In a stark warning from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), immediate humanitarian action is deemed critical to prevent famine and death in five key hunger hotspots. Their latest report highlights urgent needs in regions like North Darfur’s Zamzam camp, already grappling with famine, and warns of impending disaster in Gaza, Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan due to severe access constraints and persistent conflicts. The FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, stresses the necessity of a humanitarian ceasefire to provide life-saving aid and facilitate local food production, particularly urging global leaders to facilitate diplomatic solutions and ensure safe humanitarian operations. WFP’s Cindy McCain echoes this, urging world leaders to mobilize resources and partnerships to tackle global hunger effectively.
The report identifies 22 countries as hunger hotspots, with escalating hunger due to conflicts, economic crises, and climatic shocks, including the anticipated impacts of La Niña. This weather phenomenon threatens to disrupt rainfall and aggravate conditions in places like Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, thereby destabilizing already fragile food systems. Without swift intervention, increased funding for food, and livelihood support, hundreds of thousands could face starvation.
Besides the five most critical countries, the FAO and WFP also express concerns for Chad, Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen, where acute food insecurity is prevalent and worsening due to various exacerbating factors. Newly added hunger hotspots include Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, and Niger, attributed to climate extremes, conflicts, and economic instability. The UN agencies emphasize the necessity for immediate, scaled-up interventions to prevent further deterioration in these vulnerable regions and avert a large-scale hunger crisis.
Original Story https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/10/1156321
Category :
Tags:
