Is famine a natural phenomenon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Is famine a natural phenomenon - Essay Example tion as to whether or not famine is man-made or a natural disaster, the following aims to explore the different causes of famine in a holistic perspective. It is reported that in Asia Africa and Latin America, the regions of the world which are underdeveloped, more than 500 million people live in absolute poverty. Accordingly more than 9 million people die each and every year due to hunger and malnutrition and starvation. Accordingly famine persists despite the fact that we have obtained a certain level of and development in the Western developed world and the result of income disparity is the increased incidence of famine throughout the world. What are the causes of famine? For many parts of the world famine is caused by a series of social, political, and environmental factors which have led to widespread poverty and hunger. In some places such as in Ethiopia, Somalia, and other countries of the Horn of Africa harsh envrionmental conditions and political instability have paved the way for famines and droughts. Droughts occur due to environmental factors and can be caused by a lack of rain one year, soil degradation, or the forces of g lobal warming. Environmental catastrophes have been prevalent throughout world history and famine can be traced back to biblical stories as well as to the early annals of modern civilization. In this respect then, famine can be seen as inevitable and as a feature of our existence on earth. Despite the fact that famine has existed since the dawn of time, there are also human made factors which can account for the rise of famines and poverty throughout the world. We now turn to the causes of human made famines and turned to exploration of our case study, Somalia. The African continent, although seen by many as the cradle of humanity and endowed with many natural resources, is home to some of the poorest countries on the planet. Many of these countries are beset by famine, arguably the greatest indicator of poverty known to