They move quickly and quietly in any weather by any means possible, often in places without streets or even names. They carry no weapons even though their enemy is the most efficient and silent killer in the world, destroying cities and toppling governments. The environment is not their friend. These days, it has become an ally to their enemy - hunger.

They have been called the Green Berets of Humanity - part of a world wide organization that has become the most efficient distributor of food to millions that otherwise would die within days. They are part of the World Food Program (WFP), an organization that can reach almost any part of the globe in 24 hours with life-saving help. And in turn, they often become casualties in the battle. Twelve ’Green Berets’ have been killed in Darfur so far, where the WFP feeds 3 million people a day. More than forty others are MIA - Missing in Action.

Its global network moves food by plane, helicopter, train, boat, barge, donkey, camel, mule, and airdrops - whatever it takes. It has warehouses and storage facilities (Humanitarian Response Depots - HRDs) in places where normal markets do not exist, let alone function.

Josette Sheeran, the woman in charge of feeding the world’s hungry, calls the World Food Program a "FedEx to the bottom billion." Her operation is so effective that WFP now coordinates emergency logistics for the United Nations as a whole, and runs a Humanitarian Air Service for the United Nations, ferrying almost 400,000 UN, NGOs and other peace and humanitarian workers into conflict and disaster zones each year.

The global struggle to deal with hunger, malnutrition and poverty has never been so intense. Hunger has been part of the human condition from time immemorial; but never on such a vast scale, and never because the earth’s climate has changed so radically.

Global warming has severely altered traditional patterns of agricultural production and, coupled with severe drought conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, has pushed millions to the brink of starvation. Poor land management, the conversion of food producing croplands to the production of biofuels feedstock, and the overuse of nutrient-depleting fertilizers also are contributing to declining agricultural production, particularly in the developing world.

In an address to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year she noted: "Climate change, soaring demand for biofuels, rising commodity costs, and conflicts over resources are among the growing challenges facing the world and WFP. In just the past five years, WFP shipping rates are up 40 percent due to rising energy costs, maize and wheat are up 45 percent, rice is up 65 percent based on our actual purchases. That means that at a constant contribution level, we are able to feed fewer and fewer people each year."

While many might regard the global food problem as an economic and humanitarian crisis, there are national security and political stability issues at play also. Earlier this year skyrocketing food costs, rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather, and increased demand for food stocks in India and China sparked sometimes violent protests across the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

Whether treated as an economic or humanitarian crisis, the problem of feeding the world’s hungry is best understood when viewed as essentially an environmental challenge. Reducing energy demand, improving land management practices, building more sustainable communities, villages and towns, increasing available land for agricultural production, providing clean water supplies, and launching mitigation efforts to soften the impacts of global warming - these are fundamentally environment and sustainability challenges that both governments and industries must tackle as partners.

But these solutions by their very nature are long-term measures and people don’t die in the long-term. Death by starvation can come swiftly and brutally, often claiming first those least able to cope - children.

That is why the World Food Program’s Green Berets must continue their campaign to fight for the right of those who have become victims in a war against hunger - a war in which we all are participants.

Contact Info: Frank Came
Editor
GLOBE-Net
Tel: 1-800-274-6097
frank.came@globe.ca

Website : GLOBE-Net