Global report on food crises 2020
The 2020 global report on food crises (PDF) by the Global Network Against Food Crises and the Food Security Information Network tracks people most in need of emergency food, nutrition and livelihood assistance, identifies main drivers of actute food insecurity and malnutrition. It also explores whether and how conflict, weather extremes and economic shocks interact and exacerbate food crises and examines how chronic, structural or seasonal issues combine with shocks to exacerbate situations. At 135 million, the number of people in crisis or worse in 2019 was the highest in the four
years. When comparing the 50 countries that were in both the 2019 and the 2020 reports, the population in crisis or worse rose from 112 to 123 million. Conflict/insecurity was still the main driver of food crises in 2019, but weather extremes and economic shocks became increasingly significant. Africa had the largest numbers of acutely food-insecure people in need of assistance in countries badly affected by weather events. In East Africa, armed conflicts, intercommunal violence and other localized tensions continued to affect peace and security. The report reflects the growing influence of economic crises on acute food insecurity levels. An estimated 79 million people remained displaced globally as of mid-2019. More than half of these refugees were hosted in countries with high numbers of acutely food-insecure people. Forecasts for 2020 reveal that the combined effects of conflict, macroeconomic crisis, climaterelated shocks and crop pests, were likely to ensure that Yemen remained the world’s worst food crisis. The drivers of food crises, as well as lack of access to dietary energy and diversity, safe water, sanitation and health care will continue to create high levels of child malnutrition, while COVID-19 is likely to overburden health systems. The pandemic may well devastate livelihoods and food security,
especially in fragile contexts and for the most vulnerable people. A global recession will majorly disrupt food supply chains.