cause and effect essay about famine

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What is famine? Causes and effects and how to stop it

From Gaza to Sudan, people facing famine are hungry and need urgent aid to survive.

When a global report last week revealed that almost 500,000 people in Gaza are now facing starvation, it was another frightening call to action. In half of households, people reported often that they had no food to eat in the house.

"We need all hands on deck...," said the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffith. “We fail them daily every time we're not able to get aid through to the people who need it."

At Oxfam, we’ve been focused on the fight to end hunger since our founding. So, we’re going to define what exactly is famine, what causes it, share an example of a famine, and explain how people like you can help stop famine in its tracks.

What does famine mean?

According to researchers Dan Maxwell and Nisar Majid, famine is “an extreme crisis of access to adequate food.” Visible in “widespread malnutrition” and “loss of life due to starvation and infectious disease,” famine robs people of their dignity, equality, and for some—their lives.

So how do we know a famine is occurring? The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, is a common global scale that informs how governments and aid groups should respond when people lose reliable access to sufficient, affordable, and nutritious food. It’s a five-phase warning system to inspire urgent action before it’s too late.

For a famine to exist in a given area—Phase 5 of the acute food insecurity scale— three conditions, backed by evidence, must be met:

• 1 in 5 households faces an extreme food shortage
• More than 30 percent of children are “acutely malnourished,” a nutritional deficiency that results from inadequate energy or protein intake
• Death rates exceed two adults or four children per day for every 10,000 people

As of right now, famine has not yet been declared in Gaza. But according to the IPC , there is a “high” risk of famine across the whole Gaza Strip and about 95 percent of the population faces extreme food insecurity.

What causes a famine?

Famines are caused by multiple factors. Since 2020, a deadly combination of conflict, COVID-19, and climate change has dramatically increased the number of people suffering from severe hunger. When compounded by inaction or policy decisions that make people more vulnerable, famine can result and society can collapse.

In Gaza, many challenges are putting people on the brink of famine:

• Following the attack by Palestinian armed militants on October 7, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has resulted in widespread damage to assets and infrastructure critical for health and food production and distribution.
• Israel’s tightening of the siege on Gaza and systematic denial of humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip continues to impede the safe and equitable delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
• Aid workers in Gaza are being killed and are unable to safely deliver humanitarian aid.

Political scientist Alex de Waal calls famine a political scandal, a “catastrophic breakdown in government capacity or willingness to do what [is] known to be necessary to prevent famine.” When governments fail to prevent or end conflict —or help families prevent food shortages brought on by any reason—they fail their own people.

What is an example of a famine?

The 1984 famine in Ethiopia took the lives of 1 million people , driven in part by drought, conflict, and the policy choices of national and regional authorities. Estimates suggest around 1 million people survived thanks to the delivery of humanitarian aid.

On the evening of Tuesday, October 23, 1984, NBC Nightly News aired footage taken by an Ethiopian videographer that showed scores of deceased people on stretchers that were being taken toward makeshift graveyards. Though the scenes inspired a robust international response, the nature of that response overlooked the capacity of communities affected by the famine to help themselves.

By the next morning, Oxfam America had received over 300 calls an hour from people like you who wanted to help. During the relief effort, feeding centers provided hungry people with food rations. Makeshift hospitals supported severely dehydrated people with IVs, providing shots of tetracycline to fight infection. Oxfam delivered protein and fat-fortified biscuits to those in need that saved many lives, but some could not eat them, as their mouths were riddled with open sores because of dehydration.

“These scenes of death and dying in the famine camps in Ethiopia were beyond the American experience, beyond anyone’s comprehension,” recalls Bernie Beaudreau , an Oxfam staffer at the time.

Can famine be stopped?

Famine can be stopped—now, and in the long term . But governments and aid groups must anticipate a worsening hunger crisis, secure the resources and political will to address the root causes of hunger, and safely deliver humanitarian aid to those most in need.

In Gaza and countries like Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Madagascar, Oxfam is working to reduce the likelihood of famine with people like you. Here are some ways you can support Oxfam’s work:

• Stomach ailments from dirty water rob people of good nutrition from whatever food they can find, and young children are particularly vulnerable. That’s why Oxfam helps improve and repair wells to access clean water as well as trucks in water to areas where there is none.
• Good sanitation and hygiene are essential for preventing the spread of diseases like cholera, Ebola, and COVID-19, which are especially deadly leading up to and during famines. Oxfam helps construct latrines and distributes hygiene items like soap so people can wash their hands.
• When food is available in markets, but might be scarce or very expensive for some, Oxfam distributes cash to help buy food. Oxfam also distributes emergency food rations when necessary.
• In areas where farmers can plant crops, Oxfam supplies seeds, tools, and other assistance so people can grow their own food. We also help farmers raising livestock with veterinary services, animal feed, and in some cases, we distribute animals to farmers to help restock their herds .
• We help build the capacity of local organizations to respond to emergencies like famine, shifting power from international organizations to leaders rooted in local know-how. We promote the leadership of our local partners and boost their skills to reduce suffering, risks, and losses by preparing their own communities before disasters strike.
• Oxfam and our supporters advocate for the resolution of conflicts and push for sufficient assistance for people affected by war and famine. Our research and advocacy also advance sustainable development in ways that help reduce the risk of future food crises and disasters.

Now you know what famine is

Join Oxfam to help stop famine in its tracks in Gaza right now.

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What is famine? How it's caused and how to stop it

Over 14 million people across Somalia , Ethiopia and Kenya —about half of them children—are on the verge of starvation. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are on the move to try and find food and water—with many not surviving the journey. In Somalia alone, over half a million people have already fled their homes since the start of 2022. Without action to help people already dying of hunger, the country could soon see mass death. 

Across East Africa, extreme hunger is on the rise. The region is entering a fifth consecutive season without enough rainfall. The drought has even surpassed the failed rains of the 2011 famine, which killed over 250,000 people. 

The situation has been steadily deteriorating for two years, despite repeated warnings. The lives of millions of people are at stake without urgent attention. More people will become displaced, more will go hungry and more will die of hunger and thirst. 

Famines are not common. So what does the declaration of a famine mean and what can we do to help?

What is famine?

A famine is declared when a certain set of conditions have been met. This criteria includes at least 30% of a given area's children suffering from severe malnutrition. That means that, by the time a famine is declared, children are already starting to die because their parents cannot give them enough food to survive. It’s already too late. 

That is why immediate action is needed in Somalia and the rest of East Africa to avoid mass deaths.

What are the main causes of famine?

Famines are caused by multiple factors including conflict and climate. A famine is not a natural disaster but a result of human actions or lack of action to prevent it. They do not happen overnight; they develop over time until they cause massive harm and suffering. 

There are many factors causing the catastrophe unfolding in East Africa. For one, the region is suffering from a La-Niña-induced drought from four consecutive failed or below-average rainy seasons. 

Droughts occur every few years in East Africa. Because of climate change, they are becoming even more frequent. These are the driest conditions with the highest temperatures in the region for more than 40 years. 

In addition, COVID-19 and the consequences of the war in Ukraine are pushing East Africa into catastrophe. Somalia, for instance, relied on Russia and Ukraine for 90% of its wheat before the war.

When is famine declared?

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification ( IPC) describes the severity of food emergencies. The five-phase scale acts as a warning system for governments and humanitarian organizations to take action.

The IPC grades a crisis in five levels, with the most severe being famine:

• Level one: Food Security
• Level two: Food Insecurity
• Level three: Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis
• Level four: Humanitarian Emergency 
• Level Five: Famine

Three conditions need to be met before it declares a level 5 famine:

1)    1 in 5 households in a certain area face extreme food shortages; and

2)    more than 30 percent of the population of a given area is acutely malnourished; and 

3)    at least two of every 10,000 people die each day. 

What happens in a famine?

Famine is more than just hunger. The effects can last a lifetime. 

Famine destroys futures.  

Malnutrition rates in Somalia have doubled since the start of the year. In Kenya, they have increased by 75 percent. Malnutrition itself is already deadly, especially in infants and young children. Children are particularly affected because they are still growing. The majority of those at risk of death are children, whether they are dying from starvation or from preventable diseases that their weakened bodies cannot fight off. 

The children who do survive will live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. Their growth will be stunted and they will be at greater risk of dying from future illnesses. They also tend to have a higher risk of having underweight or premature children, passing on these consequences to future generations.

Famine fuels violence and insecurity. 

Global threats like terrorism grow out of poverty and political and economic instability. Conflict spreads in famine areas and other places where food and resources are scarce. People are displaced from their homes and lose their means of earning a living: This lack of opportunity is fodder for terrorist recruitment. 

Famine destroys societies. 

We are at risk of losing an entire generation to starvation—children who are their communities’ best hope for a more peaceful and stable future.

 How can we stop famine? 

The international community helped avoid famine in East Africa in 2017 because it took early action. It is not doing so now. Millions of dollars are needed immediately, so the entire humanitarian response can scale up massively.

Delaying action until a famine is officially declared is morally wrong and guarantees that any response will be inadequate. Every day of delay will cause suffering to grow. Hundreds of thousands of people are already living on so little food that they are in physical pain, their children’s growth has been stunted and they are selling off all their possessions. 

Global leaders must prioritize ending the hunger crisis. Famines are always predictable and preventable. We know that getting aid into the right hands can save millions of lives. But, we also must tackle the root causes of the problem, including conflicts around the world.

What is the IRC doing?

East Africa is home to some of the IRC’s longest-running programs globally, with operations in Somalia for over 40 years, Kenya for 30 years, and Ethiopia for 20 years. Today, over 2,500 staff in the region are scaling up our programs to address the current drought and rising food insecurity, including expanding to new areas to meet needs. 

The IRC has invested heavily in resilience building in the region and urges all parties to collaborate on managing shocks such as the Ukraine crisis and COVID-19, which are compounding an already dire situation. International leaders must apply learning from the catastrophic events of 2011. 

