Food Insecurity & Sustainable Solutions

Food insecurity is one of the world's most pressing challenges. Despite producing enough food globally to feed everyone, hundreds of millions of people go hungry. This lesson examines the causes and consequences of food insecurity, explores sustainable solutions, and considers how food production can be made more equitable and environmentally responsible.

---

What Is Food Insecurity?

Food insecurity exists when people do not have reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food. It ranges from chronic hunger (long-term malnutrition) to acute food crises (famine).

Scale of the Problem

• Approximately 800 million people worldwide are undernourished
• Around 2.3 billion people experience moderate or severe food insecurity
• Food insecurity is most concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and conflict zones
• Even in HICs like the UK, food insecurity exists — over 2 million people in the UK used food banks in 2022/23

---

Causes of Food Insecurity

Physical Causes