Hello, this is the Sunhak Peace Prize blog.
Before introducing main achievements of the laureate, let me explain the background.
To suggest alternative solutions for food crisis, Dr. Gupta went here and there in Asia and Africa. He is known as a saint from India in Southeast Asia slums. Dr. Gupta who thought other’s hunger as like his own one was a ray of hope for many these hungers.
While having a time to think about problems of food crisis and the solutions, let us explain the background of laureate selection.
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| Modaudugu Vijay Gupta |
What does peace mean to you? In addition to the absence of war, peace is the absence of violence, conflict, and deprivation which all threaten humanity. Dasgupta chief researcher raised awareness of the seriousness of the third world countries. And he insisted solving this problem is the task of peace study. Through expanding on Dasgupta’s agenda, Johan Galtung separated violence into two categories ‘direct violence’ and ‘structural violence’, and suggested that we should solve ‘organized violence’ and focus on realizing world peace.
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| Food Crisis |
After a discussion on the most urgent non-violent threat to future generations, in accordance with these modern peace studies, the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee has focused on “food crises” directly related to human life.
■ Two out of three undernourished people in the world are Asian.
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| Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, changes in the distribution of the world hunger. |
■ Global food prices are continuously rising.
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| World population growth |
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| Fertilizer, food, and oil price |
In the short term, signs of food crises appear in soaring grain prices. If this phenomenon is prolonged and globalized, there is a possibility of the weaponization of food resources. Due to population growth, rising price of oil and foods, and climate change, poor countries that lack self-sufficiency are in danger of facing food crises.
■ There is a serious shortage of seafood products as well as agriculture products.
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| The world fisheries production and supply per person per year. |
■ Aquaculture has received attention as a solution to the global food crises.
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CFS(Committee on World Food Security) High Level Panel of Experts 2014 |
Due to these circumstances, Dr. Vijay Gupta developed aquaculture technologies to allow the poor to easily pioneer their difficult environment. He has also devoted himself to solving the unbalanced distribution of food by sharing his methods and training people for self-sufficiency.
Growing up, Dr. Gupta often went to the beach near his home with his father. He was inspired to become a fishery scientist (marine biologist?) with the aim of helping people after watching fisherman search for insufficient but necessary fish.
This is the same idea with the founder of the Sunhak Peace Prize Rev. Sun Myung Moon who emphasized the importance of oceans to solve food problems.
“The issue of food will present humankind with a very serious crisis in the future. We cannot build a world of peace without first resolving the food issue. Sufficient food supplies for all the world’s population cannot be produced on the limited amount of land area that is currently available. We must look to the oceans for a solution. !e oceans hold the key to solving the food crisis of the future. This is the reason I have been pioneering the oceans for the past several decades.”
In Chinese, peace is 和平[hépíng]. 和[hé] is composed of two parts: the left side means “rice”(禾), while the right side means “mouth”(口). Dr. Gupta is indeed a peace maker who understands the meaning of peace very well.
Because of the enormous support from people who were helped by Dr. Gupta, as well as the world’s recognition of his dedication, the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee selected Dr. Modadugu V. Gupta as the inaugural laureate for the prize.