The IRC provided assistance to Somalis through the 2011 famine and the 2016/17 drought, giving us clear insights into the risks communities face. Our water, health, nutrition and livelihoods programs reach 280,000 Somalis a year. In light of recent droughts and flooding, our efforts are focused in the South-West, Galmudug, Galgaduud, Banadir, and Puntland provinces, providing emergency relief, primary healthcare, and protecting vulnerable populations.

The IRC reaches over 3.2 million clients across the country each year through programs in environmental health, child protection, economic recovery, and women’s empowerment. In 2021, we further provided critical assistance to over 100,000 refugees and more than 500,000 Ethiopians affected by natural disasters. 

IRC teams deliver lifesaving emergency aid including health care, women’s protection, and legal rights education to refugee populations and their host communities. Our health, nutrition and conflict resolution programs in Kenya have delivered critical care to over 300,000 people a year, including nutrition support for malnourished children and supporting refugees and vulnerable Kenyans to start businesses and rebuild their lives.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Famine is a widespread condition in which many people in a country or region are unable to access adequate food supplies. Famines result in malnutrition, starvation, disease, and high death rates.

Geography, Social Studies, Health, Economics, Civics

Refugees on Train to Dacca

Photo: Refugees escape places experiencing famine as they seek food security on the way to Dacca, Bangladesh.

Photograph by Steve Raymer

Famine is a widespread condition in which a large percentage of people in a country or region have little or no access to adequate food supplies. Many people believe that famines are food shortages caused solely by underproduction. However, in many cases, famine has multiple causes. A natural disaster , such as a long period of drought, flooding, extreme cold, typhoons, insect infestations , or plant disease, combined with government decisions on how to respond to the disaster, can result in a famine . The famine might be initiated by a natural disaster , and a government's inability or unwillingness to deal with the consequences of that event may magnify the effects. This happened in North Korea in the 1990s when government mismanagement of food supplies and an inequitable rationing policy led to a famine that killed over two million people by some estimates. Human events also lead to famine . A major human cause of famine is warfare. During war, crops are destroyed, either intentionally or as a result of combat. In addition, supply lines and routes are cut off, and food cannot be distributed or is prevented from being distributed by combatants. Forced starvation for political reasons is another cause of famine . In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, for example, millions of peasants died as a result of leader Joseph Stalin’s agricultural policies, which required that a quota of grain be supplied to the government before any of the grain could be consumed by those who grew it. Anyone caught violating the policy could be executed. Europe and other developed parts of the world have mostly eliminated famine , though in earlier history, particularly the Middle Ages, some European countries experienced widespread famines that killed thousands, possibly even millions of people. Today, famine is most common in African countries. In 2011, for example, widespread famine began in the African nation of Somalia. More than 250,000 people died as a result. In 2017, the United Nations officially declared a famine in parts of South Sudan, where a civil war had begun in 2013. A major way to prevent famine is by supporting humanitarian relief efforts. In addition, many groups support the funding of programs to help local communities survive times of drought and other causes of food scarcity.

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• Famine : understanding the causes and consequences

Published on 9 September 2021, updated at 21st December 2023 at 10:12 am

HUNGER AFFECTS AROUND 735 MILLION PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD.¹ TODAY, 1 IN 11 PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ADEQUATE FOOD, IN TERMS OF QUANTITY AND QUALITY, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE THE MEANS AND RESOURCES TO FEED EVERY SINGLE ADULT AND CHILD IN THE WORLD.

When this situation persists and affects a whole country’s population, this is a famine: a critical situation that leads to the death of thousands of people.

Though it is rare, populations in certain countries are currently on the brink of famine.

World hunger and famine are caused by various closely linked factors that fuel each other. Conflict, food crises, inequality and repeated natural disasters all increase the risk of famine.

The definition of the term ‘famine’ is widely disputed and therefore used for a range of very different situations. The problem with the lack of precise definition for the word is that many governments take advantage of the term’s opacity in order to avoid declaring serious health situations in their countries.

DEFINITION: WHAT IS FAMINE AND HOW IS IT MEASURED?

Famine is a state of serious food shortage where a significant portion of the population of a country has no access to food for a prolonged period, leading to death among the populations concerned. However, there is no internationally accepted definition of famine.

Many organisations are trying to define the term because, to be able to fight a situation, it is important to be able to define and name it. Famine is an exceptional situation where a large number of people cannot feed themselves properly. This may be due to a lack of physical access to food or a lack of financial access. For example, the price of basic products may become exorbitant due to inflation, to such an extent that the population cannot afford them. Though exceptional, famine has existed for centuries and has made its mark on history a number of times.

Various studies have shown that famine is generally not the result of food shortage as such, but rather of political and social problems that affect the distribution of existing food stocks.

A famine is only declared in the worst cases; people die of hunger long before this point.

WHAT IS FOOD INSECURITY? A DEFINITION

The FAO and the WFP define food insecurity as a situation where a group of people does not have lasting physical or economic access to sufficient nutritious food.

FOOD INSECURITY AND FAMINE: KEY FIGURES

Food insecurity has been on the rise in the last three years, according to data from a FAO and WFP report . In 2020, 155 million people – 20 million more than in 2019 – in some 55 countries were considered to be facing severe food insecurity. This trend continued in 2021. In total, 41 million people all over the world are at risk of famine if nothing is done.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN CAUSES OF FAMINE?

Conflicts remain the main cause of food insecurity in the world, followed by economic shocks (including the one caused by the Covid-19 pandemic) and climate change.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on food systems across the world. The lockdown measures required to protect the population have led to loss of harvest and income, thus thrusting millions into a state of precarity. The crisis is far from over, but we need to prepare for what happens next, as one pandemic can hide another; in other words, if we do not rethink our current food systems, we could face a hunger pandemic.

WHICH COUNTRY IS MOST AFFECTED BY FAMINE?

Over the course of more than 40 years of fighting against hunger, we have been there to respond to many crises that are often forgotten by the media.

YEMEN ON THE BRINK OF FAMINE

In countries like Yemen , shaken by endless conflict, our activity is all the more crucial. War is depriving the civilian population of access to food, drinking water and medical care. This combined with population displacement due to the conflict, the effects of climate change and the country’s economic collapse have put Yemen on the verge of famine. If no joint international action is taken, huge numbers of people could starve, especially children.

We are working tirelessly on our advocacy activity and in the field, particularly to improve access to water, which is currently too limited to fulfil the needs of the entire population. The UN has warned of the seriousness and urgency of the situation several times, calling it the worst humanitarian crisis we face today.

REPEATED CRISES IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also in danger; a series of crises causing population movement and violence has put the inhabitants of the Kasai region – and, more recently, the Ituri Province – in a critical situation in terms of health and nutrition. In 2018, we deployed an emergency operation in Kasai to assist populations on the brink of famine who no longer had access to food or means of production. Some 400,000 people, most of whom were children, were in a state of serious food insecurity and needed humanitarian aid to survive.

Conflict and the resulting displacement keep populations in a precarious situation characterised by serious food insecurity.

LIST OF COUNTRIES FACING FOOD INSECURITY IN 2023

Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen remain at the highest alert level according to the FAO’s latest Hunger Hotspots report (October 2022–January 2023). All of these countries have populations that face or risk facing famine. In total, 45 million people living in 37 countries are experiencing critical levels of food insecurity (IPC 4 and above).

In Ethiopia, the situation is concerning in the Tigray region, due to the intense fighting occurring there and the lack of humanitarian access. In Nigeria, acute food insecurity has reached record highs: 19.5 million people are at crisis level or worse.

South Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria continue to face extremely worrying levels of food insecurity. According to the report, other countries are also experiencing alarming food insecurity levels, including Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Pakistan and Syria. The causes of this insecurity include climate change and its consequences (floods, droughts, storms, etc.), economic shocks and political instability.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WORLD HUNGER AND FAMINE?

Famine leads to a sharp increase in chronic malnutrition rates in the affected region. Malnutrition has awful effects on the population concerned. Apart from the fact that it can cause death in the most severe cases if it is not treated, in children, the damage from malnutrition is lasting. A child suffering from malnutrition before the age of five is more likely to experience stunted growth, illness or brain damage, which often entails developmental delays, poor performance at school and, therefore, lower income in adulthood, thus continuing the vicious circle of hunger.

CHILDREN: THE MAIN VICTIMS OF FAMINE

In the collective imaginary, famine is often represented by people in an emaciated state, mainly children. During a famine, the whole population is affected, but especially the most vulnerable, such as children aged under 5, whose health is fragile.

Due to conflict or population displacement, children may be separated from their parents, thus ending up defenceless and unable to find food or feed themselves. Their poor health, made fragile by a lack of essential nutrients, can stunt their growth, cause developmental delays and make them more likely to suffer from illness. Without medical supervision, these children may die.

According to the WHO, 45% of deaths of children under the age of 5 are linked to malnutrition and childhood diseases that malnourished children are too weak to fight.

HUNGER, FAMINE OR MALNUTRITION? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? SYNONYMS OF FAMINE

Famine has political connotations. Today, it is difficult to draw attention to a critical food situation if the government of the country has not declared a famine. Synonyms like ‘food crisis’ or ‘hunger’ are broader and less charged, but also less appropriate in a serious situation.

Food crises and hunger actually refer to food insecurity . This is a situation where a population does not have regular access to food of good enough nutritional quality to ensure that children develop properly and adults stay in good health.

Food crises can be characterised by food shortages, and may only appear in certain regions of a country or a continent without affecting a whole country.

There are currently a number of food crises ongoing all over the world. This hunger is usually down to four factors: conflict , inequality, climate change and economic shocks.

FAMINE: HISTORICAL CASES

Over the course of history, famine has struck populations across the world. It is often linked to conflict, epidemics, inadequate economic or agricultural policies or simply poor harvests.

