Extreme poverty; a primary global concern

According to an international poll released by the BBC World Service on 17th January, extreme poverty is the world’s primary concern, coming before global warming, terrorism and war.

The survey, conducted by the GlobeScan institute between June and October 2009 shows that 71% of some 25 000 participants from 23 countries put extreme poverty as their top concern, against 64% for the environment and pollution and 63% for increasing prices for food and energy.

In fact, in many ways, extreme poverty is the source of most of the other ills: conflicts, crises, and terrorism feed on the chronic dissatisfaction of the poor. According to figures from the World Bank published in August 2008, nearly 2.6 billion people were below the poverty line worldwide in 2005 1. Given the current economic crisis and recent price increases for food, it is plausible to believe that extreme poverty now affects approximately 3 billion people; half the world!

What remains now is how to reduce it... Firstly, by developing the entire planet’s agriculture before ensuring world food security; because extreme poverty is reflected primarily by under-nutrition and malnutrition. It is all the more necessary to develop agriculture because, as indicated by the FAO, 70% of people suffering from hunger in the world live in rural areas...