2023-05-03 18:06:32
The goal of eradicating hunger in the world by 2030 that the UN had set itself is still moving away. Acute food insecurity increased in 2022, according to the annual report of the Food Security Information Network, which notably brings together several UN agencies and the European Union. 258 million people in 58 countries faced acute levels of food insecurity, up from 193 million in 2021.
Part of this increase reflects the increase in the number of countries, an additional five, analyzed by this network. For lack of available data, some are not taken into account, like North Korea, Nepal, Eritrea or Cuba.
35 million children
Among the countries studied, five concentrate 40% of the population in need: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen. In total, more than 35 million children under the age of 5 suffer from wasting, including 9.2 million from some form ” severe “deadly.
In seven countries, levels of insecurity reached the level « catastrophe » (the highest of the crisis levels). 376,000 people are affected, more than half of whom live in Somalia and almost a quarter in South Sudan. Haiti joined the list of such countries for the first time, as gang violence and high levels of poverty severely limited food access and availability.
Growing role of the war in Ukraine
In fact, the main driver of hunger in the world remains situations of armed conflict and insecurity. But the economic repercussions of the war in Ukraine and other shocks are playing a growing role, especially in the world’s poorest countries, the report points out.
Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the poorest countries were already weakened: indebtedness, high commodity prices, slow growth… The Russian invasion of Ukraine deepened the crisis, in particular by boosting international commodity prices. food, transport and fertilizer. However, three quarters of the countries studied by the report are net importers of food.
Impact of climate extremes
Certainly, the Black Sea Grains Agreement and European routes allowed Ukraine to export 58 million tons of grains and oilseeds between May 2022 and March 2023, which helped to mitigate the inflation. But that was not enough to fully offset the economic shock for developing countries, many of which saw their currencies depreciate.
Extreme climatic events also play an increasingly important role. In 12 countries, it is the main factor of food insecurity. This is particularly the case in the Horn of Africa, which is experiencing its worst drought in forty years, a recent study of which has shown the link with global warming. The floods in Pakistan last summer, as well as the combination of tropical storms, cyclones and a drought in southern Africa are also to blame.
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