EUROPE AND FAMINE: THE CASE OF IRELAND

The Great Famine ravaged Ireland from 1845 until 1849. It marked the country’s history, causing around a million deaths and almost the same number of displacements. The famine occurred due to various factors, including fifty years of deficient agricultural policies and the emergence of a disease that devastated potato crops, which constituted the population’s main food source at the time.

FAMINE IN AFRICA: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIA

The history of Ethiopia is blighted by famines all the way back to the ninth century. The country’s economy is based on agriculture; today, over 70% of the population work in this sector. But due to climate change, Ethiopia and its inhabitants are increasingly threatened by and vulnerable to extreme climate events, like droughts. A failing main industry wreaks havoc on the whole country.

In Ethiopia , the worst famine of the twenty-first century struck in 1983, and photos of the catastrophe travelled around the world. The outcome was just as serious as that of the Irish famine, if not more. A million people died and over 2.5 million were forced into displacement, either within the country or to neighbouring countries.

HOW CAN WE SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF FAMINE?

Despite the urgency of the situation and the persistence of climate change, poverty, war and inequality, there are ways to fight hunger. We develop access to water, sanitation and hygiene programmes to educate populations and prevent the spread of diseases like cholera, which leads to malnutrition.

In the countries in which we operate, we encourage people to create gardens, often in displacement or refugee camps, so that those who have lost everything can build their lives back up, feed themselves and find stability in situations of crisis. We adopt a host of environmentally friendly techniques, such as agroecology, to produce food of better quality and protect the environment in the communities where we operate. In countries like Ethiopia that face the double scourge of drought and food crises, we implement  hydroponics  systems to grow crops without soil in order to feed livestock and families in agricultural communities.

We strengthen the resilience of communities with few resources by distributing cash to boost the local economies and markets and to help the people we support to fulfil their families’ needs. We encourage solidarity saving initiatives among community members, as this promotes mutual aid and mitigates the problem of a lack of funds.

We screen people for malnutrition every day and offer them access to care, even in the most isolated areas, thanks to the work of the community volunteers we train.

All in all, the fight against hunger must take on an approach that provides a multisectoral response, as this would help to alleviate various problems through programmes and initiatives that complement each other. This is what we have been doing for 40 years now in our bid to come together to try to build a world without hunger.

In total, these activities have assisted 28 million people in nearly 55 different countries.

We want to do more. And we can do more, but only with your help.

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137 Intriguing Cause & Effect Essay Topics for Students

Teach critical thinking, logic, and the art of persuasion.

Cause-and-effect essays aren’t just a way to help students strengthen their writing skills. They’ll also learn critical thinking, logic, and the art of persuasion. In addition, they teach students to demonstrate how one thing directly influences another. Coming up with engaging cause-and-effect essay topics can be challenging, but we have you covered. This list of ideas includes a variety of topics that range from social and cultural movements to mental health and the environment.

Science and Environment Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• Describe the effect of urbanization on the environment.
• What is the impact of air pollution on health?
• What are the causes and consequences of plastics on marine life?
• What is the impact of rising sea temperatures on fish and marine life?
• Describe the impact of human behavior on global warming.

• What is the effect of social media on environmentalism?
• What causes volcanic eruptions?
• What causes trees to die?
• What are the effects of gravity?
• Why are plants green?
• Why do trees shed their leaves?
• What causes a species to become endangered?
• What are some of the causes of animals losing their habitats?
• Describe the effect of overpopulation on the environment.
• What are the effects of famine on human population?
• What are the causes and effects of Antarctica floods?
• What are the effects of pollution on the ocean?
• What effect do cars have on the environment?
• Why is it important to manage wildfires?
• What has been the impact of DNA on crime scene processing?

• What are the impacts of deforestation in Brazil?
• What are the effects of GMO foods on human health?
• What are the impacts of immunizations on human health?

Technology and Social Media Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are the effects of social media on adolescent development?
• How does technology affect productivity?
• What are the effects of video games on childhood development?
• How do cell phones affect human relationships?
• What are some reasons a teacher might ban cell phones from class?

• What effects do cell phones have on sleep?
• What effects did the invention of the Internet have on technology?
• What were the origins of cyberbullying?
• What are the effects of tablet use on small children?
• How has online dating changed relationships?
• What makes some people less likely to use social media?
• What are the effects of social media on privacy?
• How does the rise of TikTok affect Facebook and Instagram?
• In what ways could social media lead to extremism?
• What is the impact of social media on the increasing popularity of plastic surgery and other enhancements?

• What are some of the benefits of owning a smartphone and what are some of the drawbacks?
• What has been the impact of online shopping on brick-and-mortar stores?
• What has been the impact of smartphones on marriages and relationships?
• What are the causes and effects of texting while driving?
• What has the rise of “influencers” meant for Hollywood?
• In what ways have photo filters influenced young people’s self-esteem?

Culture and Social Issues Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• What are some of the reasons for substance abuse in young people?
• What are some of the effects of bullying?
• How does economic status affect the quality of health care?
• What are some of the causes of homelessness?
• Explain the effects of ignorance on discrimination.
• What are the impacts of death sentences on social justice?

• How does financial success affect societal privilege?
• What effects does growing up poor have on children?
• In what ways does religion influence society?
• What are the effects of immigration on a host country?
• What are the effects of ageism on job opportunities?
• What is the impact of LGBTQ+ representation in TV and movies?
• What are the effects of school shootings on politics?
• How do school uniforms affect students?
• What are the impacts of high student debt?
• What are the impacts of body shaming on people?
• What were the lasting impacts of the AIDS epidemic on society?

• What impact does banning abortion have in the United States?
• What has been the impact of marriage equality in the United States?
• What are the causes and effects of noise pollution?
• What are the causes and effects of inflation on the economy?
• What are the effects of TV shows on our behavior?

Sports Cause & Effect Essay Topics

• Examine the effects of exercise on mental health.
• What led to baseball being an iconic American sport?
• What drives people to participate in extreme sports?
• In what ways did globalization affect modern sports?
• What were the effects of doping on amateur and professional sports?
• Select a sport and write about the historical factors that led to the popularization of that sport.

• Describe the ways in which youth sports influence a child’s development.
• What were the driving forces behind the first Olympics?
• How can team sports help develop social skills?
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What Causes Famine in the World?

Our global food production system grows in size and output every single day. That means there’s enough food on this planet to feed every single person. 

But even with all this abundance, famine is no relic of the past. And by the time famine is officially declared, it’s too late: tens of thousands are already dying of hunger.

Thankfully the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has the expertise, international presence and operational capacity to stop famine in its tracks, pulling communities back from mass starvation. As one of the largest hunger fighting organizations on the planet, we work around the clock to stop hunger.

Read on for a closer look at the devastating – but preventable – scourge that is famine.

Donate now to help feed people suffering from famine >

So what’s the actual definition of famine?

Here’s how it works: Famine is declared in an area when extreme hunger is already widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation because they don’t have access to sufficient, nutritious food.

There are a few official parameters that define famine. Famine is declared in an area when:

• at least 20% of the population faces extreme food shortages
• about one out of three children suffer from acute malnutrition
• and finally, when two people are dying per day for every 10,000 inhabitants because of starvation (or a combination of extreme hunger and illness)

Related articles you might be interested in:

• $6.6 Billion Dollars Won’t End World Hunger, But It Could Save People from Famine
• Conflict and Famine: How They’re Connected
• Why Do People Have to Die Before Famine is Declared?

And what causes famine?

1. conflict.

There’s one violent, overwhelming cause of famine: conflict . War is what currently drives most people in our world into hunger.

By the time famine is declared, children are already suffering from acute malnutrition.

How? Violent conflict pushes entire communities of people from their homes, their land and their jobs. This creates millions of refugees who then do not have access to the resources that usually keep them fed, healthy and stable. Finding food in unfamiliar, isolated and often bleak terrain becomes nearly impossible. Violence also sends larger shock waves across the region: destroying infrastructure and roads, killing jobs, halting imports, and sending food prices skyrocketing.

2. Climate Extremes

The next major cause of famine? The climate crisis . Our warming climate is devastating people’s livelihoods around the world by bringing increasingly devastating weather that destroys land, homes, livestock, and crops.

3. Inequality

Inequality is another crucial factor. As the cost of living rises, urban households are unable to afford food to put on the table for their families. And for the millions suffering from chronic poverty, even staple foods are beyond reach. Gender inequality means women are more likely than men to suffer from hunger and malnourishment. In many cases, women eat last and least.

Learn more about what causes hunger, and eventually famine.

How does famine affect communities?

Famine is the most disastrous form of widespread hunger. In affected areas, people are in desperate need of food and water and on the move in search of resources. They’re skipping meals to make food last longer – especially mothers with hungry kids. To find food, families are forced to beg or forage.

And as the World Health Organization puts it, “between starvation and death, there is nearly always disease.” Extreme hunger leaves the body vulnerable  to infectious diseases like cholera, malaria, pneumonia and measles, which can spread through communities like wildfire. The sickest and most malnourished die. And the repercussions of famine are still devastating to those who survive it, leaving their bodies weakened for life.

“Famine is tragic, a horrifying moment in time, but it also leaves a legacy for the whole next generation,” explained the U.N. World Food Programme’s Acting Director of Nutrition Allison Oman Lawi in 2021. “When families, communities and nations are impacted by famine, it casts a shadow on their future. Malnutrition in children leads to stunting or chronic malnutrition that affects their health for life.

WFP is there before, during and after famine strikes to provide urgently needed food assistance.

How can we stop and prevent famine?

1. anticipate.

Before famine strikes, WFP uses its presence in the field, innovation and technology to identify, anticipate and warn the world of the threat of famine.

At every stage of famine, WFP harnesses its logistics and supply chain capabilities to move huge quantities of food to where they’re need most.

To avert the threat of famine, WFP works around the clock to provide food, nutrition and cash-based assistance to the world’s most vulnerable people.

