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Regional Overview – East Asia World
Poverty & Hunger by the Numbers In the early years of the 21st Century |
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ARCHIVES *** The World Bank -
Annual Report 2019 www.worldbank.org/en/about/annual-report/ [accessed 30
September 2020] WORLD BANK FISCAL
YEAR COMMITMENTS
- The World Bank approved $5.3 billion for 49 operations in the region in
fiscal 2019, including $4.0 billion in IBRD loans and $1.3 billion in IDA commitments.
'Lost food' project
shows developing Asia how to tackle hunger Chaukesi Ramadurai, Nikkei Asia, 12 May 2021 [accessed 12 May 2021] The Lost Food
Project says that if global food waste were a country, it would be the
world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter. But the project's figures claim
that it had rescued 1.6 million kg of food from landfill in Malaysia by
December 2020, preventing just over 3 million kg of greenhouse gas emissions. Statistics aside,
apart from its impact on the environment, the project offers several lessons
for developing Asia. One is how to feed the weakest and poorest members of
developing societies, using existing resources that would be otherwise
discarded. This became even more important during the coronavirus pandemic,
when panic-buying and supply chain breakdowns caused scarcity in food
markets. "We had to be
adaptable and agile, and find new ways to procure and distribute food to
those who needed it the most," said Mooney. The crisis also gave rise to
new opportunities such as sending second-grade vegetables to the local zoo. Another important
takeaway for developing Asian countries is the spotlight on addressing
nutritional poverty among the poor, the elderly and the disabled. In many
countries of the region, people in the lower income groups are not destitute.
They have homes and can afford food -- but they tend to eat fast food, which
is cheap and filling yet lacks nutrition. Even in a developed economy it can
sometimes be cheaper to buy a cheeseburger than a wholesome salad. That is perhaps
where the food distributed by the Lost Food Project can make the most
difference. The team says that malnourished and anemic children in charity
schools that it supplies typically recover their health after a few months of
eating fresh food. COVID-19 Slowing
Cambodia’s Fight Against Hunger Athira Nortajuddin,
The Asean Post, 9 February 2021 theaseanpost.com/article/covid-19-slowing-cambodias-fight-against-hunger [accessed 9 February
2021] A more recent
joint-report released by UN agencies – the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the WFP, and the World
Health Organization (WHO), stated that the pandemic is threatening access to
a healthy diet for nearly two billion people in the Asia-Pacific region.
Newly released data
show refugee numbers in 2021 are the highest ever: An update Emi Suzuki, World
Bank, 20 June 2022 [accessed 24 June
2022]
Pandemic to create
millions of 'new poor' in East Asia: World Bank Kristie Pladson,
Deutsche Welle DW-WORLD.DE, 29 September 2020 [accessed 4 July 2022] A 'new poor'
emerges -- Prior to the pandemic, 33 million people in EAP [East Asia &
Pacific] countries had been expected to escape poverty in 2020, based on the
upper-middle-income class poverty line of $5.50 (€4.70) a day. But the latest GDP
forecasts and other indicators now show the number of poor going up by 38
million. In other words, along with 33 million people remaining in poverty
who, without the pandemic, would have escaped, another 5 million will fall
into poverty who otherwise would not have. "COVID-19 is
not only hitting the poor the hardest, it is creating 'new poor,'"
Victoria Kwakwa, vice president for East Asia and
the Pacific at the World Bank, said in a press release. "The region is
confronted with an unprecedented set of challenges, and governments are
facing tough choices." The World Bank
insights reinforce forecasts published just two weeks by Asian Development
Bank, which predicted that Asian economies will contract this year for the
first time in six decades. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Prof.
Martin Patt, "Regional Overview – East Asia",
http://gvnet.com/poverty/00-Regional EastAsia.htm, [accessed <date>] |
