Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Wednesday that global hunger levels have reached “a new high”, calling on all nations, across the world, to act together and urgently to end the crisis. of food insecurity.
He made the remarks during a ministerial meeting on world hunger which took place at the UN headquarters in New York.
The number of people suffering from severe food insecurity has doubled in two years, from 135 million before the pandemic to 276 million currently, underlined the UN chief. For him, “these frightening figures are inextricably linked to conflict, both as cause and as effect”. And to warn, “If we don’t feed people, we feed conflicts”.
As already mentioned by many other observers, Guterres considered that conflicts, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are all factors that cause food insecurity, which factors are now amplified by the invasion from Russia to Ukraine. It has also indexed access to financial markets, which has been restricted, pushing certain developing States to the brink of defaulting on their debt.
The Russian-Ukrainian crisis risks, according to Guterres, dragging “tens of millions of people into food insecurity, then into malnutrition, mass hunger and starvation, in a crisis that could last for years”.
“High rates of hunger have a devastating impact on individuals, families and societies,” he insisted. Referring to the case of children, he mentioned the risk of growth retardation throughout their lives.
In front of this blackboard, the UN chief, who considers that “the elimination of hunger is within our reach”, presented five urgent measures to solve the crisis in the short term and prevent damage in the long term.
The first is to reduce market pressure by increasing the food supply, without restrictions on exports and making surpluses available to those who need them most. For this, there is a need, despite the war, to “reintegrate Ukrainian food production, as well as food and fertilizers produced by Russia and Belarus, into world markets”.
The second measure is that social protection systems cover all those in need by providing them with various necessary services (water, food, support for livelihoods, etc.).
Other measures concern the support of agricultural production by governments or the full funding of humanitarian operations to prevent famine and reduce hunger.
“Our only chance to lift millions of people out of hunger is to act together, urgently and in solidarity”, concluded Guterres, hammering that “the food crisis does not respect borders, and no country can overcome it. only”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during the meeting that to address the global crisis, $215 million in humanitarian aid is needed.
By OMA Newsletter N° 708 of 05/19/2022
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