Our deep-field presence, scale of operations and cutting-edge expertise developed through decades of fighting hunger make us uniquely positioned to fight famine. We use the latest technology to pinpoint where hunger is the worst in the world and make sure we are reaching those in dire need of help.

The most powerful tool we rely on in the face of famine? Food. Through direct or cash-based assistance , getting food into people’s hands is critical.

Our logistics and supply chain capabilities can move huge quantities of food to where they’re most needed — in extreme cases using airdrops and airlifts. On any given day, we have 6,500 trucks, 20 ships and 140 planes on the move.

We think ahead, and plan long term – not just responding to already full blown crises but working tirelessly day in and day out to prevent them through nutrition programs , school meals , support for small-scale farmers , and helping families to afford a healthy diet.

Preventing famine is a choice. With enough resources and well-planned interventions, we can eliminate its threat entirely. But we need your help.

People around the world are suffering from the affects of famine. Your donation will help rush food to those in need before it's too late.

Related Stories

The World Problem: Famine

Famine is a global problem affected developing countries. The main causes of famine are low income and low developed economies. It is known that among the developed countries, increases in per-capita food production since the 1950s have generally moved upward in tandem with increases in total food production. Among the developing countries, per-capita food production has generally lagged behind.

Moreover, even in countries of the South where the Green Revolution has produced spectacular production gains, the distribution of its rewards has often been quite uneven (Fluehr-Lobban and Lobban 6). Recent decades the problem of famine has been examined more as a result of overpopulation than a crisis of entitlement.

Such authors as P. R Ehrlich and Mike Davis pay a special attention to the problem of overpopulation and its impact on famine. Researchers claim that population growth has a great influence on food shortage. Famine affects countries with the high average population growth rate.

They prove the fact that famine affects many countries with high average population growth rate. Countries on African continent belong to less developed countries which resulted in economic and social disasters influenced native population. The statistical date gives the facts that in Africa most people are seriously affected by famine and different diseases.

Researchers examine the general impact of overpopulation on the planet statistics. According to statistical results, every day 86,400 persons die because of famine. “On average, 62 million people die each year, of whom probably 36 million (58 per cent) directly or indirectly as a result of nutritional deficiencies, infections, epidemics or diseases which attack the body when its resistance and immunity have been weakened by undernourishment and hunger” (Ziegler 2001, p. 5).

The researchers explain that the environmental toll of population growth and rising affluence seemingly binds humanity in a common fate, but, as the tragedy of the commons suggests, countries do not share the costs and benefits associated with the exploitation equally. For instance, Sudan is one of the countries populations of which died of widespread famine and destitution (Alemu 279).

The latest US estimate says up to 1.2 million people now face starvation in the south of the country – many more than previously thought. The dramatic increase has prompted the humanitarian aid to call for an unprecedented relief operation to target those most at risk in several areas it describes as famine zones (Ziegler 7, See Appendix Table 1).

Famine is a direct result of the decreased world’s food particularly impressive after World War II. In the thirty-five years from 1950 to 1985, world grain harvests increased from less than 750 million tons to 1.7 billion tons.

Even though the world experienced unprecedented population growth during this period, the growth in food production was so spectacular that it permitted a 25 percent increase in per-capita food supplies and a corresponding increase in meeting minimum nutritional standards.

Primarily, these studies concern European countries and the USA but do not take into account Asian and African countries where population growth has a direct impact on famine (Ziegler 7).

As a generalization, population growth accounts for the difference between total and per-capita production of food in developed and developing countries. Africa stands in stark contrast. It was predicted that the population growth would outstrip food production appear more apt than here.

During the 1970s, Africa’s food production increased by only 1.8 percent annually, but its population grew at a rate of 2.8 percent. Starvation and death became daily occurrences in broad stretches of the Sahel, ranging from Ethiopia in the east to Mauritania in the west.

The situation was repeated a decade later when, in Ethiopia in particular, world consciousness was awakened by the tragic specter of tens of thousands suffering from malnutrition and dying of famine at a time of unprecedented food surpluses worldwide.

As population growth has moved hand in hand with desecration of the environment, sub-Saharan Africa has experienced the tragedy of the commons in all of its most remorseless manifestations (David 32; Alemu 279; See Appendix Table 2, 3).

It should be mentioned that the problem of famine as a crisis of entitlement was also examined. Such researchers as David (31) tried to prove that famine has social roots and does nothing with overpopulation. It is possible to agree that soil erosion, desertification, and deforestation are worldwide phenomena, but they are often most acute where population growth and poverty are most evident.

The search for fuelwood is a major source of deforestation and a primary occupation in developing countries (Ziegler 5). Deforestation and soil erosion also occur when growing populations without access to farmland push cultivation into hillsides and tropical forests ill-suited to farming.

It is possible to say that the problem of famine as a result of overpopulation is better examined from the historical perspective as well. Historians pay a special attention to the rate of population and food consumption.

As trends in births, deaths, and migration unfold worldwide into the twenty-first century, demographic changes will promote changes in world politics. At issue is how these trends will affect traditional national security considerations, economic development opportunities, and the prospects for achieving global food security (Ehrlich 98).

Many researchers (Davis, 12; Ehrlich, 211) stress the adverse effects of population growth on economic devel­opment. What they often ignore, however, is that the world has enjoyed unprece­dented levels of economic growth and unparalleled population increases simultane­ously.

Even those countries with the highest rates of population increase are arguably better off economically today than they were at the dawn of the twentieth century.

Declining infant mortality and rising life expectancy coincide with improved living standards throughout the world, even if, ironically, these are the very forces that drive population growth. Some researchers examine the role of politics in famine (Healey 101). Nevertheless, this problems is less examined in comparison with population growth and its impact on food shortage.

Studies state that population growth contributes to the widening income gap between the world’s rich and poor. It also contributes to lower standards of living for many, as poor people tend to have more children to support than do those who are relatively better off. Furthermore, by depressing wage rates relative to rents and returns to capital. (Osborn 87).

Any of the agricultural products produced in developing countries (such as sugar, tea, coffee, and cocoa) are exported abroad, where they are dietary supplements (with little nutritional value) for the world’s rich.

The problem of overpopulation is possible to illustrate by the fact that there is only about one working-age adult for each child under fifteen in the Third World. It also encourages the immediate consumption of economic resources rather than their reinvestment in social infrastructure to promote future economic growth.

Kenya knows famine. Recorded first in 1884, thereafter in 1928, 1944, 1949, 1981, 1984 and 1997. Each of these years has been severe for our citizens, necessitating the uncertainties and indignity of international food aid. In 1997, close to 5 million tonnes of maize were imported into Kenya. Between 1993 and 1995, maize, wheat, sorghum, millet, rice, beans, beef and milk recorded shortfalls in supply.

Although population growth was, and continues to be, an important factor, a scarcity of pest-free storage facilities, the incidence of crop diseases and the vagaries of weather worsened the level of shortages. The trend will not be easy to reverse. Ireland knew famine.

In the 1850s nearly 1 million emigrated to America. That is not open to Kenyans today—they will not let us in, neither will Europe. Nor would we wish to go. We simply want to be able to eat. It would help if the North ate less and used less energy when they did (Ziegler 8).

To conclude, famine is a complex problem which effects world’s society from ancient time. Researchers point out different causes of this problem, but the problem of famine as a result of overpopulation is better examined. A lot of researchers mention political and social factors but they do not provide deep analysis of these problems and their direct impact on famine around the world.

Excessive population growth doubtless strains the environment and contributes to destruction of the global commons, but excessive consumption is even more damaging. In this respect it is not the South’s disadvantaged four-fifths of humanity who place the greatest strains on the global habitat but the affluent one-fifth in the consumption-oriented North.

Differential fertility rates among various ethnic populations will also have internal and international consequences (Ehrlich 38). In Israel, for example, the Jewish population may one day become the minority, as fertility rates among Arabs and Palestinians within Israel’s borders outstrip those of Israel’s Jews.

Analogous trends are already evident in South Africa, where the white population is expected by the year 2020 to comprise only one-ninth to one-eleventh of the total population compared with the one-fifth it accounted for in the early 1950s.

Works Cited

Alemu, Tadesse “Nutritional Assessment of Two Famine Prone Ethiopian Communities”, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health , 51 (1997), p. 278-282.

David, A. Famine and the Crisis of Social Order . Blackwell Publishers, 1998.

Ehrlich, P. R. The population bomb . New York: Ballantine Books, 1971.

Fluehr-Lobban, C. and R. Lobban “The Sudan Since 1989: National Islamic Front.” Arab Studies Quarterly 23 (2001), 1-9.

Healey, J. (ed) Foreign Aid and World Debt . The spinney Press, 2000.

Osborn, F. Our Crowded planet . Greenwood Press Reprint, 1998.

Ziegler, J. The Right to Food. 2001.

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Famine: History, Causes, and Consequences — A Select Bibliography

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Journal of Economic Literature

Cormac O Grada

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The testimonies of foreign witnesses to famine often reproduce familiar tropes in order to convey the extent of the suffering, ensuring that descriptions have a global resonance. And yet, famines have regularly been treated as distinctive national calamities, reinforcing the unity of a people through a shared calamitous experience, or ‘othering’ an imperial power or outside agency. The chapters in this volume explore various aspects of three catastrophic famines which struck mid-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe: the Great Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór) of 1845 to 1850, the Finnish Famine of the late 1860s (referred to in this volume by the Finnish phrase Suuret Nälkävuodet – ‘Great Hunger Years’), and the Ukrainian Famine (commonly known as the Holodomor, ‘Death by Starvation’) of 1932 to 1933. In addition to providing new insights into these events, on international, national and regional scales, the overall volume contributes to an increased comparative historiography in historical famine studies, and responds in particular to calls from Irish scholars to ensure that the Great Irish Famine is set in a broader international context. As is often the case with comparative history, the contrasts between the cases, rather than the similarities, can be the most instructive in reassessing national narratives or in overcoming exceptionalism or path-dependency.

