RIYADH: Global food insecurity is much worse than previously thought, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report, released this week by a coalition of UN agencies, which said efforts to tackle malnutrition have been severely hampered.
With countries around the world falling far short of meeting the second UN Sustainable Development Goal of “zero hunger” by 2030, the report notes that climate change is increasingly recognized as a major factor worsening hunger and food insecurity.
The Middle East and North Africa region, a major food importer, is considered particularly vulnerable to climate-related crop failures at source, resulting protectionist tariffs, and commodity price fluctuations.
“Climate change is a driver of food insecurity in the Middle East, where both global and regional shocks are important,” David Laborde, head of the Agri-Food Economics and Policies Department at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, told Arab News.
“Right now, especially in the Middle East, I think the global angle is important because the Middle East imports a lot of its food. Even if there’s no domestic (climate) shock, even if there’s no domestic drought or flood — if it happens in Pakistan, if it happens in India, if it happens in Canada — the Middle East is going to feel it.”
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The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report has been compiled annually since 1999 by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization to monitor global progress toward ending hunger.
At a recent event at UN headquarters in New York, the report's authors stressed the urgent need for creative and equitable solutions to address the funding shortfall in countries struggling with extreme hunger and malnutrition, which is being exacerbated by climate change.
The report found that in addition to climate change, factors such as conflict and economic recession are becoming more frequent and severe, reducing the ability to afford healthy diets, creating unhealthy food environments and exacerbating inequality.
In fact, persistent food price inflation is worsening food insecurity and malnutrition, undermining economic development around the world.
“The way climate shocks interact with conflict is another indirect effect that should not be overlooked,” Laborde said.
In North Africa, for example, he said, negative climate shocks could exacerbate conflicts, “because people start competing for access to natural resources or water, or there might be people who don’t have work to do in the area.”
“Because they have no jobs and cannot work on the farms, they may join the rebels or other forces.”
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By 2023, up to 757 million people could be hungry, equivalent to one in 11 people globally and one in five in Africa.
Despite progress in Latin America, the prevalence of food insecurity worldwide remains unchanged for the third year in a row.
The prevalence of stunting and wasting in children under five has improved somewhat worldwide.
By the end of 2021, G20 countries pledged to distribute $100 billion worth of unused special drawing rights held by central banks in high-income countries to low- and middle-income countries.
But since then, the promised amount has fallen short by $13 billion, and the worst-off countries have received less than 1% of the total aid.
Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that has met the 20% pledge, along with Australia, Canada, China, France and Japan, but others have fallen short of the 10% mark or stopped participating altogether.
“Saudi Arabia is a very large country in the Middle East, so what they do is important, but they also have financial capabilities that a lot of other countries don’t have,” Laborde said.
“It could be through their SDRs. It could be through their national funds. Because where you invest and how you invest is important to making the world more sustainable. So I would say yes, it could be important to prioritize investments in low- and middle-income countries for food and security and nutrition programs.
Although the prevalence of malnutrition in Saudi Arabia has declined in recent years, the report says the rate of stunting among children has actually increased by 1.4 percent over the past decade.
As the population continues to grow, so do the rates of overweight children, obesity, and anemia in women. In this sense, it is not a lack of food, but a lack of healthy eating habits.
“Saudi Arabia is a good example of where traditional hunger and food shortages are becoming less of a problem and other forms of malnutrition are becoming a real problem,” Laborde said.
By 2023, an estimated 2.33 billion people worldwide will face moderate or severe food insecurity, or 1 in 11 people will face hunger, a situation exacerbated by a range of factors including economic downturns and climate change.
Affordability of a healthy diet is also a major issue, especially in low-income countries where more than 71% of the population cannot afford adequate nutrition.
In countries like Saudi Arabia, where overeating is becoming increasingly common, Laborde suggests that investing in nutrition and health education and implementing policies could be the solution.
The kingdom, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, is extending aid to countries in crisis, including Palestine, Sudan and Yemen, but these countries are still suffering from dire conditions, especially the Gaza Strip, which has been hit hard by the war with Israel.
“Even before the conflict began, especially at the end of last year, the situation in Palestine was complex in terms of agricultural systems and population density. There was already a malnutrition problem,” Laborde said.
“What's true everywhere, whether it's Sudan, Yemen, or Palestine, is when you start adding conflict and military operations, it really hurts the population. Because it can really destroy production. It destroys access to water. But people can't even get to the grocery store if the trucks or ships carrying food are blocked.”
While Palestine and Sudan are extreme cases, an estimated 733 million people worldwide are still hungry, continuing the high levels observed over the past three years.
“We aim to provide food to people in need in Palestine, working with the World Food Programme (WFP) and other organizations on the ground,” Laborde said of FAO’s work. “Before and after the conflict, we will also work to rebuild what needs to be rebuilt. But without peace, there is only so much we can do.”
FAO helps food-deficient countries develop production systems by providing better seeds, animals, technologies and irrigation solutions, and works to protect livestock from pests and diseases by providing veterinary services and incentivizing countries to adopt better policies.
The report projects that by 2030, an estimated 582 million people will continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition, half of them in Africa. This is similar to the levels observed in 2015, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted, and represents an ongoing plateau.
The report highlights the need to build better financial distribution systems, in line with this year’s theme: “Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition.”
“In 2022 there were a lot of headlines about world hunger, but today the headlines about hunger have almost disappeared because the number of people suffering from hunger has not gone away,” Laborde said, citing the negative impact of the war in Ukraine on world food prices.
“We have to say that policymakers are failing to deliver on their promises. The world is producing enough food today, so how we distribute it and how we make it accessible is much more important. It's a man-made problem, so the solution has to be man-made.”
