Because of her campaign for democracy in military-ruled Myanmar (Burma), she was detained and kept imprisoned by the government, as it viewed her as someone “likely to undermine the community peace and stability” of the country.

She was offered freedom if she left the country, but she refused to let her party down and stayed in Mynanmar.

In one of her most famous speeches, she said: “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

3. Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule. He is a political prisoner.

Liu was detained in 2008 because of his work with the Charter 08 manifesto, which called for an independent legal system, freedom of association and the end of one-party rule.

He was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”. He was sentenced to eleven years’ in jail and two years’ deprivation of political rights.

During his fourth prison term, he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for “his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”

He is the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China and is the third person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention, after Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky (1935) and Aung San Suu Kyi (1991).

4. Mahatma Gandhi

India’s great independence leader first went to prison in 1922 for civil disobedience and sedition after a protest march turned violent, and resulted in the deaths of 22 people. The incident deeply affected Gandhi, who called it a “divine warning’.

He was released from prison after serving 5 years of his 6 year sentence, and went on to become the most famous advocate of peaceful protest and campaigning in the world.

Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, for which he was imprisoned for a year without trial, and later lead the Quit India Movement, calling for Britain’s withdrawal. He was arrested many times but never gave up. An advocate until the end, Gandhi sadly paid for his beliefs with his life when he was assassinated by a militant nationalist in 1948.

5. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, as the face of the Civil-Rights movement in the 1950’s.

Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors.

King was arrested 5 times, and wrote his second most influential speech whilst in prison in 1963 for protesting against the treatment of the black community in Birmingham, Alabama. Letter From Birmingham Jail, which was written on the margins of a newspaper and smuggled out of the prison, defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, arguing that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws.

Tragically, in 1968 he was assassinated in his hotel at the age of just 39.

6. Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was an African-American Civil Rights activist who became famous when she stood up for what she believed – by sitting down. On the evening of December 1, 1955, Parks was sat on a bus in Alabama, heading home after a long day of work.

During her journey she was asked by a conductor to give up her seat to a white passenger, but she refused, and she was arrested for disobeying an Alabama law requiring black people to relinquish seats to white people when the bus was full. Her arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. It also led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregation on public transportation.

7. Susan Brownell Anthony

Or Susan B as some gender studies students know her as, was an American social reformer and feminist who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement.

Actively involved in social justice from a young age, Anthony and friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the Women’s Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in the nation’s history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery.

In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans, and in 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicised trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Popularly known as the Anthony Amendment, it became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920!

8. Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi is an American journalist who was arrested in Iran and detained for 100 days after being falsely accused of espionage. She had been living in Iran for six years, doing research for a book that she hoped would show a more complete and balanced picture of Iranian society. Under pressure and being threatened with a 10-20 year sentence or even execution, Roxana falsely confessed to being a spy. She quickly realized this was a mistake and recanted her confession – knowing this would jeopardize her freedom. Instead of freeing her, her case was sent to trial, sentencing her in eight years of prison.

“I would rather tell the truth and stay in prison instead of telling lies to be free.”

After her trial, she began her hunger strike – only drinking water with sugar. After two weeks, Roxana’s attorney appealed her conviction. She was released from prison after an appeals court cut her jail term to a two-year suspended sentence.

“I learned that maybe other people can hurt my body, maybe they could imprison me, but I did not need to fear those who hurt my body, because they could not hurt my soul, unless I let them.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON ONE.ORG

CLEA GUY-ALLEN

@PerfectlyClea

Clea hails from Brighton, United Kingdom and was the UK Global Citizen Editor. Now she works as the digital coordinator for ONE, a campaigning and advocacy organization to end extreme poverty and preventable disease.

The World's 10 Hungriest Countries

September 30, 2015

There are over 870 million people in the world who are hungry right now. I'm not talking about could use a snack before lunch hungry, not even didn’t have time for breakfast hungry, but truly, continually, hungry.