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The lecture paper focuses on some topics that remain current in famine studies. First, it reviews the link between food prices and the severity of famines as reflected in excess mortality. Second, it places the death tolls from several recent famines in sub-Saharan Africa in historical context. Third, it reviews the impact of famines on fertility. Famines are always associated with a reduction in births; but to what extent are those births lost or births postponed? Fourth, it reviews the literature that invokes famines as a testing ground for the fetal origins hypothesis. Finally, it reviews the prospect of a near future in which famines have been consigned to history.

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In Famine (1981), a collection of essays by experts from the developing world and advanced agricultural societies, the authors share their ecological perspectives and provide an insight into the multiple causes of famine. They examine the fact that the main cause of famine is more likely to be as a result of human actions, rather than the vagaries of climate, and look at whether planned intervention by governments and relief agencies may compound the problems already existing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part section i | 45  pages, the ecological systematics of famine, chapter section i | 2  pages, introduction, chapter | 14  pages, the ecology of famine: an overview†, chapter | 22  pages, an approach towards a theory of famine, chapter | 5  pages, ecosystems and famine†, part section ii | 29  pages, the individual's health during famine, chapter section ii | 2  pages, chapter | 10  pages, physiology of acute starvation in man†, chapter | 15  pages, the role of disease in the ecology of famine†, part section iii | 28  pages, food and famine, chapter section iii | 1  pages, chapter | 8  pages, the concept of food supply system with special reference to the management of famine, chapter | 6  pages, issues in the provision of food aid following disasters, on strategies and programs for coping with large scale food shortages, part section iv | 58  pages, selected case studies of famine, chapter section iv | 2  pages, environment: a critical aspect of development and food production in bangladesh, chapter | 11  pages, the famine syndrome: its definition for relief and rehabilitation in bangladesh, chapter | 4  pages, the causes and effects of famine in the rural population: a report from bangladesh, chapter | 16  pages, man-made famines: some geographical insights from an exploratory study of a millennium of russian famines, adjustment of food behaviour during famine.

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Essay Papers Writing Online

How to master the art of writing a successful cause and effect essay that captivates your readers and earns you top grades.

Are you intrigued by the interconnected nature of events and phenomena? Do you aspire to unravel the hidden threads that link causes to effects? Crafting a cause and outcome essay provides an excellent platform to explore and dissect these connections, allowing you to showcase your analytical skills and express your ideas with precision and clarity.

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deep into the art of writing cause and outcome essays, equipping you with effective strategies, invaluable tips, and real-life examples that will help you master the craft. Whether you are a seasoned writer looking to enhance your skills or a beginner eager to embark on a new writing journey, this guide has got you covered.

Throughout this journey, we will navigate the intricate realm of cause and outcome relationships, examining how actions, events, and circumstances influence one another. We will explore the essential elements of a cause and outcome essay, honing in on the importance of a strong thesis statement, logical organization, and compelling evidence. By the end of this guide, you will possess the necessary tools to produce a captivating cause and outcome essay that engages your readers and leaves a lasting impact.

Tips for Writing a Cause and Effect Essay

When composing a paper that focuses on exploring the connections between actions and their consequences, there are several essential tips that can help you write a compelling cause and effect essay. By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your essay is well-structured, clear, and effectively communicates your ideas.

By following these tips, you can enhance your ability to write a compelling cause and effect essay. Remember to analyze the causes and effects carefully, organize your ideas effectively, provide clear explanations, use transitional words, and proofread your essay to ensure a polished final piece of writing.

Understand the Purpose and Structure

One of the most important aspects of writing a cause and effect essay is understanding its purpose and structure. By understanding these key elements, you can effectively communicate the relationship between causes and effects, and present your argument in a clear and organized manner.

In a cause and effect essay, the purpose is to analyze the causes of a specific event or phenomenon and explain the effects that result from those causes. This type of essay is often used to explore the connections between different factors and to demonstrate how one event leads to another.

To structure your cause and effect essay, consider using a chronological or sequential order. Start by introducing the topic and providing some background information on the causes you will discuss. Then, present your thesis statement, which should clearly state your main argument or claim.

In the body paragraphs, discuss each cause or group of causes in a separate paragraph. Provide detailed explanations, examples, and evidence to support your claims. Make sure to use transitional words and phrases to guide the reader through your essay and to show the logical progression of causes and effects.

Finally, in the conclusion, summarize your main points and restate your thesis, reinforcing your overall argument. You can also discuss the broader implications of your analysis and suggest possible solutions or further research.

By understanding the purpose and structure of a cause and effect essay, you can effectively convey your ideas and arguments to your readers. This will help them follow your reasoning and see the connections between causes and effects, leading to a more convincing and impactful essay.

Choose a Topic

When embarking on the journey of writing a cause and effect essay, one of the first steps is to choose an engaging and relevant topic. The topic sets the foundation for the entire essay, determining the direction and scope of the content.

To select an effective topic, it is important to consider your interests, as well as the interests of your intended audience. Think about subjects that captivate you and inspire curiosity. Consider current events, personal experiences, or areas of study that pique your interest. By choosing a topic that you are genuinely passionate about, you will be more motivated to conduct thorough research and present compelling arguments.

Additionally, it is essential to select a topic that is relevant and meaningful. Identify an issue or phenomenon that has a clear cause-and-effect relationship, allowing you to explore the connections and consequences in depth. Look for topics that are timely and impactful, as this will ensure that your essay resonates with readers and addresses significant issues in society.

Moreover, a well-chosen topic should have enough depth and breadth to support a comprehensive analysis. Avoid selecting topics that are too broad or shallow, as this can make it challenging to delve into the causes and effects in a meaningful way. Narrow down your focus to a specific aspect or aspect of a broader topic to ensure that you have enough material to explore and analyze.

In conclusion, choosing a topic for your cause and effect essay is a critical step that will shape the entire writing process. By selecting a topic that aligns with your interests, is relevant and meaningful, and has enough depth and breadth, you will lay the foundation for a compelling and informative essay.

Conduct Thorough Research

Before diving into writing a cause and effect essay, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive research on the topic of your choice. This research phase will provide you with the necessary background information and context to develop a strong and well-supported essay.

During the research process, explore various sources such as books, academic journals, reputable websites, and credible news articles. Utilize synonyms for “research” like “investigate” or “explore” to keep your writing engaging and varied.

Avoid relying solely on a single source or biased information. Instead, strive to gather a variety of perspectives and data points that will enhance the credibility and validity of your essay.

Take notes as you research, highlighting key points, statistics, and quotes that you may want to include in your essay. Organize your findings in a clear and structured manner, making it easier to refer back to them as you begin writing.

Incorporating well-researched evidence and supporting examples into your cause and effect essay will lend credibility to your arguments, making them more persuasive and convincing. By conducting thorough research, you will be able to present a well-rounded and informed analysis of the topic you are writing about.

Create an Outline

One of the crucial steps in writing any type of essay, including cause and effect essays, is creating an outline. An outline helps to organize your thoughts and ideas before you start writing, ensuring that your essay has a clear and logical structure. In this section, we will discuss the importance of creating an outline and provide some tips on how to create an effective outline for your cause and effect essay.

When creating an outline, it is important to start with a clear understanding of the purpose and main points of your essay. Begin by identifying the main cause or event that you will be discussing, as well as its effects or consequences. This will serve as the foundation for your outline, allowing you to structure your essay in a logical and coherent manner.

Once you have identified the main cause and effects, it is time to organize your ideas into a clear and logical order. One effective way to do this is by using a table. Create a table with two columns, one for the cause and one for the effect. Then, list the main causes and effects in each column, using bullet points or short phrases. This will help you see the connections between the different causes and effects, making it easier to write your essay.

In addition to listing the main causes and effects, it is also important to include supporting details and examples in your outline. These can help to strengthen your argument and provide evidence for your claims. Include specific examples, facts, and statistics that support each cause and effect, and organize them under the relevant point in your outline.

Lastly, make sure to review and revise your outline before you start writing your essay. Check for any gaps in your logic or missing information, and make any necessary adjustments. Your outline should serve as a roadmap for your essay, guiding you through the writing process and ensuring that your essay is well-structured and coherent.

In conclusion, creating an outline is an essential step in writing a cause and effect essay. It helps to organize your thoughts and ideas, ensuring that your essay has a clear and logical structure. By identifying the main cause and effects, organizing your ideas into a table, including supporting details and examples, and reviewing your outline, you can create an effective outline that will guide you through the writing process.

Develop the Body Paragraphs

Once you have identified the main causes and effects of the topic you are writing about, it is time to develop your body paragraphs. In these paragraphs, you will present specific evidence and examples to support your claims. The body of your essay should be well-structured and focused, with each paragraph addressing a single cause or effect.

Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that clearly states the main point you will be discussing. Then, provide detailed explanations and evidence to support your argument. This can include statistics, research findings, expert opinions, or personal anecdotes. Remember to use clear and concise language to convey your ideas effectively.

In order to make your writing more coherent, you can use transition words and phrases to connect your ideas and create a logical flow between paragraphs. Words like “because”, “as a result”, “therefore”, and “consequently” can be used to show cause and effect relationships.

Additionally, it is important to use paragraph unity, which means that each paragraph should focus on a single cause or effect. Avoid including unrelated information or discussing multiple causes/effects in a single paragraph, as this can confuse the reader and weaken your argument.

Furthermore, consider using examples and evidence to enhance the clarity and persuasiveness of your arguments. Concrete examples and real-life scenarios can help illustrate the cause and effect relationship and make your writing more engaging to the reader.

• Use accurate data and precise details to back up your claims
• Include relevant research and studies to support your arguments
• Provide real-life examples and cases that demonstrate the cause and effect relationship

In conclusion, developing the body paragraphs of your cause and effect essay is crucial in presenting a well-structured and persuasive argument. By using topic sentences, clear explanations, transition words, and relevant evidence, you can effectively convey your ideas and convince the reader of the cause and effect relationship you are discussing.

