A Starving WorldWorld hunger is a huge problem that several countries face today. Ignoring this problem will not make it go away, but the sad truth is nearly 95 percent Americans do.
Unfortunately most people avoid the problem. Ethiopia has been synonymous with disastrous famine since the 1980s. In the years since, drought and famine have continued to plague the country. Population growth is one of the most critical drivers shaping the country’s future, as its economy and agricultural land are unable to support its growing numbers. The key to achieving sustainable growth lies in reducing the rate of population growth, managing the environment, and dealing with the the constant threat of droughts.Ethiopia’s population of 72 million is increasing by 2 million people, or 2.
5 percent, each year. As the population increases, more and more land is deforested. Forest coverage has declined from 40 percent 75 years ago to only 3 percent today. In turn, people have to travel farther and farther for firewood which is their main source of fuel, which reduces time spent farming.
Without firewood, many resort to burning animal feces, instead of using it to fertilize their malnourished soil. Without trees to help hold it in place, the soil erodes from the steep highlands. As a result, many previously habitable areas have now been transformed into drylands and deserts. Without arable land many farmers give up their farming careers in hopes that urban areas would hold a brighter future, however the sad truth is that they won’t and in fact they would be better off staying on a farm. With more and more farmers moving to suburbs there is less and less food produced to feed the countries growing population.
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This situation is highly unstable, and could make Ethiopia vulnerable to future conflict.Now in order to figure out a solution we must first know the problem, and Ethiopia’s case there are several. The main issue is Ethiopia is caught up in a never ending cycle between deforestation, overpopulation, and arable land.The first problem is overpopulation,and it’s leading cause is poverty.
A lack of educational resources, coupled with high death rates leading to higher birth rates, result in impoverished areas seeing large booms in population. Luckily there are several solutions such as giving developing countries access to birth control and abortions. Due to the fact that nearly 40% of pregnancies are unintentional according to United Nations Population Fund. This would drastically decrease the rate at which the population is growing. In turn, helping to break this vicious cycle that Ethiopia is trapped in.The second problem is deforestation, it is caused by many reasons but the main issue is it being Ethiopia’s primary fuel source. As Ethiopia’s population increases the need for fuel increases. As the need for fuel increases so does deforestation.
So how do we stop deforestation? The answer is pretty obvious. We change the fuel source. If Ethiopia had an alternative fuel source people wouldn’t require wood. If people didn’t require wood then they wouldn’t chop down near as many trees, in turn deforestation would decrease drastically. This would allow the trees to replenish and the environment to heal itself.
The third problem is arable land. This one would be a little trickier than the other two to solve, however it’s not impossible. If the government were to invest in more drought resistant genetically modified crops, and better irrigation systems for farmers the nations farming industry would boom. Solving not only the nation’s money problem but its starvation problem as well.
The average amount of money donated to Ethiopia yearly is 1.2 BILLION!!! Yet this country is still struggling to thrive. The problem is how that money is being spent.
If the country was to consider investing it’s money for the countries future rather than spending it on less serious needs it would grow as a nation. Although it would be a tough transformation it would thrive.
