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Will famine make the world look to Africa?

2021-04-26T03:47:18.294Z


The World Food Program estimates that 66 million people in just 14 hot spots on the continent face levels of food insecurity from crisis, emergency or catastrophe


There is a saying in the international development arena: wars are hard to stop, famines are not.

The year 2021 may be the time when this saying is put to the test.

With several African countries on the brink of famine, the question is: when will we look back to the African continent?

The facts and figures are grim. Despite great strides in the fight against hunger and poverty in the last decade, acute food insecurity is currently skyrocketing across Africa. The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimate that 66 million people in just 14 African "hot spots" face crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity. In West Africa (in countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria), 23.6 million people will face levels of hunger crisis in the next lean season (June-August), representing an increase 250% compared to the figures of just two years ago.The situation is equally alarming in East and Central Africa (including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan), where 54.8 million people in 10 countries are severely food insecure and in urgent need of help.

The stark reality is that this hunger crisis could get even worse. The UN has warned that South Sudan, Burkina Faso and northeastern Nigeria are at serious risk of famine conditions. In South Sudan, around 100,000 people are already experiencing a food catastrophe in parts of Jonglei, North Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states. Covid-19 could starve more than 19 million people, half of them children, in 12 countries, nine of which are in Africa.

Famine is rare: it is often the result of a perfect storm of conflict, extreme weather conditions, economic shocks, institutional fragility, and donor negligence.

When a famine is officially declared, it means that mortality and acute malnutrition rates have already reached significant levels, with irreversible damage to people and entire countries.

Large-scale humanitarian interventions in food, nutrition and social safety nets are necessary as soon as the situation is declared.

The reasons why extreme hunger is increasing in so many African countries are different, of course, but there are some commonalities: the triple threat of conflict, climate change, and COVID-19.

The main driver is protracted conflict, disrupting supply chains, markets, agriculture and other livelihoods, especially for forcibly displaced populations. Last year, gun violence (including violent extremism) escalated in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, DRC, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger, northern Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. In Ethiopia's Tigray region, for example, even before the conflict that broke out in November 2020, an estimated 600,000 people were highly food insecure. The situation is likely to have worsened as a result of massive displacement, disruptions to the food system and difficulties in accessing humanitarian aid by the United Nations and aid agencies.

Second, climate change plays an important role in exacerbating hunger. Sudan suffered the worst flooding in more than 100 years, putting another 3.5 million people into acute food insecurity in 2020. Large swaths of East Africa also suffered the worst locust infestations in decades. These devastating insect invasions - linked to climate change - rapidly deplete crops and vegetation, starving livestock and posing a serious threat to the food security and livelihoods of millions of people.

Finally, there is the covid-19. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the economies of sub-Saharan Africa contracted by -3% in 2020, the first recession in the region in 25 years. This is a huge setback, as in 2019 there were more Africans emerging from extreme poverty than those born below the poverty line Blockages at borders, in food supply chains and in markets led to a rapid decline in economic activity, triggering a loss of jobs, remittances and household income at a time when inflationary pressures were mounting. Even in countries with relatively strong economies, such as Nigeria and Senegal,the reduction in the purchasing power of households is making healthy food less accessible for millions of families. In conflict settings, where famine is more likely, aid delivery has become even more difficult due to supply chain disruptions and additional bureaucratic restrictions.

The triple threat of conflict, climate change and COVID-19 converge in Africa at a time when the international community is more absent than ever in the region.

It is time to redouble efforts by stakeholders in the international community, to help alleviate acute hunger and build resilience against growing food insecurity.

Acute hunger is a moral scandal, as well as a political and geo-strategic responsibility.

The international community did not act fast enough in the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis: many lives could have been saved if humanitarian action had come earlier.

Ten years later, the alarms go back on when multiple famines appear on the horizon.

Will the international community act in time?

Carsten Bockemuehl

is Senior Policy Advisor for Conflict and Fragility at World Vision Australia.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-04-26

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