War, Covid and climate change push 122 million more people into hunger, says major new report

Over 122 million more people are now facing hunger than in 2019, according to a United Nations report, which says the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 pandemic have had a devastating effect on food supplies.

In total, between 691 and 783 million people went hungry in 2022, the UN’s latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report found.

It said that global food insecurity has worsened in recent years due to a “perfect storm” of Covid-19, extreme weather events and ongoing conflicts, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and its blockade of the port of Odesa, exposing the world’s dependence on Black Sea grain and sunflower oil imports.

Nearly 2.4 billion people, equivalent to 29.6 per cent of the global population, did not have constant access to food in 2022, according to the report. One in five people faced hunger in Africa, more than twice the global average.

No region in the world has been spared, but hunger was on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and throughout all subregions of Africa in 2022.

It is projected that almost 600 million people will still be facing hunger by 2030.

The report warned that achieving the UN’s target of zero hunger by 2030 will be a “daunting challenge” in light of the figures.  

This is because recovery from the global pandemic has been uneven, and the war in Ukraine has affected food prices and healthy diets.

Russia and Ukraine, two grain exporting powerhouses, once accounted for  24 per cent of global wheat exports by trade value, 57 per cent of sunflower seed oil exports and 14 per cent of corn from 2016 to 2020, according to data from the UN.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which opened a maritime corridor for food exports following the start of the war, has covered some shortfalls, but gaps still remain.

Countries in the Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have all struggled to secure regular imports in the wake of the invasion. The fallout was particularly acute in 2022.

The Russian army has also been accused of destroying equipment and stealing grain, amid Western fears that President Vladimir Putin is trying to weaponise food supplies.

‘The wake-up call we need’

David Laborde, Division Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, told the Telegraph that the war in Ukraine must be seen in the context of existing global crises – including the pandemic, conflict in Ethiopia and Yemen, and extreme weather events.

“It is a combination of shock. Ukraine is a tragedy, but it also happened at a time when the system was particularly vulnerable,” he said. “We are talking about the pandemic and the global economy stopping as we have never seen.”

Mr Laborde added that the report is the “wake-up call we need”.

He warned that although food systems have not entirely collapsed in the face of these global challenges, there is no promise that they will hold in the future.

“Despite all the shock that has hit all our food systems, the systems are still there,” he said.

“The system has not collapsed, but this does mean that it’s going to take much more. We cannot rely anymore on luck.”

The report is jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

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