A Global Concern: Overwhelming poverty and malnourished people

“Almost 800 million people in the developing world remain chronically undernourished and 12 million deaths each year among children under five in the developing world – a staggering 55 percent – are associated with malnutrition. Hunger is a result of extreme poverty, but it also perpetuates poverty by severely reducing the productivity and productive capacity of individuals, communities and entire nations.” - According to a study done by FAO, IFAD and WFP.
Lack of resources: Fuel is expensive and wood is scarce
• “Power blackouts — 'load shedding,' in utility jargon — are hardly novel in sub-Saharan Africa, where perhaps 25 of the 44 sub-Saharan nations face crippling electricity shortages, a power crisis that some experts call unprecedented. The causes are manifold: strong economic growth in some places, economic collapse in others, war, poor planning, population booms, high oil prices and drought have combined to leave both industry and residents short of power when many need it most. The 700 million citizens of sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) have access to roughly as much electricity as do the 38 million citizens of Poland.” -New York Times
• The African Civil Society found “between 70-90% of the population in Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, depends on biomass energy for their household needs for cooking, heating and lighting.” Traditionally, women shoulder the responsibility of wood collection and are sometimes forced to carry more than 35kg of firewood over distances of up to 10km. Normally women spend anywhere from 4-8 hours collecting firewood a day; risking rape, violence, and roadside injury.

Environmental and health damage: Deforestation and pollution

• A report conducted by Practical Action found smoke in the home from cooking on wood, dung and crop waste kills nearly one million children a year and is one of the four greatest risks of death and disease in the world’s poorest countries. “Indoor air pollution from burning these solid fuels kills over 1.5 million people, predominately women and children, each year. This is more than three people per minute.”

• “While deforestation in other parts of the world is mainly caused by commercial logging or cattle ranching the leading causes in Africa are associated with human activity. Developing countries rely heavily on wood fuel, the major energy source for cooking and heating. In Africa, the statistics are striking: an estimated 90 percent of the entire continent's population uses fuelwood for cooking, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, firewood and brush supply approximately 52 percent of all energy sources.” - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

• "Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year -- twice the world's average deforestation rate," according to a statement by the U.N. Environment Programme.

• Deforestation leads to soil erosion, which causes draught and infertility in the land. Additionally deforestation lowers the chance of getting rain, which is already very low. With less rain there is less available water for drinking and cooking. “On a global level this rapid deforestation will have serious impacts on global warming as forests play an important role in the fight against global warming because of their ability to act as a carbon sink that can slow down increase of CO2 emission into the atmosphere.”- Ecological Problems Blogspot, www.ecologicalproblems.blogspot.com

What's the Solution?