UN warns global food crisis could turn into ‘catastrophe’
United Nations, Jun 8 (EFE).- The global food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine could turn into a “catastrophe” by 2023, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.
“Food should never be a luxury; it is a fundamental human right. And yet, this crisis may rapidly turn into a food catastrophe of global proportions,” a UN Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance report warned.
In 2022, up to 81 million people will be facing food crisis or worse conditions and up to 19 million more people are expected to face chronic undernourishment globally in 2023 if food exports from Russia and Ukraine continue to decrease, according to the UN.
“This year’s food crisis is about lack of access. Next year’s could be about lack of food,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned.
Guterres said the number of severely food-insecure people had doubled in the past two years and that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was mainly to blame.
“In reality, there is only one way to stop this gathering storm in its tracks: the Russian invasion of Ukraine must end.
“The death and destruction must stop,” he said.
The UN report found that 94 countries, home to some 1.6 billion people, are currently exposed to at least one dimension of the crisis and unable to cope with it.
“Out of the 1.6 billion, three quarters live in ‘perfect-storm’ countries, meaning countries that are severely exposed and vulnerable to all three dimensions of finance, food, and energy, simultaneously,” it added. EFE
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