Risk of starvation worldwide due to the Ukrainian conflict: WFP warns

Ukrainian flag Ukrainian flag Yehor Milohrodskyi on Unsplash

4 March 2022

The World Food Programme expresses concerns about the conflict in Ukraine and its effects both on local communities and the poorest across the world

The World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed its concern for the situation in Ukraine, especially because of the dire impact the conflict is expected to have both on lives and livelihoods of civilians. The WFP highlights how conflicts are one of the major causes of hunger all over the world and that ‘with up to 283 million people currently acutely food insecure or at high risk in 81 countries, and 45 million already teetering on the brink of starvation, the world can’t afford another conflict’.

The WFP, active in eastern Ukraine since 2014, is launching an emergency operation to provide the necessary food assistance both for people fleeing to neighbouring countries and those staying back in Ukraine. The WPF aims at helping families through food distributions, cash and food vouchers that can be spent in selected shops.

Despite the conflict being in Ukraine, its impact will be global. Ukraine and Russia provide 30% of the world’s wheat and they are also exporters of corn, oil, sunflower and other food grains. Because of the conflict such exports stopped and the global food prices significantly increased. As such, the fallout of the conflict will be global and the poorest will be ones suffering the most from it. David Beasley, the head of the WFP, warned of the risk of starvation worldwide. The food shortages might also have an impact on the ability of the WFP to deliver food assistance, as 50% of its grains come from the Ukraine-Russia area. As a result, food security programmes and WFP operations also in other regions might be compromised. This adds to the current acute hunger crisis worsened by the covid-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the WFP strives to ensure food assistance and critical supplies to affected communities. 

 

To learn more, please read:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113352

https://www.wfp.org/stories/ukraine-wfp-ready-step-conflict-erupts

https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/ukraine-emergency

https://www.wfp.org/stories/world-food-programme-set-assist-people-affected-conflict-ukraine

https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/russia-ukraine-crisis/wfp-warns-of-global-catastrophic-hunger-instability-as-fallout-of-russia-ukraine-war-articleshow.html

 

Author: Lorena Bisignano; Editor: Tiago Cotogni

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