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The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by the early 2000s, mass starvation had all but disappeared. Today, however, famines are resurgent.
For instance, Yemen, South Sudan and parts of northeast Nigeria faced famine during 2017. Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia could fall into famine in 2018, due to another year of below-average rainfall. Yet, while drought is a significant factor in the emergence of famine, conflict is the leading cause, with more than half of the 815 million starving people in the world living in countries affected by war.
This seminar launches the world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal’s new book: Mass Starvation. It provides an authoritative history of modern famines, their causes, dimensions and why they ended. Alex de Waal analyses starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decisions or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon.
Alex de Waal’s talk will be followed by a discussion of what is required to eradicate famine, with interventions from Andreas Hansen, External Partnerships Officer at the UN World Food Programme and Peter Albrecht, Senior Researcher at DIIS.
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