Of these 870 million people, it's been estimated by the World Food Programme that 98% live in developing countries, countries that perversely produce most of the world’s food stocks. So why is this the case?

Here we look at the top 10 worst affected countries and see what obstacles are making them hungry and why:

1. Burundi

73.4% of the population is believed to be undernourished.
Sitting between Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, Burundi is a landlocked country, which means that on average it will experience 6% less economic growth than non landlocked countries, mainly due to the cost of transport for import and export transactions.

Over half of Burundi’s 9.85 million citizens live below the poverty line, with an estimated 35% of the population being out of work.

The main problem with Burundi is not that it can’t produce food, but that due to overpopulation, soil erosion, climate change, high food prices and an ongoing civil war, the country has to import more than they are exporting. In the last few years alone due to these factors, and the increase of internally displaced citizens who can’t produce their own food, the subsistence economy of Burundi has contracted by 25%.

Looking at the current economic and political climate of Burundi it is clear to see that poverty alone isn’t the cause of hunger, but that many external factors contribute to the hardship being endured.

2. Eritrea

65.4% of population have been classified as undernourished.

Eritrea, which is located in the Horn of Africa, has experienced considerable growth to its economy in recent years, but unfortunately the effect of this hasn’t trickled down to its citizens or the food chain.

In 2004, agriculture employed nearly 80 percent of the population but accounted for only 12.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The agricultural sector has improved with the use of modern farming equipment and techniques; however, it is still compromised by a lack of financial services and investment.

Another big problem facing Eritrea is that, as a result of the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, almost a quarter of the country’s most productive land remains unused. This can be attributed to a number of issues, but it’s largely because of the displacement of nearly 1 million Eritreans during the 1998-2000 Eritrean Ethiopian war, which left the country with a lack of skilled agricultural workers, and because of the widespread presence of land mines on the ground meaning that the plots are ruined.

3. Comoros

70% of the population are estimated to be undernourished.
Comoros, which is made up of 3 tiny islands of the coast of Mozambique, has a population of just 800,000 people. Around half of the population live below the poverty line.

The reason for such high numbers of poverty and undernourishment are varied. One of the biggest problems is that although there is a rapidly increasing young population entering into the agricultural workforce, their low educational levels mean that innovation and economic growth aren’t in correlation.

Because of these factors it is essential that Comoros continues to receive foreign support in order to develop the right educational and economic infrastructures to be able to drive levels of poverty and undernourishment down.

4. Timor Leste

38% of the population in Timor-Leste are undernourished.
Sitting between Indonesia and Australia Timor-Leste is a small island with a population of just over 1 million people.

It continues to suffer the after-effects of a decades-long struggle for independence against Indonesian occupation, which severely damaged the country's infrastructure.

Private sector development has lagged due to human capital shortages, infrastructure weakness, an incomplete legal system, and an inefficient regulatory environment.

Because of this nearly half of the population suffer from undernourishment, with Timor famously suffering through ‘hunger season’ between November and March when old stores have run out and new crops haven’t been harvested.

5. Sudan

Around 25% of Sudan’s population is undernourished and hunger is on the rise.
Hunger is rife because Sudan suffers from several challenges, for much of Sudan's history the nation has suffered from rampant ethnic strife and has been plagued by internal conflicts including two civil wars and the War in the Darfur region.

Another reason that Sudan is suffering is because of the extreme climate conditions that the country suffers from, which is something that is unfortunately out of their control.

6. Chad

33.4% of population of the population in Chad are undernourished.

Poverty in Chad has been aggravated by numerous conflicts during its 50 years of independence. Tensions between the country’s northern and southern ethnic groups have further contributed to political and economic instability, and Chad’s landlocked location and desert climate in the north inhibit economic development. The Sahelian zone (central and eastern Chad) is particularly affected by chronic food deficits. Moreover, Chad is subject to spill-over effects from crises in neighboring Sudan and the Central African Republic. It is estimated that there are 330,000 refugees in Chad, which puts additional pressure on the limited resources of the already highly vulnerable local population.

