globally, what is the major cause of famine? pests flood armed conflict ozone depletion drought

In South Sudan, 60 per cent of the population is increasingly hungry and food prices are so high that a plate of rice and beans costs more than 180 per cent of the average daily salary - the equivalent of about $400 in New York. In Yemen, where 16 million people face food insecurity, half of all children under the age of five are projected to suffer acute malnutrition this year.

“In some countries, famine is already here,” he said, with parts of Yemen, South Sudan and Burkina Faso in the grip of famine or conditions akin to famine, and more than 150,000 people at risk of starving. He expressed deep concern about the situation in Tigray, Ethiopia, where insecurity and violence are disrupting the harvest season. More than 30 million people in more than three dozen countries are one step away from famine, with women and girls facing the double risk of forced displacement and malnutrition whilst pregnant or breastfeeding. At the end of 2020, more than 88 million people were suffering from acute hunger due to conflict and instability, up 20 per cent from a year earlier, and projections for 2021 indicate that that frightening trend will continue, with climate shocks and the global COVID-19 pandemic adding fuel to the flames, he said.Įlaborating, he said that hunger crises are escalating and spreading across the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, and accelerating in South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan. “Today, I have one simple message: if you don’t feed people, you feed conflict,” the Secretary-General told the Council, emphasizing how conflict and hunger are mutually reinforcing. His dire warning - delivered at the start of a videoconference Council debate on conflict-induced food insecurity - came as the United Nations’ two leading food-related entities - the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - are appealing for the emergency mobilization of $5.5 billion to help 34 million people who are facing emergency levels of food insecurity worldwide.

The world is facing multiple conflict-driven famines, aggravated by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, and without immediate action, millions of people - from the Sahel to Afghanistan - could well find themselves on the brink of extreme hunger and death this year, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned the Security Council today. United Nations Food Agencies Ask for $5.5 Billion to Avoid Multiple Famines Worldwide

Globally, what is the major cause of famine? pests flood armed conflict ozone depletion drought