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Famine - Causes and Effects

Famine - introduction.

Famine is an extreme and prolonged state of hunger in a considerable proportion of masses of a country or a region that results in widespread and acute malnutrition and death by starvation or diseases due to the inadequacy of food and nutrition. Famine in a literal sense indicates extreme inadequacy and the scarcity of food and nutrition. It is a phenomenon that occurs in a vast terrestrial area due to different environmental and biological reasons. Famines may range from a few weeks to a few years in a community. The major factors that lead to famine in today’s world are population imbalance, lack of rainfall causing scarcity of freshwater, crop failure, government policies, and so on.

Conditions Leading to Famine

Famines are lurking in the community from olden times. Even in ancient times as a result of war or epidemic masses have faced famine and bore the consequences of it. It has affected populations across the world. Many famines in history have precipitated from natural causes like drought flooding, unseasonable cold, typhoons, Cyclones, vermin depredations, insect infestations, and plant diseases. However, some famines were a result of social causes like population explosion leading to food shortages that extended into malnutrition, starvation, and widespread diseases, feudal social systems, etc.

Characteristics of a Famine

A Famine is characterized by the following factors:

Severe food shortage triggered causes like conflict, drought, crop failure, demographic disequilibrium, governmental policies, and so on.

Widespread death due to diseases, starvation, and scarcity of food.

Malnutrition and other deficiency diseases plague a huge amount of the population.

Crop failure led to a nationwide scarcity of food.

Poverty with various social disorganization consequences include overcrowding, the break-up of hygiene, escalated vermin, failure to bury the deceased, and unregulated population growth and/or camp advancement that support the occurrence of epidemics and diseases.

Famines in India

India is a developing nation with its economy and population majorly dependent on agriculture. Although various advancements in the field of agriculture have improved its quality it is still primarily dependent on climatic conditions. For example- Rain during summer is crucial for the process of irrigation in agriculture. Lack of rainfall leads to a lack of proper irrigation and the failure of crops. Thus, these consequences lead to famines. Many such conditions like lack of rainfall or drought had led to several famines in India 11th to 17th Century. The most severely recorded famines in India are as follows:

The famine of 1943 in Bengal.

The famine of 1783 in Chalisa.

The famine of 1770 in Great Bengal.

Skull Famine of 1791.

The famine of 1866 in Orissa.

The famine of 1630 in Deccan.

The famine of 1873 in Deccan.

The famine of 1837 in Agra.

Widespread scarcity of food was caused as a result of these great famines. This also led to many deaths across the country. The most serious of all these famines was the famine of 1770 in Great Bengal that caused around 10 million deaths, the skull famine of 1791 caused about 11 million deaths and the Chalisa famine of 1783 also caused 11 million deaths on average.

Causes of Famines

The occurrence of famines mainly was recorded to be caused as a result of natural causes that include the after-effects of flood, cyclone, storms, or droughts due to scarcity of rainfall, earthquake, leading to crop failure and agricultural degradation. floods and earthquakes destroy crops or food storage places resulting in scarcity of food and thus leading to famine.

Human Intervention

The man-made causes of famine include lack of food due to inefficient agricultural processes, resulting in crop failure. Or, no proper storage of crops that lead to large-scale loss of harvested crops or infestation by rodents.

It is also caused by the improper distribution of food in some of the regions.

Contamination of water bodies or air hampers crop production and may also make it impossible for crops to grow in such regions.

FAQs on Famine - Causes and Effects

1. What are the Effects of Famine?

Starvation is a continuous scarcity of food among the population or the people of a specific region. Famine causes starvation on a mass scale. Famine also leads to the occurrence of diseases in the human body like cholera. Cholera is caused by a bacterium and it includes symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal cramps, dry, mucous membranes, mouth, and skin, excessive thirst, and lethargy. It causes edema of the skin which is characterized by excessive fluid under the skin and swelling of the body. Poor sanitation, contaminated food and water and crowded living conditions lead to dysentery is another bacterial disease that spreads through water, stool, and food. Anemia is also another notable condition characterized by low levels of hemoglobin. All of these and many other diseases and disorders are a result of famine. Along with these grave diseases, famines also lower fertility rates, give rise to poor living conditions, fewer income options, various socio - political issues, etc.

2. How to Prevent Famine?

It is difficult to control and impossible to eradicate famine as it is mostly caused by natural reasons, however the effects of famine can be prevented by certain measures. These include:

Encouraging surplus agricultural production beyond the requirements of the rural population.

A well-developed transportation system between urban and rural areas. Connectivity of urban and rural areas play an important role in the prevention of famine.

Ensuring proper health care, clean drinking water, and sanitation facilities for the prevention and spread of diseases.

3. What is a famine?

A famine is a period of severe food scarcity brought on by a variety of circumstances such as war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic calamity, or government policy. Regional hunger, starvation, epidemics, and increased mortality are generally accompanied or followed by this occurrence. Every inhabited continent on the planet has experienced starvation at some point in its history. Southeast and South Asia, as well as Eastern and Central Europe, were often classified in the 19th and 20 th centuries as having suffered the greatest number of deaths from starvation. Since the 2000s, the number of people dying from famine has steadily decreased. Since 2010, Africa has been the world's most afflicted continent.

The World Food Programme warned on November 8, 2021, that 45 million people in 43 nations were on the verge of famine. Afghanistan had surpassed Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, and even Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe, with the country's demands outstripping those of the other worst-affected countries.

4. What happened during the famines in British India?

Severe famines became more common in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Millions died in 24 major famines between 1850 and 1899, more than in any other 50-year span. These famines in British India were severe enough to have a significant impact on the country's long-term population growth, particularly between 1871 and 1921. The first, the Bengal famine of 1770, is thought to have killed over a third of the region's population—roughly 10 million people.

East India Company revenues from Bengal fell to £174,300 in 1770–71 as a result of the famine. As a result, the East India Company's stock price plummeted. The corporation was compelled to take out a £1 million loan from the Bank of England in order to cover the annual military expenditure, which ranged from £60,000 to £1 million. Later attempts were made to prove that the famine had had no effect on net revenue, but this was only feasible because the collection had been "violently held up to its old standard." Between 1765 and 1858, the 1901 Famine Commission discovered twelve famines and four "serious scarcities."

5. What were the causes of famines during the British rule in India?

Uneven rainfall and British economic and administrative policies also contributed to the famines. Rack-renting, levies for war, free trade policies, the rise of export agriculture, and the neglect of agricultural investment are among the policies linked. Opium, rice, wheat, indigo, jute, and cotton exports from India were crucial to the British empire's economy, providing vital foreign cash, particularly from China, and stabilizing low grain prices in the British market. Export crops, according to Mike Davis, displaced millions of acres that could have been used for domestic subsistence, making Indians more vulnerable to food emergencies. Others argue that exports were not a major cause of the famine, claiming that commerce did have a minor stabilizing effect on India's food consumption.

One such famine was the Odisha famine of 1866–1867, which later expanded across the Madras Presidency to Hyderabad and Mysore. The famine of 1866 was a devastating episode in Odisha's history, with about a third of the population dying. The famine left 1,553 orphans, whose guardians were to receive 3 rupees each month until their children reached the age of 17 for boys and 16 for girls. The western Ganges area, Rajasthan, central India (1868–1870), Bengal and eastern India (1873–1874), Deccan (1876–78), and the Ganges region, Madras, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Bombay (1876–1878) all experienced similar famines.  The Great Famine of 1876–1878 prompted a huge movement of agricultural laborers and artisans from southern India to British tropical possessions, where they labored as indentured laborers on plantations.

6. How did the British respond to the famines in India?

The Bengal Famine of 1770 was the first big famine to occur under British control. In a ten-month period, about a quarter to a third of Bengal's population died of starvation. Even though the famine was not caused by the British colonial authority, the East India Company's tax increases coincided with and aggravated it. "Successive British governments were anxious not to add to the burden of taxation" after the famine. In 1866, the rains failed once more in Bengal and Odisha. Laissez-faire policies were implemented, and the famine in Bengal was partially alleviated.

7. How did policies influence the famines in British India?

The non-interference of the government in the grain market, even during famines, shows how Adam Smith's theories affected the British famine policy in India. Another major issue in defining famine policy was keeping famine aid as low as possible, with the least amount of expenditure to the colonial exchequer. Another possible influence on British policy on famine in India, according to Brian Murton, a geography professor at the University of Hawaii, was the English Poor Laws of 1834, with the difference that the English were willing to "maintain" the poor in England in normal times, whereas Indians would only receive subsistence when entire populations were threatened. There are parallels between the Irish famine of 1846–49 and the later Indian famines of the late nineteenth century. You can access the Vedantu app and website for free study materials.

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Cause of the Great Famine

• Great Famine relief efforts
• Death toll, emigration to America, and demographic effects

What caused the Great Famine?

What were the effects of the great famine, how did the potato blight happen.

• What does a potato plant look like?
• What is the definition of famine?

Great Famine

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• Ask about Ireland - The Great Famine - An Gorta Mór
• EH.net - Ireland’s Great Famine
• History Ireland - Epidemic Diseases of the Great Famine
• Constitutional Rights Foundation - The Potato Famine and Irish Immigration to America
• History Learning Site - The Great Famine of 1845
• Academia - The Irish Potato Famine
• The Victorian Web - The Irish Famine
• BBC News - Irish Famine: How Ulster was devastated by its impact
• Ireland's Great Hunger Museum - Learn About the Great Hunger
• GlobalSecurity.org - Ireland - Potato Famine - 1846-1849
• Irish Potato Famine - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

The Great Famine was caused by a failure of the potato crop, which many people relied on for most of their nutrition. A disease called late blight destroyed the leaves and edible roots of the potato plants in successive years from 1845 to 1849.

