The war in Ukraine has exacerbated steadily rising global food and energy prices, undermining economic stability across the world, warned in a UN report launched on Monday.
The ripple effects of the Ukraine war have triggered price surges, particularly in areas characterized by rural marginalization and fragile agrifood systems, according to the joint report entitled Hunger Hotspots – FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) have called for urgent humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods and prevent famine in the 20 ‘hunger hotspots’ where acute need is expected to rise, from now until September.
Amidst multiple looming food crises – prompted by conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19 fallout, massive public debt burdens and now the Ukraine war – conditions expected to be particularly acute where economic instability and spiralling prices have combined with climate-induced food production drops.
“We are deeply concerned about the combined impacts of overlapping crises jeopardizing people’s ability to produce and access foods, pushing millions more into extreme levels of acute food insecurity,” warned FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
“We are in a race against time to help farmers in the most affected countries, including by rapidly increasing potential food production and boosting their resilience in the face of challenges”.
Alongside conflict, the report finds that frequent and recurring climate shocks continue to drive acute hunger and shows that we have entered a ‘new normal’ where droughts, flooding, hurricanes, and cyclones repeatedly decimate farming and livestock rearing, drive population displacement and push millions to the brink in countries across the world.