global hunger

Food emergency: what to do when people are hungry now

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Food emergency: what to do when people are hungry now

On global issues, the international community must walk and chew gum at the same time. It needs to learn to deal with simultaneous crises that play off each other, says UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens. That's why we dropped the ball on hunger. Now the needs are huge and growing. We haven't seen a lot of images of starvation yet, but they are coming, Cousens tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

A box of food being delivered in shipments from a plane| GZERO World with Ian Bremmer - the podcast

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast

Podcast: Salvaging the world we leave our kids with innovative philanthropy

Listen: Global inequality has reached a level we haven’t seen in our lifetimes and recent geopolitical convulsions have only made things worse. The rich have gotten richer while extreme poverty has exploded. UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens thinks it's the perfect time for institutions backed by the 1% to step up. She speaks with Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast about the key role that innovative philanthropy could play to address problems exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, economic fallout from the COVID pandemic, and a warming planet.

What happened at Davos

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What happened at Davos

The tiny alpine village of Davos in Switzerland used to be the place to be for some of the world's most powerful people to talk about very important stuff at the annual World Economic Forum. Indeed, the name “Davos” had become code for a globalist agenda that promotes things like liberal democracy and encourages cooperation on big issues such as climate change to fix the world's problems. For a long time, it worked. People became more connected, and poverty declined. But not anymore, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World.

Russia's war in Ukraine is starving the world

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Russia's war in Ukraine is starving the world

Ukraine is an agricultural powerhouse. But so is Russia. Between the two they account for almost a third of the world's wheat exports. The Russian invasion has disrupted planting and harvesting in Ukraine. Sanctions against Moscow, for their part, have restricted shipping — further limiting food supplies. Who's most at risk? Countries in the Middle East and North Africa that depend on these grain imports, like Egypt.

Conundrum: Russian food can prevent starvation by the world's poor

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Conundrum: Russian food can prevent starvation by the world's poor

Russia's war in Ukraine has put the international community in a tough spot. Sanctions against Russia that affect global food commodities will make people go hungry, especially in the Global South. But then the Russians will continue to profit from selling all that food. So, who should make that call? Ertharin Cousin, who knows a thing or two about the United Nations because she used to run its World Food Programme, says it's time for the UN Security Council to step in.

A perfect storm of food insecurity: a problem for all of us

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

A perfect storm of food insecurity: a problem for all of us

Russia and Ukraine are agricultural powerhouses. But the war and sanctions against Moscow have crippled their ability to feed the world.Who's most at risk? Developing countries that rely on those imports. What will the impact be? The disruptions could double the number of people that went hungry due to the pandemic. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer speaks to Ertharin Cousin, who knows a thing or two about food security since she used the run the UN World Food Programme.

The Ukraine war is crippling the world's food supply | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer podcast

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast

Podcast: The Ukraine war is crippling the world's food supply, says food security expert Ertharin Cousin

Listen: The Ukraine war and sanctions against Russia have created a perfect storm that will lead to a global food supply crisis, Ertharin Cousin, former head of the UN World Food Programme, tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world's wheat exports. All nations could be affected since these are global commodities, but developing countries that rely on those imports are most at risk. The disruptions could double the amount of people that went hungry during the pandemic, and since agriculture is a seasonal business, the worst may be yet to come.

Ukraine crisis one of many global threats at Munich Security Conference

Ukraine crisis one of many global threats at Munich Security Conference

While Russia’s aggression in Ukraine dominates the headlines, there are many other issues of global concern. In fact, there were so many important crises, according to Benedikt Franke, CEO of the Munich Security Conference, that it was impossible for him and his colleagues to rank them by intensity. There’s a sense of “helplessness,” he said, with the combination of climate change, migration, pandemic, and global hunger “overwhelming” us. So the conference decided not to prioritize global issues based on the level of threat. Instead, they decided to “treat them all the same,” Franke said.