As a direct consequence of the famine, Ireland 's population fell from almost 8.4 million in 1844 to 6.6 million by 1851. About 1 million people died and perhaps 2 million more eventually emigrated from the country. Many who survived suffered from malnutrition . Additionally, because the financial burden for weathering the crisis was placed largely on Irish landowners, hundreds of thousands of tenant farmers and laborers unable to pay their rents were evicted by landlords unable to support them. Continuing emigration and low birth rates meant that by the 1920s Ireland's population was barely half of what it had been before the famine.

Why were potatoes so important to Ireland?

The potato plant was hardy, nutritious, calorie-dense, and easy to grow in Irish soil. By the time of the famine, nearly half of Ireland's population relied almost exclusively on potatoes for their diet, and the other half ate potatoes frequently.

The Irish relied on one or two types of potatoes , which meant that there wasn't much genetic variety in the plants (diversity is a factor that usually prevents an entire crop from being destroyed). In 1845 a strain of water mold accidentally arrived from North America and thrived in the unusually cool moist weather that year. It continued to destroy potato crops from 1846 to 1849.

How many people died during the Great Famine?

About one million people died during the Great Famine from starvation or from typhus and other famine-related diseases. An estimated two million more emigrated from the country.

Trusted Britannica articles, summarized using artificial intelligence, to provide a quicker and simpler reading experience. This is a beta feature. Please verify important information in our full article.

This summary was created from our Britannica article using AI. Please verify important information in our full article.

Great Famine , famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years. The crop failures were caused by late blight , a disease that destroys both the leaves and the edible roots , or tubers , of the potato plant. The causative agent of late blight is the water mold Phytophthora infestans . The Irish famine was the worst to occur in Europe in the 19th century.

In the early 19th century, Ireland’s tenant farmers as a class, especially in the west of Ireland, struggled both to provide for themselves and to supply the British market with cereal crops. Many farmers had long existed at virtually the subsistence level, given the small size of their allotments and the various hardships that the land presented for farming in some regions. The potato, which had become a staple crop in Ireland by the 18th century, was appealing in that it was a hardy, nutritious, and calorie-dense crop and relatively easy to grow in the Irish soil. By the early 1840s almost half the Irish population—but primarily the rural poor—had come to depend almost exclusively on the potato for their diet. Irish tenant farmers often permitted landless labourers known as cottiers to live and work on their farms, as well as to keep their own potato plots. A typical cottier family consumed about eight pounds of potatoes per person per day, an amount that probably provided about 80 percent or more of all the calories they consumed. The rest of the population also consumed large quantities of potatoes. A heavy reliance on just one or two high-yielding types of potatoes greatly reduced the genetic variety that ordinarily prevents the decimation of an entire crop by disease, and thus the Irish became vulnerable to famine.

In 1845 a strain of the water mold Phytophthora infestans , which causes late blight in potatoes (as well as tomato plants), arrived in Ireland accidentally from North America . When plants become infected with it, lesions appear on the leaves, petioles, and stems. A whitish growth of spore-producing structures may appear at the margin of the lesions on the underleaf surfaces. Potato tubers develop rot up to 15 mm (0.6 inch) deep. Secondary fungi and bacteria often invade potato tubers and produce rotting that results in great losses during storage, transit, and marketing. Hot dry weather checks the spread of Phytophthora , but in 1845 Ireland had unusually cool moist weather, which allowed the blight to thrive. Much of that year’s potato crop rotted in the fields. That partial crop failure was followed by more-devastating failures in 1846–49, as each year’s potato crop was almost completely ruined by the blight.

Irish Potato Famine Essay

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Introduction

Causes of the irish potato famine, implications of the irish potato famine, works cited.

Irish potato famine is one of the most talked about historical events across the world. The famine was characterised by mass starvation, death and emigration of Irish population (Donnelly 7). According to the Irish people, the famine was the worst in their history in terms of scale, duration and effects (Donnelly 8).

Despite all the pain and suffering that people underwent, no important lessons were learnt from the effects of the famine. Today, almost two centuries after the famine, similar famines are still being experienced in different parts of the world (Ross 7). To compare the Irish potato famine with the modern day famines, this paper analyses the causes and severity of the effects in both cases. The paper asserts that famines come as a result of negligence.

Irish potato famine was experienced between 1845 and 1849 (Ross 7). According to Ross (7), the famine was caused by too much reliance on potato crop by a section of the Irish population. Ross observes that potato farming was cheap in terms of maintenance and storage (8). In addition, the crop had the ability to yield high nutrition per given surface of land (Ross 8). In this regard, potato crop was the only viable business for Irish people because they had no access to large tracts of land.

Ross also notes that most of the land used by Irish people for farming was owned and poorly managed by British landlords (9). Furthermore, the Irish population had substantially increased prior to the famine. As a result, land was subdivided into small portions that could not support meaningful Agricultural activities (Ross 10-11). The resulting over-reliance on potato crop meant that any dangers that threatened the crop also threatened the lives of the Irish people.

As widely feared, the coming of Potato blight in 1945 destroyed the crop and left more than 33% of the population exposed to starvation (Ritschel 18). According to Ritschel (19), the crop was destroyed at the time when the British government had put in place a policy to discourage citizens from relying on food aid. As a result, the British government did not make any efforts to ensure that the affected population accessed food.

Like many of the famines experienced today, Irish potato famine only affected a section of the population (Ritschel 20). Ireland was still exporting other forms of food at the time when peasant farmers and labourers were facing starvation (Ritschel 20). Large land owners who grew grains and kept livestock were still harvesting and exporting excess food (Ritschel 21).

Although the British government’s failure to intervene may be attributed to the need to discourage people from relying on food aid , it was still the responsibility of the government to shield its citizens from such vulnerabilities (Ritschel 21). The famine could have been averted if the government had put in place policies that discourage subdivision of land beyond certain sizes. In addition, the government should have put in place measures to protect tenants against possible abuse by their landlords.

After failing to put in place the required policies, it would have been appropriate for the government to move with speed and mitigate the situation by facilitating distribution of food to the affected families. Instead, the British government only watched as hunger threatened to wipe out the entire Irish population.

There is no doubt that the world did not draw important lessons from the Irish potato famine. Although modern famines may be different in a number of aspects, most of them share similarities with the Irish potato famine.

In most of the developing countries, some people live in high levels of poverty characterised by malnutrition, diseases and high rates of mortality among children and pregnant women (Ross 13). On the other hand, Ross (13) notes that the rich live affluent lives in posh estates. Ross (14) points out that in Africa , richest people come from countries with the highest rates of poverty.

Like the Irish potato famine in 1840s, the big gaps between the rich and the poor are attributed to poor policies that cannot facilitate fair distribution of resources among citizens (Ross 14). Poor people are denied access to factors of production which are thoroughly exploited and abused by the rich (Ross 15). According to Ross (17), those living in poverty have no option but to depend on humanitarian interventions which are already over-stretched.

This indicates that very few lessons were drawn from the Irish potato famine. As Ross (17) notes, it should be easier to distribute resources among citizens today than during the time of Irish potato famine due to massive improvements in communication technology. The persistent high rates of poverty should, therefore, be attributed to efforts by the rich to maintain status quo (Ross 18).

Irish potato famine had a lot of implications to the Irish people and the world at large. To begin with, 11% of the population lost their lives due to direct starvation and diseases that manifested as a result of malnutrition (Murphy 32). Diseases such as scurvy, pellagra and cholera became common phenomena (Murphy 33).

Although emigration was common among the Irish people before 1845, the rate was significantly increased by the Irish potato famine. To put this in perspective, 11% of the population emigrated as a result of the famine (Murphy, 33). According to Murphy (35), Irish potato famine majorly affected native Irish language speakers. Their deaths and emigration almost eliminated Irish language.

Following the effects of the Irish potato famine, people realized the implications of subdividing land into pieces that cannot support reasonable agricultural activities (Litton 2). As a result, subdivision of land was highly discouraged. Parents were advised to only give land to one son (Litton 3).

After regaining some stability following the famine, Irish people started pushing for land reforms to protect the interests of tenants (Mitchel 23). In 1878, their agitation under the leadership of Stewart Parnel l led to formation of Irish Land League (Mitchel 23). As Mitchel points out, the league was created to ensure that Irish people were allocated land (25).

The famine also led to a long battle for independence by the Irish population. The battle culminated in the ending of British rule in Ireland in 1948, although six counties in the North remained part of Britain.

Irish potato famine inflicted undeserved pain on the Irish people. The government failed to discourage subdivision of land into small portions that cannot support a variety of Agricultural activities. There were no policies to protect peasant farmers who majorly rented land from British landlords. The situation could have been averted if the government had moved with speed to ensure that food reaches poor farmers whose only source of livelihood had been damaged.

Instead, the famine was allowed to continue; killing people and sending others to foreign lands. It almost wiped out Irish language which was majorly spoken by the poor farmers. The famine led to political activities that culminated in land reforms and subsequent birth of the Irish Republic. Despite the lessons presented by this famine, the world still experiences similar famines almost two centuries later.

Donnelly, James. The Irish Famine. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2011. Print.

Litton, Helen. “The Irish Famine.” Journal of Illustrated History. 12.4 (200): 2-9. Web.

Mitchel, John. The Last Conquest of Ireland (1861) . Dublin: University College Dublin, 2005. Web.

Murphy, James. Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland during the Reign of Queen Victoria . Cork: Cork University, 2001. Web.

Ritschel, Dan. The Irish famine: Interpretive & Historiographical Issues . College Park: University of Maryland, 2009. Web.

Ross, David. “Ireland History.” Journal of History . 226.3 (2002): 7-18. Print.

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• Biology Article

Famine - Causes

The literal meaning of famine is “extreme inadequacy and the scarcity of food.” Famine is the phenomenon which occurs in a vast terrestrial area due to various environmental and biological reasons. Some of the prime reasons are population imbalance, scarcity of water or lack of rainfall, population imbalance, crop failure, government policies.

