Contingency Planning for Famines and Other Acute Food Shortages: A Brief Review

摘要

Although the adverse effects of natural disasters are especially severe in developing countries already affected by chronic food shortages, not enough is known about how to plan for such emergencies in different countries with differing food systems. This review of contingency planning for famine and acute food shortages describes the complexity of the problem and possible remedies and reviews the work of concerned international organizations, especially the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program of the United Nations. A summary section assesses the FAO guidelines for contingency food planning, noting their generality and other weaknesses; regional workshops on the guidelines and on the national and global indicators of food emergencies are suggested.