BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Poverty, violence, diseases, global warming and natural disasters are not uncommon challenges to mankind. But some have taken on a new look in the year of 2009.     

    FOOD CRISIS LOOMS

    Figures of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) show that a total of 1.02 billion people, 100 million more than last year, are suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

    The situation is inconvenient truth for world leaders as they have pledged back in 2000 in the Millennium Development Goals to halve the poverty population by 2015.

    FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said the world was in urgent need of a broad consensus on food crisis, a silent tsunami for mankind.

    Diouf and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon even held a 24-hour hunger strike ahead of the Rome food security summit in November 2009 to attract global attention to food security.

    Although world leaders at the Rome summit recognized the situation as unacceptable, they failed to set precise dates for the total eradication of hunger in the world and to pledge funds which would double food production by 2025.

    The first decade of the 21st century has seen the increase in global food output, but also more and more people falling below the poverty line.

    As the FAO said, under-investment in agriculture, particularly in the developing world, has been a root cause of global food insecurity.    

    SECURITY THREATS PERSIST

    No new major conflicts or wars broke out in the year 2009. However, security threats persist.

    While negotiations stalled on the the Middle East peace process and on nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Iran, terrorist attacks like suicide bombings and serial blasts remained abundant in war-torn regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Although Russia and the United States agreed on building a new agreement on further nuclear arms reductions to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired on Dec. 5 this year, negotiations were bogged down over details.

    In the Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates continued to run amok. They expanded their radius of activities and even opened a stock exchange to gain more profits.

    If people feel uncomfortable in hearing the listing of over 70 pirate groups as "maritime companies," they might become furious at the barbarian massacre in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines in November. A total of 57 journalists, lawyers and supporters of a local politician were ambushed and shot dead.

    The atrocity brought to light intricate, long-standing feud between local clans in the Philippines and the political and social life in the archipelago is feared to suffer long as a result.

    Turning a little westward on the world map might make people relieved, as Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war came finally to an end in May this year with the total defeat of the rebel Tamil Tigers.

    However, it is noteworthy that peace was achieved at the loss of over 70,000 lives in the past several decades. In the first five months of this year alone, nearly 6,500 civilians died as a result of clashes between government troops and the rebels.     

    NEW FLU SPREADS AT ALARMING RATE

    Shortly after "bird flu" made its way into our daily vocabulary as SARS did several years ago, a new flu strain, which were to be officially called A/H1N1, was detected in Mexico City in April this year. Initial spread of the virus was rapid, allegedly killing over 100 people in Mexico alone as of late April.

    Before long, the virus began to visit other parts of the world. On June 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its alert to the highest level of six, declaring formally that the widely spreading A/H1N1 influenza had developed into a global pandemic.

    The outbreak posed serious challenges to public health systems worldwide, closing large number of schools, crowding hospitals, and causing the shortage of vaccines and even masks.

    In its latest update, the WHO confirmed that the death toll had reached 10,582 by Dec. 13, without counting unreported cases.

    The ravaging A/H1N1 flu is once again ringing the alarm for public health across the world.     

    CLIMATE CHANGE GOES UNCHECKED

    The year 2009 is sometimes referred to as "a year of climate change" as devastating natural disasters caused by global warming and a series of global meetings put the issue to spotlight.

    Countries worldwide begin to take global warming as one of the biggest threats to our survival.

    In March, many people across the globe switched their lights off for one hour to raise public awareness of energy shortage and environmental problems. In the event known as "Earth Hour," some 300 global landmark buildings like the Bird's Nest in Beijing, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Buckingham Palace in London all went dark for one hour.

    Maldives ministers held a slow-motion cabinet meeting under six meters of Indian Ocean water in October to drive home their worries that the whole country faces the risk of being submerged.

    Nepal, which faces eminent danger of melting snow, held a cabinet meeting in December at 5,242 meters above sea level on the Himalayas, the highest ever in the world.

    Some 15,000 delegates from over 190 countries gethered in Copenhagen, Denmark toward the end of the year for a UN climate change conference, in a bid to strike a post-2012 deal on climate change.

    The two-week summit, however, ended up with a non-binding agreement, which UN's Ban considered "just the beginning" of a process to craft a binding pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    But at least, most countries have already joined hands in spite of their differences to cure the Earth's fever.     

    FUTURE CALLS

    "In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?" Professor Stephen Hawking posed the question on a website and gathered tens of thousands of answers from all over the world within one month.

    When asked for his own answer, the science giant said he himself could not find one. Probably, the question will remain open-ended for some time.

    Hopefully, in their search for an answer, people all over the world will ponder, listen, communicate so that they will make the right choices and act rationally. The answer to Professor Hawking's question lies in our behavior.