Managing the Physical Environment

Water and Food Supply

What are the effects of poor food and water supplies?

Undernutrition – too little food

Malnutrition – lack of the right kinds of food

Impacts of poor food supply?

• More than 1 billion people suffer from serious hunger.• Poverty and hunger go together.• 40% of those hungry are subsistence farmers from the

poorest countries in the world.

Examples of poor food supply• Sudan – 3 million people

because of civil war• Tanzania – 800,000 because

of unreliable rainfall

The effects of malnutrition

Malnutrition is when people have a poor diet which is lacking in important nutrients such as carbohydrates or proteins.

Marasmus

Kwashiorkor

Food Shortages: Africa 2002Cas

e Stu

dy

LEDC

Impacts of poor water supply?

Water supply can be a

problem in two ways

1. Some areas have insufficient water or suffer from droughts.

2. In many LEDCs people are forced to drink contaminated water.

The problem of droughtCase

Study

LEDC

The problem of contaminated waterCase

Study

LEDC