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Zahid Rabbani
Global food security has steadily worsened over the past several years. The Global Report on Food Crises 2022 says nearly 193 million people experienced crisis level or worse food insecurity in 2021, an increase of almost 40 million over the previous record in 2020.
The negative food security outlook continues to worsen this year, and the global food systems impact of the crisis in Ukraine has contributed to further decline.
World leaders turned their attention to the global hunger crisis in two events organized by the United States: a ministerial-level meeting on May 18 and a Security Council open debate on May 19.
The overarching aim of these events was to catalyze action on global food security and resilience, focusing on the critical links between conflict and hunger, including the impacts of the war in Ukraine.
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the resulting disruption to food, fuel, and fertilizer markets have exacerbated an existing food crisis driven by conflict, climatic shocks, COVID-19, and economic pressures.
It is unsettling to hear from the United Nations (UN) that the effects of the ongoing global food crisis may last for years unless actions are taken to overturn the situation.
As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on and continues to push up prices, world leaders believe the situation can improve only with the conclusion of the war.
Pakistan, as a developing nation, has already felt the heat from the global market, with the people struggling with skyrocketing prices of essentials.
Addressing the situation, the UN secretary-general has pointed to the reality that shortages of grains and fertilizers happened because of some perceivable factors, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising temperatures, and pandemic-driven supply problems.
He expressed caution that, unless effective steps were taken now, tens of millions of people would face severe food insecurity. He stressed that without goodwill on all sides involved in the war, an amicable solution would be hard to reach.
It can be noted that taking cognizance of the worsening food situation, the World Bank has announced extra funding to stave off the “devastating effects” of a prolonged food crisis, which might lead to mass-scale malnutrition, mass hunger, and famine in many of the countries where food shortage is already a pervasive phenomenon.
Reports show that in many the far-flung areas, people live in semi-starvation for almost half the year. A prolonged food crisis would put the lives of these marginalized people in total jeopardy.
Experts fear if the depleting food stocks were not replenished it would push the vulnerable communities toward the edge of famine.
Together, Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the world’s wheat. However, the Ukraine invasion and subsequent economic sanctions on Russia have disrupted supplies of fertilizers, wheat, and other commodities, thereby causing global prices of food and fuel to go up phenomenally.
Before the invasion in February, Ukraine was exporting 4.5 million tons of agricultural produce per month through its ports, 12 percent of the planet’s wheat, 15 percent of its corn, and half of its sunflower oil.
To handle the rising inflation, many countries are now opting for austerity measures to stabilize their economies. Pakistan, too, is doing what it can to offset the effects.
In order to pull people back from the brink of starvation, create sustainable food systems, and prevent future food crises, we need comprehensive solutions that address the myriad drivers and impacts of food insecurity.
Emergency aid alone is not enough to end this crisis. Donors must get better at leveraging longer-term funding mechanisms to get ahead of rising global hunger levels and promote resilience.
States must also engage in concerted diplomacy and cooperation to put forward rights-based trade, economic, climate, food systems, and social protection policies.