Chad relies heavily on external assistance for its food security, especially in the Sahelian zone. Cereal production is heavily affected by erratic rains, cyclical droughts, locust infestations and poor farming practices. The 2011 drought, which resulted in a 30 percent deficit in the population’s cereal needs, was then followed by a severe food and nutrition crisis in 2012.

7. Yemen Republic

Undernourished: 32.4% of population
Yemen has had an extreme change in it’s food security over the last 10 years. Because of large-scale displacement, civil conflict, political instability, high food prices, endemic poverty and influxes of refugee and migrants. In 2013, the World Food Programme is aiming to provide almost 5 million people in 16 governorates with food assistance and is working to build communities’ resilience. In 2013, WFP conducted an Updated Food Security Monitoring Survey which found that 43 percent (10.5 million people) of the population is food insecure. Some 4.5 million of those people were found to be severely food insecure, unable to buy or produce the food they need, and 6 million are moderately food insecure.

Child malnutrition rates are among the highest in the world with close to half of Yemen’s children under 5 years, that is two million children, stunted and one million acutely malnourished.

8. Ethiopia

In Ethiopia an alarming 40.2% of population are undernourished.
The 2011 Horn of Africa drought left 4.5 million people in Ethiopia in need of emergency food assistance. Pastoralist areas in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia were most severely affected by the drought. At the same time, cereal markets experienced a supply shock, and food prices rose substantially, resulting in high food insecurity among poor people. By the beginning of 2012, the overall food security situation had stabilized thanks to the start of the Meher harvest after the June-to-September rains -- resulting in improved market supply -- and to sustained humanitarian assistance. While the number of new arrivals in refugee camps has decreased significantly since the height of the Horn of Africa crisis, Ethiopia still continues to receive refugees from Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.

The Humanitarian Requirements Document issued by the government and humanitarian partners in September 2012 estimates that 3.76 million people require relief food assistance from August to December 2012. The total net emergency food and non-food requirement amounts to US$189,433,303.

Ethiopia remains one of the world’s least developed countries, ranked 174 out of 187 in the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index.

9. Madagascar

33.4% of the population of Madagascar are undernourished.
The country is prone to natural disasters such as cyclones, flooding and drought. In 2013, the island faced its worst ever locust plague, which hampered agricultural production and threatened food security.

The increasing fragility of the ecosystem, due to deforestation and poor land management, is a major cause of the increased vulnerability to shocks and related food insecurity. Deforestation has become a major concern: 85 percent of its rainforests have been lost due to the use of wood and charcoal for cooking, and slash and burn agricultural practices.

Approximately 28 percent of rural households suffer from food insecurity - of which 2.7 percent are severely food insecure and nearly 25 percent moderately food insecure. In total, about four million people are facing hunger in 2013. The food security of a further 9.6 million people could deteriorate as food prices increase during the lean season,when crops are planted but not yet harvested. Also of concern is the cyclone season, which runs from November to March.

10. Zambia

47.4% of the population are under nourished
Numerous challenges burden the country, including high rates of malnutrition, poverty, food insecurity, HIV and AIDS and malaria. While Zambia has reduced the rate of extreme poverty from 58 percent (1991) to 42.7 percent (2010), extreme poverty continues to be much higher in rural areas (57 percent) compared to urban areas (13 percent ). Zambia's food security challenges are worsened by a high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and the absence of market incentives to encourage a fundamental shift from subsistence farming.

Consequently, access to food is a challenge for many. According to the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee, the number of people at risk of food insecurity is up from about 63,000 in 2012 to about 209,000 in 2013. This is attributed to localized poor crop production due to poor weather conditions in some parts of the country.

It calculated a ‘global hunger’ score for countries by looking at the percentage of the population that is undernourished, children younger than five who are underweight, and the percentage of children dying before the age of five.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON GLOBAL CITIZEN

Clea Guy-Allen

@PerfectlyClea