According to Tuesday’s warning from United Nations humanitarian organizations, 48 million people in West and Central Africa would soon experience severe food insecurity, a 10-year peak brought on by insecurity, climate shocks, COVID-19, and high prices.
Rising temperatures and irregular rainfall have increased the threats that are present in West and Central Africa. One of the poorest regions of the globe is experiencing a shortage of food and fertilizer due to the conflict in Ukraine.
A regional food security analysis conducted by the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP), humanitarian organization OCHA, Food, and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and children’s agency UNICEF predicts that 48 million people will go without access to safe and nourishing food regularly during the lean season of June to August.
The struggle of nations like Mali and Burkina Faso, which are located in the semi-arid Sahel area south of the Sahara Desert and are waging war against an Islamist insurgency that has resulted in thousands of deaths and around 2.5 million displaced people, is a contributing factor in this.
According to Alexandre Lecuziat, principal emergency preparedness and response advisor for the WFP, fighting has shut off food delivery routes in sections of the Sahel, as well as other conflict hotspots near Lake Chad and in the Central African Republic.