Why has number of people facing hunger crisis doubled since 2019? | Inside Story

Key Concepts

• Crisis Levels of Hunger: A severe state of food insecurity where individuals lack consistent access to sufficient food, leading to malnutrition and potential starvation.
• Humanitarian Funding Collapse: A significant reduction in financial aid provided by richer nations to support humanitarian efforts, impacting the ability to address crises.
• Conflict Amplification: The exacerbation of existing problems, such as food insecurity, due to ongoing wars and violence.
• Climate Change: Alterations in global weather patterns leading to extreme events like droughts and floods, which negatively impact agricultural production.
• Deepening Inequalities: The widening gap between the rich and the poor, which restricts access to essential resources like food.
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A set of 17 global goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015, aiming to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. SDG 2 specifically targets "Zero Hunger."
• Humanitarian Law: International laws that govern the conduct of armed conflict and protect civilians.
• Food Systems: The complex network of activities involved in producing, processing, distributing, and consuming food.
• Malnutrition: A condition resulting from inadequate or excessive intake of nutrients, leading to various health problems.
• Resilience Building: Strategies and interventions aimed at helping communities withstand and recover from shocks and stresses, such as climate change impacts or economic downturns.
• Soft Power: The ability to attract and persuade rather than coerce, often through cultural or ideological appeal.
• Military Spending: The expenditure by governments on armed forces and defense.

Global Hunger Crisis: A Worsening Reality

The World Food Program (WFP) has issued a dire warning: over 300 million people are projected to face critical levels of hunger next year, a figure that has doubled since 2019. This escalating crisis is attributed to a confluence of factors, including significant cuts in aid funding from wealthier nations, ongoing conflicts, and the intensifying impacts of climate change. The situation is further compounded by a surge in global military spending, which the WFP highlights as a stark contrast to the underfunding of humanitarian efforts.

The Scale of the Crisis and Affected Regions

The WFP's outlook for 2026 indicates a struggle to provide food for even a third of those in need due to funding shortfalls. The report identifies numerous "hunger hot spots" globally:

• Famine Conditions Confirmed:
  • Sudan: Famine conditions have been confirmed in Alfasir and 20 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan, with over half the population facing food shortages.
  • Gaza: A famine was declared in August following a prolonged blockade, with severe restrictions on food and aid supplies continuing despite a ceasefire. Reports detail extreme measures, such as grinding animal feed for consumption.
• Imminent Risk of Catastrophic Hunger: Haiti, Mali, South Sudan, and Yemen.
• Very High Concern: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Somalia, and Syria.
• Child Malnutrition: The DRC has witnessed the highest surge in child malnutrition ever recorded, with the lives of 3 million children in peril. Mothers are undertaking arduous journeys to clinics only to find essential feeding programs cut.

Root Causes of Food Insecurity

The experts on the program emphasize that the current hunger crisis is largely "man-made."

• Conflict and Fragility: Jean-Martin Baal, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service at the WFP, states that two-thirds of the 318 million people facing hunger live in situations of fragility and conflict. The concurrent famines in Gaza and Sudan are unprecedented and directly linked to limited humanitarian access and the impact of violence on food systems.
• Climate Change: While not the primary driver, climatic factors significantly aggravate the situation. Examples include Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean and typhoons in the Philippines. In the DRC, unpredictable weather patterns, including droughts and floods, disrupt agricultural planning and crop yields.
• Economic Instability and Inflation: High food inflation in many countries makes healthy meals unaffordable for a growing number of people.
• Deepening Inequalities: Shaheen Ashraf, Head of Global Advocacy at Islamic Relief Worldwide, points out that deepening inequalities cut people off from the food and rights they need to survive.
• Funding Shortfalls and Aid Cuts: A critical factor is the reduction in humanitarian funding by richer nations. The US, historically the largest donor, has significantly reduced its aid under the Trump administration, with other countries following suit. This has crippled emergency responses.

The Impact of Funding Cuts

The consequences of reduced humanitarian funding are severe and far-reaching:

• Prioritization Dilemma: Jean-Martin Baal explains that funding cuts force difficult choices, "taking from the hungry to feed the starving." This leads to millions shifting from crisis to emergency levels of hunger.
• Vulnerability of Displaced Populations: Displaced people, particularly in Sudan and Gaza, are exceptionally vulnerable to aid cuts and food insecurity.
• Social and Political Instability: Unresolved hunger leads to increased social tensions, a higher likelihood of conflict flare-ups, migration, and displacement, putting further pressure on neighboring countries.
• Undermining Soft Power: Shaheen Ashraf argues that slashing aid budgets, as seen with the UK government's reduction from 0.7% to 0.3% of its GNI, represents a political choice to trade global stability and development for military hardware, thereby undermining the nation's soft power and humanitarian leadership.
• Exacerbation of Crises in DRC: In the DRC, where US aid funded 70% of humanitarian efforts, cuts have led to reprioritization, leaving more people, especially women and children, without assistance and exacerbating malnutrition.

The Paradox of Plenty and Scarcity

A central paradox highlighted is that in a world with more than enough food to feed everyone, more people are going hungry. This is not due to a lack of food but rather systemic failures.

• Food Availability vs. Access: Jean-Martin Baal confirms that there is "plenty of food for everyone in the world. It's just not in the right places. It's not reaching the most vulnerable."
• Systems Failure: Shaheen Ashraf asserts that "people are not starving because crops have failed. They're starving because systems have failed." Hunger is presented as a symptom of inequality, not insufficient food.
• Power and Access: The determination of "who eats" is dictated by power, access, borders, and wealth, leading to a widening gap between food producers and those who profit from it.

The Cost of Ending Hunger vs. Military Spending

The disparity between the cost of ending global hunger and current military expenditure is stark.

• Ending Hunger: The WFP estimates that ending hunger by 2030 would cost $93 billion per year.
• Global Military Spending: In 2024, global military spending reached $2.7 trillion, an increase of 9.4% in real terms from 2023.
• Fraction of Military Budgets: The WFP points out that ending hunger would require less than 1% of what has been spent on military budgets over the past decade.

Solutions and the Path Forward

The experts propose a multi-faceted approach to address the global hunger crisis:

• Sustained and Well-Funded Humanitarian Aid: Essential for meeting immediate needs.
• Long-Term Investment: Crucial in local agriculture, nutrition, water, and healthcare systems.
• Addressing Conflict and Inequality: Tackling the root causes of food insecurity.
• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Funding and support for vulnerable communities to cope with climate impacts.
• Political Will and Resources: The consensus is that hunger is solvable with the right political will and adequate resources. It is presented as a choice, not an inevitability.
• Diplomatic Solutions: Ending wars and finding diplomatic solutions to allow humanitarian access to affected populations.
• Reforming Global Economic Rules: Shaheen Ashraf argues that unless global economic rules change, efforts will remain reactive ("fighting fires") rather than preventative.
• Prioritizing Development and Diplomacy: A call for diplomacy, development, and defense to be funded collaboratively, not pitted against each other.
• Ensuring Humanitarian Access: Advocating for peace, humanitarian access, and the opening of all corridors to allow aid to reach those in need.

Moral and Practical Obligations

The WFP's message to world leaders is clear: they have a moral and practical obligation to end the global food insecurity crisis.

• Moral Obligation: To respond to concurrent famines and the rise in acute food insecurity.
• Practical Obligation: An unaddressed food crisis has consequences beyond affected countries, leading to migration and threatening international stability.

The program concludes by emphasizing that the current situation is a "scandal" and that the world has enough food, but access and distribution are determined by power and inequality. The call to action is for leaders to take this crisis seriously and to prioritize human well-being over military expenditure.