Afghan children play in the mud at an unofficial camp for internally displaced people in Herat, Afghanistan, May 2021. Photo: Charlie Faulkner

Devastated by worst drought in decades and economic turmoil, many in Afghanistan near starvation – “It is the speed, scale and source of the crisis that is so extreme”

By Holly Rosenkrantz 3 April 2022 (USA TODAY) – Afghanistan has faced grave hunger crises before. Two decades ago, people in the country were so hungry they resorted to eating wild grass. But the situation in the country now is unprecedented. Exacerbated by an unusually cold winter and the worst drought in decades, the economic […]

A woman collects water from a puddle in the dried Manambovo river bed in Tsihombe, Madagascar, 2 May 2021. Photo: Viviane Rakotoarivony / UN / REUTERS

UN says 400,000 are approaching starvation in Madagascar amid back-to-back droughts – “This is not because of war or conflict, this is because of climate change”

UNITED NATIONS, 26 June 2021 (AP) – The U.N. World Food Program says southern Madagascar is in the throes of back-to-back droughts that are pushing 400,000 people toward starvation, and have already caused deaths from severe hunger. Lola Castro, WFP’s regional director in southern Africa, told a news conference Friday that she witnessed “a very dramatic […]

Aerial view of mass graves in Manaus, Brazil, 22 April 2020. Photo: Sandro Pereira / Fotoarena / Folhapress

U.N. warns 2021 shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe – “The worst humanitarian crisis year since the beginning of the United Nations 75 years ago”

By Michelle Nichols 4 December 2020 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Next year is shaping up to be a humanitarian catastrophe and rich countries must not trample poor countries in a “stampede for vaccines” to combat the coronavirus pandemic, top U.N. officials told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Friday. World Food Programme (WFP) chief David […]

Number of global undernourished, 2010-2020 and projected to 2030 under three Covid scenarios. Graphic: UNFAO

UN report sends “sobering message” of deeply entrenched hunger globally – Number of undernourished people in the world continued to increase in 2019

13 July 2020 (UN News) – In much of the world, “hunger remains deeply entrenched and is rising”, the UN chief said on Monday, launching this year’s major UN food security update, highlighting that over the past five years, tens of millions of people have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished. As countries “continue […]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warns of a global food crisis caused by Covid-19 during a speech on 9 June 2020. Photo: UN News

UN warns of global food crisis – “It is increasingly clear that there is an impending global food emergency that could have long term impacts on hundreds of millions of children and adults”

9 June 2020 (UN News) – Although the COVID-19 pandemic could push nearly 50 million more people into extreme poverty, this and other dire impacts of the crisis can be avoided if countries act immediately to shore up global food security, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday. For his latest policy brief on the pandemic, […]

Global variability in nature’s contributions to people, for water quality regulation, coastal risk reduction, and crop pollination. Graphic: Chaplin-Kramer, et al., 2019 / Science

Billions face food, water shortages over next 30 years as nature fails – Study paints “a deeply worrying picture of the societal burdens of losing nature”

By Stephen Leahy 10 October 2019 (National Geographic) – As many as five billion people, particularly in Africa and South Asia, are likely to face shortages of food and clean water in the coming decades as nature declines. Hundreds of millions more could be vulnerable to increased risks of severe coastal storms, according to the first-ever model […]

Workers carry the last bucketful of water from a small pond in the dried-out Puzhal reservoir on the outskirts of the Indian city of Chennai. Photo: Arun Sankar/ AFP / Getty Images

UN expert: World faces “climate apartheid” risk, 120 more million in poverty – “Even if current targets are met, tens of millions will be impoverished, leading to widespread displacement and hunger”

25 June 2019 (UN News) – Climate change “threatens to undo the last 50 years” of development, global health and poverty reduction, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday, citing the risk of a new era of “climate apartheid” where the rich buy their way out of rising heat and hunger. “Even if current targets […]

The climate change paper so depressing it’s sending people to therapy

By Zing Tsjeng 27 February 2019 (Vice) – What if I told you there was a paper on climate change that was so uniquely catastrophic, so perspective-altering, and so absolutely depressing that it’s sent people to support groups and encouraged them to quit their jobs and move to the countryside? Good news: there is. It’s […]

Yemen on brink of “world’s worst famine in 100 years” if war continues

By Hannah Summers 15 October 2018 (The Guardian) – Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned. If war continues, famine could engulf the country in the next three months, with 12 to 13 million civilians at risk of starvation, […]

From drought to floods in Somalia – Displacement and hunger worsen, reports UN Children’s Fund

8 June 2018 (UN News) – After four consecutive poor rainy seasons that brought Somalia to the brink of famine, the country is now seeing near-record rainfall, and with it, flooding that has already displaced hundreds of thousands of people, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.According to the agency, about 230,000 people, over […]

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