Morning Briefing

"While the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) estimated figures on global hunger often grab headlines, the uncertainty surrounding the numbers receives relatively little media attention," Guardian reporter Claire Provost writes in the newspaper's "Poverty Matters Blog." In 2009, the FAO responded to a demand for global hunger figures with the projections that "by the end of the year ... world hunger was likely to reach a 'historic high,' with 1.02 billion people going hungry every day," Provost writes, adding, "Almost immediately, these figures seemed to take on a life of their own. References to the global hunger crisis affecting 'one billion people' or 'one-sixth of humanity' began appearing in speeches, media reports, and advocacy campaigns around the world."