• Conflicts, economic crises and climate have driven up by 40 million the number of hungry people in the world.
• The total now stands at 193 million, according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises.
• The war in Ukraine risks making the situation even worse.

The consequences of the pandemic and the economic crisis it triggered, together with the impacts of climate change, have also translated into a dramatic increase in the number of people going hungry across the world. This is the finding of the new Global Report on Food Crises, produced by the United Nations together with sixteen non-governmental organisations brought together in the Global network against food crisis. According to the document, in 2021 as many as 40 million more people than the previous year are being forced to face a situation of "severe food insecurity".

World Food Programme (in italiano) @WFP_IT

𝕏

🚨Uscito il Rapporto globale sulle crisi alimentari 🚨
👉 bit.ly/3yh5kXw

📈Nel 2021, un aumento del 25% di quanti soffrono di grave insicurezza alimentare. Sono 193 milioni di persone, 40 milioni in più rispetto al 2020.

♥ 3 4 mag 2022 · Apri su X →

570,000 people in conditions of absolute emergency

Overall, the total number of people suffering from hunger in the world has risen to 193 million, spread across 53 countries. Of these, around 570,000 people — concentrated above all in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Sudan and Yemen — are considered to be at the maximum emergency level, on the one-to-five scale used by the United Nations itself. They require immediate support in order to survive. A situation that will likely deteriorate further during 2022, owing to the war in Ukraine.

The latter is indeed not only striking the local population, which — especially in some cities — finds itself in desperate conditions in terms of food availability. But it is already beginning to have a direct impact on numerous countries around the world, due to rising prices for a range of food commodities produced in Ukraine.

"The war in Ukraine is a catastrophe within a catastrophe"

According to David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, the Russian invasion represents in this sense "a catastrophe within a catastrophe. We urgently need allocations to reverse this global crisis, before it is too late." Inflation in the food sector, in fact, hits the least well-off first, and therefore the less wealthy nations. Supply difficulties will also make distribution harder, already complicated by the challenges that the logistics and transport sectors have been facing for several months now.

SIPRI ✓ @SIPRIorg

𝕏

The war in #Ukraine🇺🇦 poses serious threats to #FoodSecurity, including far beyond Ukraine's borders. Caroline Delgado shows how the war in the breadbasket leads to food insecurity and political instability in this SIPRI Blog ➡️ bit.ly/3xbzE5B

♥ 9 5 mag 2022 · Apri su X →

But it is not only the coronavirus and the war between Russia and Ukraine that are weighing on food insecurity. Since the first edition of the report was published in 2016, the figures have in fact risen continuously. In the first five years, the number of people going hungry in the world almost doubled, even though the United Nations points out that this was also due to the broader geographical coverage of the analysis.

The FAO calls for 1.5 billion dollars to be allocated to tackle hunger

According to the FAO, the increase in hunger in 2021 in particular was driven by "a toxic triple combination of conflicts, extreme weather events and economic shocks." Wars and political and humanitarian crises remain, however, the primary cause of food insecurity, being responsible for the hunger suffered by 139 million people in 24 countries and territories, as in the cases of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Yemen. In second place are economic crises, affecting more than 30 million people in 21 countries. These are followed by extreme weather events, affecting more than 23 million people in eight countries.

FAO Newsroom @FAOnews

𝕏

🔴193 million people in 53 countries/territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels in 2021 - report.

This represents an increase of nearly 40 million people compared with the already record numbers of 2020.

👉ow.ly/9eQV50IYQxo #GlobalFoodCrises

♥ 57 4 mag 2022 · Apri su X →

To help these people, according to the United Nations, 1.5 billion dollars must be allocated — and as soon as possible, in order to take advantage of the planting season and increase the production of food in the most at-risk regions.