Food Shortages: A Global Crisis, Part 2 of 2

After being hit by frequent natural disasters in recent years the Central American Dry Corridor has become one of the world’s worst climate and hunger hotspots. Periodic droughts, hurricanes, and the El Nino-southern oscillation phenomenon have damaged crops, leading to much smaller harvests that are far short of what is needed to feed the population of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification index (IPC) analysis, a record 4.7 million Haitians are currently facing acute hunger, including 1.8 million in the Emergency phase and 19,000 in the Catastrophe phase.

“The United Nations says Afghanistan's hunger crisis is, quote, ‘pure catastrophe.’” “In fact, according to the United Nations, this is the world's worst humanitarian disaster, with 90% of people here going hungry.”

In 2021, Syria faced the worst drought in more than 70 years, affecting access to drinking water, electricity generation, and irrigation water for millions. The water shortage decimated Syria's 2022 grain crops.

A study by Professor Ariel Ortiz-Bobea showed that human-caused climate change has reduced global agricultural productivity growth by about 21% since 1961, a slowdown equivalent to losing the last seven years of productivity growth. Several other studies forecast that crop yields will continue to decline as rising temperatures and sea levels threaten global food security. Not only do heat waves, droughts, and floods hurt the crops, we’re running out of soil as well.

Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) urges the world’s leaders and citizens to take immediate action to end the water and food shortage crises.

“In conclusion, I can only tell you that many, tens of thousands of rivers and great lakes are dying, dead, gone, or going. And I don’t know how many more we must wait for to die in order for us to wake up. The leaders of the nations must do something. The people of all nations must do something. Just because we can still sit here pretty and talk, just because in our area there is not yet a water shortage or food prices going up doesn’t mean it will not happen to us soon. We have to do something to avoid the tragedy that is already happening to billions of other people. There are one billion people hungry already because of climate change and short of water and food. One billion already! And three billion people are short of water.

How many more of suffering people are we waiting before we take action? Please do it now! Just be veg. Stop the animal-people meat, dairy, fish-people industry. Be benevolent. Create a merciful energy that will envelop our world, that will emit mercy, love, protection for us and our children on this planet. Please take action now. Very simple. Just be veg. Just be veg is truly enough for now. And it will be enough for a long future to come.”