The growing number of displaced persons ravage forest resources beyond national boundaries. In addition, many forests have been land-mined, preventing sustainable forest management. In Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, and Tanzania, national forestry programs have been successful, but other countries have been hampered by lack of political and institutional stability, inadequate technical expertise and lack of financial resources. Almost 800 million people in the developing world do not have enough to eat. Another 34 million people in the industrialized countries and countries in transition also suffer from chronic food insecurity.
Children are the most nutritionally vulnerable group.
In South Asia, half the children under five are underweight, compared with 33 percent in Africa and 21 percent in East and Southeast Asia. Between 1991 and 1996, the proportion of the population going hungry increased in 27 countries. In another 32 countries, the proportion either remained steady or shrank too slowly to offset growth in the total population. Only 37 countries succeeded in bringing down the proportion rapidly enough to reduce the absolute number of hungry.