The relationship of land rights to hunger and poverty is a critical and under reported story, and one that is little understood by much of the public. Middle class people who gain their information about chronic poverty and famine from the mainstream media often don't understand why hungry people don't grow more food. Huge swaths of land in poor countries are owned by corporations that grow food for export, removing the land from production of food for local people. Plantations of coffee, cocoa, bananas and sugar that are destined to be exported do nothing to solve the hunger problems of the local population. This is a problem in much of Africa and in many Central and South American countries from Mexico to Bolivia. The Zapatista revolution that was undertaken by the Lacandon people of Chiapas in southern Mexico was motivated largely by fights with the Mexican government and foreign corporations over land rights.
Land distribution issues are closely related to the structure of the global economy, which itself is related to the economic inequality of populations. A host of economic structures, organizations and incentives contribute to poverty and hunger, including the enormous Third World debt, the lending practices of the World Bank, the development priorities of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the stark financial inequalities that exist between classes in many countries that are beset by chronic hunger and poverty. While the need for food is the basic issue for poverty stricken people, most of that food is controlled by an economic system that distributes food based on the ability to pay rather than on need. A useful paper could be written about the impact of IMF financial policies on poverty in developing nations.
Problems of hunger and poverty are made worse by overpopulation. In 2011, there are approximately seven billion human beings on planet Earth. While opinions differ, many believe that this is far too many people to be supported sustainably, particularly when that number is combined with the consumption levels of the wealthy. The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is determined by multiplying population by consumption. If the total consumption level of a population level exceeds what is produced by that population's environment, its population, levels of consumption or both are destined to crash at some point. A research paper on the role that ecological succession plays in human population dynamics could educate people about this critical issue.
The definition of poverty varies widely throughout the world. People who have little in the United States might be considered well off in poverty stricken countries like Chad, Somalia or Haiti. Insightful topics for a paper could examine the definition of poverty in different countries around the world, and whether it is based on physical needs or on a comparison with the cultural norm.