FOOD OUT OF THIN AIR

Finnish food-tech company, Solar Foods, has developed a revolutionary natural protein source that could be the solution to global hunger problem.

- Anna Domanska

On February 20, 2017, the world awoke to a headline cruel headline that should have no place in the 21st-century: Famine had been declared in parts of South Sudan, putting about 42% of the country’s population on the brink of starvation. Aid agencies feared an official famine declaration in South Sudan meant that thousands had succumbed to starvation. This famine was the first to be declared since the 2011 East Africa drought, where an estimated 2.6 million died of starvation between the summer of 2011 and mid-2012. Said to be “the worst in 60 years,” the drought affected the livelihood of 9.5 million people. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s devastating six-year economic crisis has sparked severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicines, where 6 to 8 million people are constantly living under extended spells of starvation, risking long-term damage to their health, humanitarian organizations have warned.

According to last Encovi - Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida, or Living Conditions Survey, 80% of homes in Venezuela are food insecure; driving kids as young as 15 to plunder houses and shops, rob food from passerby in order to support their starving family.

Despite the world’s hard-earned progress against hunger and malnutrition, global hunger numbers are rising to levels last seen in 2010. While hunger is a predictable, treatable and preventable events, when compounded by climate change and conflict, becomes a tough challenge to solve. It is estimated that climate change will expose 600 million more people to hunger and inequality by 2080.