Food inaccessibility has been a major issue globally due to the closing of borders among the many other difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. The world has been seeing an increase in the level of people who go hungry each day.
Source: ifad.org
With so many things changing in the global economy and while we have started facing the negative effects of climate change, the topic of a global food crisis increasingly keeps appearing in almost every single report relating to either one of these topics.
Whether it is the inaccessibility due to the increasing prices as the global economy crashes or crops being damaged in countries that are responsible for mass producing them due to heavy rains, floods or extreme heatwaves, the topic of a food crisis is no longer avoidable as it has become a real global problem.
With the World Food Program (WFP) reporting over 345 million people in 82 countries are suffering from acute hunger, and funding of USD 22.2 billion would be needed to help those in need, the food crisis has always been a global issue that needed action to be taken years ago.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, food inaccessibility has been a major issue globally due to the closing of borders among the many other difficulties during the pandemic, the world has been seeing an increase in the level of people who go hungry each day.
Post the major waves of COVID-19 in 2021 World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 45 million children under the age of 5 were suffering from wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition and 149 million children under the age of five had stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets. These numbers show exactly how dire the food crisis has become over the years, only getting worse as we near the end of 2022.
One of the biggest factors for this year's increase in the food crisis is the negative effects of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Due to the conflict, Ukraine, one of the biggest exporters of grains globally was unable to export any grain since the conflicts started earlier in 2022 up until August of 2022. This showed an increase in grain prices, causing several countries to have difficulties accessing affordable food prices.
Although Ukraine has gradually begun to export grain, the ongoing conflict is not the only factor driving up food prices, as climate change has begun to hit countries particularly hard, leaving the agricultural sector vulnerable in several agricultural countries.
With food prices already up by 28 percent in 2021 as a result of multiple crises, the severe flooding, heavy rains, and heat waves that countries have been experiencing this year have only exacerbated the food crisis. Many see this as a "wake-up call" to combat the climate crisis and the increasingly severe humanitarian emergencies that are occurring as a result of it.
One of the biggest wake-up calls this year has been the impact climate change has been having on countries like Pakistan. After getting hit with heavy rains and severe flooding, the after-effects are showing that many of the countries' farmlands have been destroyed due to the flood with crops and stockpiles washed away causing an increase in food prices in Pakistan, which was already suffering from an economic crisis prior to the floods.
While Non-Profit Organisations have been attempting to help those countries that are heavily affected by the food crisis, serious measures need to be taken by world leaders in order to avoid such crises arising in the first place. With the UN projecting that nearly 670 million people will be facing hunger in 2030, some serious measures need to be put in place in order to reduce these numbers.