Famines in India

Famine in Indian sub-continent is a chronicle feature. Agriculture in India is heavily dependent on a suitable climate. Rains in summer are important for the irrigation of crops . Lack of rainfall and droughts had lead to several famines in India between the 11th and 17th centuries severely.

Notable Famines in India

• Bengal Famine of 1943
• Chalisa Famine of 1783
• Great Bengal Famine of 1770
• Skull Famine of 1791
• Orissa Famine of 1866
• Deccan Famine of 1630
• Bihar Famine of 1873
• Agra Famine of 1837

These famines caused a widespread scarcity of food and were responsible for numerous deaths across the country. The most significant famines in this list are the great Bengal famine of 1770 caused around 10 million deaths, skull famine or Doji bara famine caused 11 million deaths and Chalisa famine which also caused 11 million deaths approximately.

Also Read:  Solid Waste Management

Causes of Famines

Natural causes.

• Floods, cyclone, storms

Droughts cause extreme scarcity of water and thus results in crop failure. On the other hand, floods and earthquakes can destroy crops or food storage places. These all result in food scarcity and eventually famines.

To Know, What Causes Drought And Famine?, Watch The Below Video:

Man-made Reasons

• Lack of food (due to no crop failure or no storage of food)
• No proper food distribution in certain regions
• Consumption of contaminated water and air. Crop irrigation impossible in such situations.

There were various famines that were man-made. Grabbing land, wars and improper administration were the main reasons for many of the famines in recent history.

Effects of Famines

Starvation is nothing but the biological consequences of a continuous scarcity of food. During the famine, starvation occurs on a mass scale.

Various diseases occur in the human body during famine-like cholera. It is caused by bacteria, Vibrio cholerae , which leads to an increased amount of water to be released from cells that line the intestines. Symptoms include watery diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, dry, mucous membranes, mouth, and skin, excessive thirst and lethargy. 

Dropsy, which is now referred to as oedema is caused due to excessive fluid under the skin, the body swells. The affected area often retains a dimple after being pressed for a few seconds. 

Dysentery is another bacterial disease which spreads through water, stool, and food. Poor sanitation, contaminated food and water and crowded living conditions lead to dysentery. Symptoms include blood in the stool, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and fever.

Another notable condition is anaemia. There can be a lot more diseases that are caused due to famines. Apart from diseases, famines also cause lower fertility rates, poor living conditions, fewer income options, various socio-political issues, etc.

Prevention of Famine

Since famine is majorly caused due to natural reasons, it is difficult to prevent it. However, there are certain ways of controlling the effects of famine.

• There should be surplus agricultural production beyond the requirements of the rural population.
• The transportation system should be well-developed between rural and urban areas.
• There should be proper health care, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities to prevent any diseases.

Also Read:  Environmental Issues

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Can you guys please write how can we prevent famine ?

Famine is not something that we can really prevent. Adverse climatic conditions, coupled with social, economic and political factors will hamper the growth and development of crops regardless. However, there are some measures that can be implemented to alleviate the effects of famine.

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5 July 2024 - occupied Palestinian territory, Sudan

Why are children in Gaza and Sudan at risk of famine?

Photo: Destroyed buildings in Khan Younis (left) and Joda border point in Renk County, South Sudan (right). Credit - Photo 1 - Sacha Myers/Save the Children & Photo 2 - Marie-Sophie Schwarzer / Save the Children.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE F-WORD.  

Right now, hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza and Sudan are at risk of famine. But what does that mean exactly and why is focusing on the F-word so contentious?  

{cta | We urgently need your support to protect children in Sudan and Gaza from hunger. Donate now| https://donate.savethechildren.org/en/donate/child-hunger | Donate}

Here are 10 facts to know about famine:

1. what is famine  .

Famine is the most severe level of food insecurity a population can face. It means:   

• 20% of the population are facing extreme food shortages and have exhausted all coping strategies;  
• More than 30% of children are acutely malnourished ;
• And two people out of 10,000 people – or four children out of 10,000 children –  are dying   a day because of hunger.  

2. HOW IS A FAMINE DECLARED?  

The   Integrated Food Security Phase Classification   (IPC) -  an initiative of U.N. agencies, regi onal bodies and aid organisations - is the international system that monitors and classifies food and malnutrition crises.   

The IPC has five classifications, referred to as ‘Phases’, which range from minimal food insecurity (Phase 1) through to C atastrophic food insecurity or Famine (Phase 5). Famine will only be classified when all three of the thresholds for hunger, malnutrition, and mortality outlined above are met.   

Although the IPC perform the analysis that can classify a famine, only the UN and government authorities can officially declare one .  

3. WHEN WAS THE LAST FAMINE DECLARATION?  

Since the IPC warning system was created 20 years ago, only two famines have been officially declared by UN or government authorities:  

• In parts of southern Somalia in 2011 , when 260,000 people died, over half of whom were children under 5.   
• And in parts of northern South Sudan in 2017 , when 80,000 people were at risk.  

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4. WHY ARE FAMINE DECLARATIONS SO RARE?  

The decision to formally declare a famine is highly political . There are many cases of famine thresholds being met without a formal declaration, as the political will required to declare simply is not there. Today, conflict is the biggest driver of hunger and in many cases, starvation is used as a weapon of war ; through siege tactics, denying aid access, and bombing food production infrastructure. This is against International Humanitarian Law and thus helps explain why Governments often block famine declarations.   

Famine declarations are also particularly complex in conflict and siege settings like Gaza and Sudan, where fighting and insecurity mean experts simply cannot safely access communities to gather the necessary data to carry out the analysis.  

Drinking water station in Transit Centre 2 in Renk, South Sudan. Marie-Sophie Schwarzer / Save the Children

5 . DOES A FAMINE DECLARATION ENFORCE ACTION?  

No. The declaration of a famine carries no binding obligations on the UN or international governments to take action or commit funding. It serves to focus global attention on the crisis.   

6 . WHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO OBSESS OVER THE F-WORD?  

Beyond the very practical challenges already outlined – like the frequent lack of reliable data or political action – getting caught up in whether famine is declared is hugely problematic. It means we’re willing the worst-case scenario to unfold and only focusing on a small fragment of the bigger, alarming picture.  

If a famine is declared, it will already be too late for many. Children are famine’s first victims and will already be dying because of malnutrition and disease at this point. More than 100,000 people died before famine was officially declared in Somalia in 2011. There are many warning signs before this point, and a failure to address those first is unacceptable .   

What’s more, in contexts classified in IPC Phase 3 or 4, one and two steps before a potential famine classification, children will already be facing life-threatening malnutrition or even death.  

In short, averting famine cannot be the only ambition. This must not be a benchmark we are comfortable with. We must protect children from slipping into hunger and malnutrition in the first place by addressing the underlying drivers of food insecurity and acting on early warning signs before it is too late.  

7. WHAT IS THE LATEST ANALYSIS ON GAZA AND SUDAN? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE FACING IPC PHASES 3, 4 or 5?  

In both Gaza and Sudan , months of violent conflict, coupled with severely restricted access and denials of aid have triggered record levels of life-threatening hunger.  

In June, new data from the IPC revealed that in Gaza , 9 months of Israeli bombardment and near-total siege have left almost the entire population (96%) facing severe food shortages (IPC 3+), with more than 495,000 people, including children, facing the most severe levels (IPC 5).    

While in Sudan , 14 months of conflict have turned Sudan’s breadbasket into battlefields, leaving 3 in 4 children – or 16.4 million –facing severe food shortages (IPC 3+) – a number which has almost doubled in just 6 months. This includes 355,000 children who are now facing catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC 5).   

In both contexts, the IPC have reported that a lack of data to verify child malnutrition and death rates meant it was not possible to determine if thresholds for a famine classification were met.  

Donkey carts delivering goods and people over the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Marie-Sophie Schwarzer / Save the Children

8. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CHILDREN IN GAZA AND SUDAN?  

It means the warning signs have been and gone. It means hundreds of thousands of children who have managed to dodge bullets and bombs are now facing death by starvation and disease. It means it’s already too late for many – children’s lives have been lost.   

And for those still fighting to survive, time is quickly running out to prevent long-lasting impacts. Malnutrition can cause stunting, impede mental and physical development, and weaken immune systems. At the same time, children and families are often forced to take desperate measures to survive when they can’t access food. In Sudan, for example, children are being recruited into armed groups with the promise of food and protection, exposing them to devastating violence and harm.   

9. WHAT IS SAVE THE CHILDREN DOING TO HELP?  

We have been supporting Palestinian and Sudanese children since 1953 and 1983 respectively, providing emergency support as well as safety nets to help protect families from the worst impacts of hunger.

Right now, in both Gaza and Sudan, where possible we’re screening and providing treatment for malnutrition , giving families food packages and cash to buy food, and delivering other lifesaving support.  

However, the basic conditions to reach families at the scale and quality needed are simply not in place.   

We know how to protect children from starvation. We know how to prevent and treat malnutrition. But we aren’t being given the opportunity to do it due to severe and significant aid restrictions and heavy fighting continuing across Gaza and Sudan.  

Omar* and sons Ali* and Ahmed* inspecting the food parcel in Al-Mawasi, Gaza. Save the Children

10. WHAT MUST BE DONE TO PROTECT CHILDREN IN GAZA AND SUDAN NOW?  

Aid and access to aid is the difference between life and death for children in Gaza and Sudan right now . It’s also an obligation under International Humanitarian Law. We need an immediate, definitive ceasefire and urgent improvements in aid access , or more children’s lives will be lost.

We also need an immediate increase in funding , particularly in Sudan where halfway through the year, only 17% of annual funds required to support people in need have been secured.  

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR WORK IN GAZA AND SUDAN AND HOW YOU CAN HELP . 

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