A Global Food Crisis

December 6, 2024

The scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is enormous. A total of 1.9 million people are in the grips of catastrophic hunger – primarily in Gaza and Sudan but also in pockets of South Sudan, Haiti and Mali. They are teetering on the brink of famine. In Zamzam camp in northern Sudan, famine has been confirmed. Many food crises involve multiple overlapping issues that are building year on year.

What are the main causes of the global food crisis?

Conflict

A total 65 percent of the 343 million people facing acute hunger are in fragile or conflict-hit countries. Violence and instability in the Middle East, East, Central and West Africa as well as in the Caribbean, southern Asia and Eastern Europe are particularly concerning. Conflict disrupts food production, forces people from their homes and sources of income, and often hinders humanitarian access to people in most need.

Climate

The climate crisis is one of the leading causes of the steep rise in global hunger. Climate shocks destroy lives, crops and livelihoods, and undermine people’s ability to feed themselves. Hunger will spiral out of control if the world fails to take immediate climate action.

Economy

Sluggish global growth and economic stressors, linked to slow pandemic recovery and fallout from the war in Ukraine, continue to affect low and middle-income countries. This limits investment in social protection programmes, at a time when food prices remain at crisis levels.

Displacement

Forcibly displaced people face specific vulnerabilities in relation to food insecurity including limited access to employment, livelihoods, food and shelter, and reliance on dwindling humanitarian assistance.

How can we end the global food crisis?

A coordinated effort across governments, financial institutions, the private sector and partners is the only way to end the global food crisis. In countries such as Somalia, the international community came together and managed to pull people back from the brink of famine in 2022.

Political and diplomatic solutions are needed to strengthen peace building efforts and ensure safe and unrestricted access across borders and conflict lines – to save lives and prevent the hunger catastrophe spreading even further.

But it is not sufficient to solely keep people alive. We must go further, and this can only be achieved by addressing the underlying causes of hunger. Need to build resilience, adapt to climate change, promote good nutrition and improve food systems lays the foundations of a more prosperous future for millions.

In just four years, turned 158,000 hectares of barren fields in the Sahel region of five African countries into farm and grazing land. The climate-insurance programme – the R4 Rural Resilience initiative – had benefited nearly 550,000 vulnerable households and families in 18 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean by 2023. At the same time, WFP is working with governments in 83 countries to boost or build national safety nets and nutrition-sensitive social protection, allowing us to reach more people with emergency food assistance.

Lack of funding and access risks a heavy cost

Severe funding shortfalls are forcing WFP to scale back assistance and refocus efforts on the most severe needs. With persistent access constraints also hampering support, some of the most vulnerable people are being left behind.

Unless resources are made available and unrestricted access granted, lost lives and the reversal of hard-earned development gains will be the price to pay.