Giving Compass' Take:

• A recent report released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that world hunger has increased for the third year in a row and will continue to worsen if there are no intervention programs in place. 

• The report states that one of the primary reasons for the increase in world hunger is due to the effects of climate change around the globe. How can world leaders come together to address this issue?  

• Read about the reasons why you should care about the hunger crisis. 

For decades, improvements in agricultural practices and food distribution steadily decreased hunger rates in nations across the globe. But Jason Beaubien at NPR reports that progress has been bumped off the tracks. New data, put together by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.) and other agencies, finds that for the third year in a row, hunger has increased across the world.

The recent report is somewhat surprising. As of 2015, the rate of undernourishment in the developing world had decreased from 23.3 percent of people between the years 1990 to 1992 to 12.9 percent. But just as that percentage dropped by almost half, the numbers began to reflect global hunger on the rise.

The impacts of hunger can be severe. According to the report, 151 million children under the age of 5 experience stunted growth due to malnourishment, and 50.5 million experience wasting, or being severely underweight.

So what’s causing the increase in hunger? The report points to two main culprits: conflicts around the globe and extreme weather events likely powered by climate change. The interminable conflicts in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia have led to food issues for millions of people.

“[T]he underlying problem with hunger and why we see so much hunger is also poverty, income inequalities and the marginalization of populations,” report editor Cindy Holleman, senior economist for food security and nutrition at the F.A.O., tells Zipporah Nyambura at Deutsche Welle. “But what’s new is we’re seeing increasing climate variability and Africa has been hard hit in the last 10 years especially with climate variability and extremes.”

The report suggests that efforts to end global conflicts, stop climate change and make nations more resilient against natural disasters like flood and drought are needed to get things back on track.

Read the full article about world hunger by Jason Daley at Smithsonian