Miller Magazine Issue: 151 July 2022

44 MILLER / JULY 2022 NEWS Conflict, weather extremes, economic shocks, the lingering impacts of COVID-19, and the ripple effects from the war in Ukraine push millions of people in countries across the world into poverty and hunger – as food and fuel price spikes drive nations closer to instability says new hunger hotspots report. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Na- tions (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) issued a stark warning of multiple, looming food cri- ses, driven by conflict, climate shocks, the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and massive public debt burdens - ex- acerbated by the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine which has pushed food and fuel prices to accelerate in many na- tions across the globe. These shocks hit in contexts already characterized by rural marginalization and fragile agrifood systems. The ‘Hunger Hotspots – FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity’ report calls for urgent humanitarian ac- tion in 20 ‘hunger hotspots’ where acute hunger is expected to worsen from June-September 2022 – to save lives and livelihoods, and prevent famine. The report warns that the war in Ukraine has exacerbat- ed the already steadily rising food and energy prices world- wide, which are already affecting economic stability across all regions. The effects are expected to be particularly acute where economic instability and spiralling prices combine with drops in food production due to climate shocks such as recurrent droughts or flooding. “We are deeply concerned about the combined impacts of overlapping crises jeopardizing people’s ability to produce and access foods, pushing millions more into extreme lev- els of acute food insecurity,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “We are in a race against time to help farmers in the most affected countries, including by rapidly increasing potential food production and boosting their resilience in the face of challenges”. “We’re facing a perfect storm that is not just going to hurt the poorest of the poor - it’s also going to overwhelm millions of families who until now have just about kept their heads above water,” warned WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “Conditions now are much worse than during the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2007-2008 food price crisis, when 48 countries were rocked by political unrest, riots and protests. We’ve already seen what’s happening in Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru, and Sri Lanka – that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We have solutions. But we need to act, and act fast,” he warned. KEY FINDINGS The report finds that – alongside conflict – frequent and recurring climate shocks continue to drive acute hunger and shows that we have entered a ‘new normal’ where droughts, flooding, hurricanes, and cyclones repeatedly decimate FAO and WFP warn of looming widespread food crisis