Opening Statement:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the world population during the year 2000 was
comprised of approximately 6.08 billion people. Nearly two decades and an additional one
billion people later, the world is still plagued by hunger and poverty. One in nine people suffer of
hunger, and more than 10% of people within the documented world lack the nutrition required to
lead healthy lives. Despite this, nearly one-third of all food produced globally goes to waste. The
countries most affected by this issue are developing nations, the target for food security within
this assembly. The continued issue of food security within developing countries could largely be
attributed to the unspecific, discombobulated nature of resolutions past, and the current
programmes in place today. The current state of the Philippines is a unique example of why food
security is still an issue and the clear ways that concise action can provide progress towards a
resolution to this global issue.
National Action:
Several facets of the current Philippine socio-economic and political infrastructures,
namely inequalities within these areas, are to credit for continued poverty within the archipelago.
The Philippines has seen massive economic growth within the last seven years. Last year alone
the Philippines experienced a 7.1% economic growth making the Philippines the fastest growing
asian economy of 2016, and third fastest growing asian economy overall, the average growth rate
being 6.8%. This massive growth is due to the globalization of Filipino products and labor, and
fruitful trade with Japan, the U.S., and China, three of the largest economies in the world. In
spite of this impressive growth wealth is poorly distributed with 18.4% of the populace living
below the poverty line, and that poorest 20% demographic owning but 4.45% of the national
income, compared to the richest 20% of the nation earning more on average than the lower 80%
combined. While the economy has grown, increasing incomes for all demographics within the
Philippines, incomes for the lower 20% of people has not grown fast enough to match rising
prices, leaving 18.4% of the country below the poverty line. Conflicts of interest between the
overall national government based in Manilla and the local governments and peoples under them
are a significant contributor to this income inequality.