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Dürrefeld (in Kenya): In 2021, an average of 768 million people will be affected by hunger
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Dong Jianghui / picture alliance/dpa/XinHua
The United Nations goal of eradicating world hunger by 2030 is becoming increasingly distant.
In 2021, about 768 million people were affected by hunger on average, about 46 million more than in the previous year and 150 million more than in 2019, according to the annual report on the global supply situation, which was presented in New York on Wednesday.
Almost ten percent of the world's population did not have enough to eat last year - even before the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
According to the report, in which the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the children's charity Unicef, the World Food Program and the World Health Organization were also involved.
The consequences of climate change are also partly responsible for hunger in the world.
Overall, the five organizations paint a bleak picture: "The world is moving away from its goal of eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all their forms by 2030." It can now be assumed that by the end of the decade, 670 million people will still be suffering from hunger – »a similar number to 2015«.
The report assumes that "the main causes of food insecurity and malnutrition - conflict, extreme weather events and economic shocks - will increase".
It must therefore primarily be a matter of “taking bolder measures to strengthen resilience to future shocks”.
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine poses another risk, according to the report, as supply chains have been disrupted by the conflict.
Before the war, the country was an important grain and maize exporter for the world market and especially for developing countries, which are now having to struggle with the export blockade.
Food prices have increased significantly
According to the calculations, the losses this year and next can only be partly compensated for with grain from the storage facilities.
As a result of the conflict, food prices also increased significantly in the first half of 2022.
According to the UN, the food supply situation is particularly bad in countries in the Middle East and Africa.
"The report shows how serious the situation in Ukraine was before the war," said Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD).
"The Russian war of aggression on the granary of Ukraine is dramatically increasing the need and driving even more people to starvation." What is now needed is "nothing less than a transformation of the agricultural and food systems so that they are sustainable and resilient to the climate crisis, but also to the world market events«.
sol/dpa/AFP
