The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a stark warning for global food security, estimating that every one percent cut in food assistance risks pushing more than 400,000 people towards the brink of starvation. Tuesday’s warning comes as WFP, the biggest recipient of humanitarian funding, is in the midst of a crippling financing crisis that is forcing the organization to scale back life-saving assistance at a time when acute hunger globally reached record levels.
The UN agency is being forced to drastically cut rations in most of its operations as international humanitarian funding plummets. Experts at the agency estimate that, as a result, an additional 24 million people could slip into emergency hunger over the next 12 months – a 50 percent increase on the current level.
There are currently 345 million people facing acute food insecurity (IPC3 or worse) worldwide, with 40 million of these in emergency levels of hunger (IPC4). These are people forced to take desperate measures to survive and are at risk of dying from malnutrition. WFP’s food assistance is a vital lifeline, often the only thing separating them from starvation.
“With the number of people around the world facing starvation at record levels, we need to be scaling up life-saving assistance - not cutting it,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain.
“If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger. Either we fan the flames of global instability, or we work quickly to put out the fire.”
WFP has been struggling to meet the global need for food assistance while facing a funding shortfall of over 60 percent this year - the highest in the organization’s 60-year history. And for the first time ever, WFP has seen contributions decreasing while needs steadily increase.
Experts at the agency fear that a humanitarian ‘doom loop’ is being triggered, where WFP is being forced to save only the starving, at the cost of the hungry.
Massive reductions have already been implemented in almost half of WFP operations, including significant cuts in hotspots such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Jordan, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territory, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The UN agency warned the ripple effects of these cuts in life-saving aid will cause emergency levels of hunger to skyrocket even higher.
“There’s only one way out of this,” the WFP chief said.
“We need to fund emergency operations to feed the hungry today while simultaneously investing in long-term solutions that address the root causes of hunger. Our shared goal must be ending the vicious, unsustainable, and costly cycle of crisis and response.”
IPC stands for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a multipartner initiative for improving food security and decision-making. The IPC acute food insecurity scale consists of five classifications: (1) minimal/none, (2) stressed, (3) crisis, (4) emergency, and (5) catastrophe/famine.
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization. The UN agency, awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, is saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to support people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. The World Food Programme works in over 120 countries and territories. For millions of people worldwide, WFP assistance can make the difference between life and death.
Further information
Full text: Estimating the food security impact of cuts in WFP assistance, A look at the global level, WFP report, released September 12, 2023
https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000152366/download/