RIYADH: Global food security is much worse than previously thought. That's the conclusion of a report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world to 2024, published this week by a coalition of UN organizations, which found that efforts to fight malnutrition have suffered serious setbacks.
With countries around the world falling far short of the UN's second sustainable development goal of “zero hunger” by 2030, the report notes that climate change is increasingly recognized as a key factor exacerbating hunger and food insecurity.
As a major food importer, the Middle East and North Africa region is considered particularly vulnerable to climate-induced crop failures in source countries and consequent protectionist tariffs and commodity price fluctuations.
“Climate change is a driver of food insecurity in the Middle East, where both global and local shocks are important,” David Laborde, director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Economics and Policy Division, told Arab News. .
“Now, especially for the Middle East, I think the global angle is important because the Middle East imports a lot of food. Even if you don't have a (climate) shock at home, if you don't have a drought or flood at home — if it happened in Pakistan, if it happened in India, if it happened in Canada — the Middle East will feel it.”
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The World Food Security and Nutrition Report has been produced annually since 1999 by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization to monitor global progress towards ending hunger.
At a recent event at UN headquarters in New York, the authors of the report stressed the urgent need for creative and equitable solutions to address the financial shortfall to help those countries experiencing severe hunger and malnutrition, exacerbated by climate change.
In addition to climate change, the report found that factors such as conflict and economic downturns are becoming more frequent and severe, affecting access to healthy food, unhealthy diets and inequality.
Indeed, food insecurity and malnutrition are exacerbated by persistently high food prices, which have undermined economic progress worldwide.
“There is also an indirect effect that we should not neglect – how the climate shock interacts with the conflict,” Laborde said.
In North Africa, for example, adverse climate shocks could lead to more conflict, “either because people start competing for natural resources, access to water, or simply because you have people in your region who don't have anything to do,” he said. .
“There's no work, they can't work on their farm, and so they can join the rebels or other elements.”
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In 2023, an estimated 757 million people suffered from hunger, equivalent to one in 11 people worldwide and one in five in Africa.
Global prevalence of food insecurity remains unchanged for three consecutive years, despite progress in Latin America.
There has been some improvement in the global prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age.
At the end of 2021, G20 countries pledged to withdraw $100 billion of unused special drawing rights held by high-income countries' central banks and distribute them among middle- and low-income countries.
However, that pledge has since fallen short of $13 billion, with countries in the worst economic conditions receiving less than 1 percent of that support.
Saudi Arabia is among the countries that have exceeded the 20 percent pledge, along with Australia, Canada, China, France and Japan, while others have failed to reach 10 percent or stopped participating altogether.
“Saudi Arabia is a very big power in the Middle East, so what they're doing is important, but they also have financial capacity that many other countries don't have,” Labard said.
“It could be through their SDR. This can also be done through their sovereign wealth fund, because where you invest and how you invest is important to making the world more sustainable. So I will say yes, prioritizing investments in low- and middle-income countries in food and nutrition and security programs can be important.
Although the prevalence of malnutrition in Saudi Arabia has decreased in recent years, the report shows that the rate of stunting among children has increased by 1.4 percent over the past 10 years.
There has also been an increase in children with overweight, obesity and anemia in women as the population continues to grow. In this sense, it is not so much a lack of food as a lack of healthy eating habits.
“Saudi Arabia is a good example where I would say traditional hunger and food shortages … are becoming less and less of a problem, but other forms of malnutrition are becoming really important,” Laborde said.
In 2023, an estimated 2.33 billion people worldwide faced moderate or severe food insecurity, and one in 11 faced hunger, exacerbated by various factors such as economic decline and climate change.
Access to healthy food is also a critical issue, especially in low-income countries, where more than 71 percent of the population cannot afford a nutritious diet.
In countries like Saudi Arabia, where overeating is a growing problem, Laborde suggests that proper investment in nutrition and health education, as well as policy adaptation, may be the way to go.
While the Kingdom continues to provide support to countries in crisis, including Palestine, Sudan and Yemen, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, these states continue to struggle with dire conditions. Gaza was particularly affected by the war with Israel.
“Even before the start of the conflict, especially at the end of last year, the situation in Palestine was difficult, both in terms of the agricultural system (and) population density. There was already a problem of malnutrition,” Laborde said.
“Now, everywhere, in Sudan, Yemen, Palestine, when you start adding conflicts and hostilities, the population suffers a lot because you can actually destroy production. You destroy access to water. But people also can't go to the grocery store if the truck or ship that brings the food is down.”
While Palestine and Sudan are extreme cases, some 733 million people worldwide still suffer from hunger, a continuation of the high levels observed over the past three years.
“On the ground, we are working with the World Food Program (and) with other organizations to get food to people in need in Palestine,” Laborde said of FAO's work. “Before and after the conflict, we will also work to rebuild what needs to be rebuilt. But without peace, we can do limited things.”
FAO helps food-insecure countries by providing better seeds, animals, technology and irrigation solutions to develop production systems, and works to protect livestock from pests and diseases by providing veterinary services and creating incentives for countries to adopt better policies.
The report's projections for 2030 show that some 582 million people will continue to suffer from chronic malnutrition, half of them in Africa. This mirrors the level seen in 2015 when the SDGs were adopted, indicating a plateau stage.
The report highlights the need for better financial distribution systems in line with this year's theme: “Financing to End Hunger, Food Insecurity and All Forms of Malnutrition.”
“In 2022, there were a lot of headlines about global hunger, but today it's more or less gone, if not the number of hungry people,” Labard said, referring to the devastating impact of the war in Ukraine. on world food prices.
“We have to say that we are not fulfilling the promises made by the politicians. Today's world produces enough food, so much more depends on how we distribute it, how we provide access. This is a man-made problem, and therefore it must be a man-made solution.”
