Specter of famine to haunt millions of people

The novel coronavirus pandemic will push more than a quarter of a billion people to the brink of starvation this year, according to a UN report.

The Global Report on Food Crises 2020, published by the World Food Program, or WFP, estimates that 265 million people worldwide will face acute food insecurity by the end of December.

This is double the 130 million reported to have experienced severe food shortages in 55 countries last year, primarily due to conflict, the effects of climate change and economic crises.

The WFP is a food assistance branch of the UN and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security.

With violence, conflicts and population displacement continuing to grow this year, the report said an additional 135 million people could be pushed into acute hunger in low- and middle-income countries due to the pandemic.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley said, “While dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are also on the brink of a hunger pandemic.

“In my conversations with world leaders over the past months, before the coronavirus even became an issue, I was saying that 2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II for a number of reasons.”

He cited as examples: war in Syria and Yemen; deepening crises in South Sudan, Burkina Faso and the central Sahel region; desert locust swarms in Africa; more frequent natural disasters and changing weather patterns; the economic crisis in Lebanon affecting millions of Syrian refugees; and the situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia.

“We’re already facing a perfect storm. So today, with COVID-19, I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe. Millions of civilians living in conflictscarred nations, including many women and children, face being pushed to the brink of starvation, with the specter of famine a very real and dangerous possibility,” Beasley was quoted as saying in the report.

The world could also face a repeat of the 2007-08 food price rises that sparked widespread political upheaval, the impact of which is still being felt across the Middle East and from Asia to Latin America, the report warns.

Labor shortages resulting from people falling ill may further strain food production; protectionist measures could result in food price rises; and mounting unemployment will reduce people’s purchasing power, driving more into hunger, the report states.

However, the harvest prospects for staple crops are good, but restrictions imposed on movement to contain the virus will pose problems for food distribution.

Poorer countries are bracing for the full impact of the pandemic on their health systems, and are already feeling the effects of the economic shutdown.

Last year, of the 130 million people who experienced acute food insecurity, most of them were in conflict-stricken countries, 34 million were affected by climate change, and 24 million were in areas where there was an economic crisis, according to the WFP.

It forecasts that this year an increasing number of people on low incomes in some developed countries will also face food shortages.