Hunger is expected to rise in 23 global hotspots in the next three months with the highest alerts for “catastrophic” situations in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, southern Madagascar, Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria, two U.N. agencies warned Friday.
The
Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program said in a new report
on “Hunger Hotspots” between August and November that “acute food insecurity is
likely to further deteriorate.”
They
put Ethiopia at the top of the list, saying the number of people facing
starvation and death is expected to rise to 401,000 — the highest number since
the 2011 famine in Somalia — if humanitarian aid isn’t provided quickly.
In
southern Madagascar, which has been hit by the worst drought in the past 40
years, pests affecting staple crops, and rising food prices — 14,000 people are
expected to be pushed into “catastrophic” acute food insecurity marked by
starvation and death by September. And that number is expected to double by the
end of the year with 28,000 people needing urgent help, the two agencies said.
In
a report in May, 16 organizations including FAO and WFP said at least 155
million people faced acute hunger in 2020, including 133,000 who needed urgent
food to prevent widespread death from starvation, a 20 million increase from
2019.
“Acute
hunger is increasing not only in scale but also severity,” FAO and WFP said in
Friday’s report. “Overall, over 41 million people worldwide are now at risk of
falling into famine or famine-like conditions, unless they receive immediate
life and livelihood-saving assistance.”
The
two Rome-based agencies called for urgent humanitarian action to save lives in
the 23 hotspots, saying help is especially critical in the five highest alert
places to prevent famine and death.
“These
deteriorating trends are mostly driven by conflict dynamics, as well as the
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” they said. “These include food price spikes,
movement restrictions that limit market and pastoralists activities alike,
rising inflation, decreased purchasing power, and an early and prolonged lean
season” for crops.
FAO
and WFP said South Sudan, Yemen and Nigeria remain at the highest alert level,
joined for the first time by Ethiopia because of Tigray and southern
Madagascar.
In
South Sudan, they said, “famine was most likely happening in parts of Pibor
county between October and November 2020, and was expected to continue in the
absence of sustained and timely humanitarian assistance” while two other areas
remain at risk of famine.
“In
Yemen, the risk of more people facing famine-like conditions may have been
contained, but gains remain extremely fragile,” the U.N. agencies said. “In
Nigeria, populations in conflict-affected areas in the northeast may be at risk
of reaching catastrophic food insecurity levels.”
Nine
other countries also have high numbers of people facing “critical food
insecurity” coupled with worsening drivers of hunger — Afghanistan, Burkina
Faso, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Sudan and
Syria, the report said.
Six
countries have been added to the hotspot list since the agencies’ March report
— Chad, Colombia, North Korea, Myanmar, Kenya and Nicaragua, it said. Three
other countries also facing acute food insecurity are Somalia, Guatemala and
Niger, while Venezuela wasn’t included due to lack of recent data, it said.
In
Afghanistan, FAO and WFP said 3.5 million people are expected to face the
second-highest level of food insecurity, characterized by acute malnutrition
and deaths, from June to November. They said the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO
forces as early as August could lead to escalating violence, additional
displaced people and difficulties in distributing humanitarian assistance.
In
reclusive North Korea, which is under tough U.N. sanctions, the agencies said
“concerns are mounting over the food security situation … due to strained
access and the potential impact of trade limitations, which may lead to food
gaps.” While data is “extremely limited,” they said recent figures from the
country’s Central Bureau o Stations and an FAO analysis “highlight a worrying
cereal deficit.”
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