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Crisis in Syria

Since March 2011, violence in Syria has claimed over 90 000 lives and injured countless civilians.

Around a quarter of the population has fled their homes, including 4.25 million people displaced internally and over 1.7 million refugees in neighbouring countries. The number of people requiring humanitarian assistance in Syria has reached 6.8 million, up from 1.5 million in mid 2012. Each day, thousands continue to cross into Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where needs far exceed the resources of host governments and communities.

The Revised 2013 Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP) and Revised Regional Response Plan take stock of the rise in affected populations and their needs, with total funding requirements of approximately USD 1.4 billion in Syria and USD 3.0 billion in neighbouring countries.

A top priority is to urgently protect and restore food production and livelihoods. Four million people in Syria were estimated to be food insecure at the end of 2012. Affected populations suffer severely reduced food production and access, soaring food prices, cuts in government subsidies, livelihood loss and, ultimately, depletion of their resource base and purchasing power. Agriculture has declined dramatically with the deepening of violence, reduced access to basic farming inputs and labour, soaring production costs and the destruction of rural infrastructure.

Without urgent action, the number of food insecure people will increase further in 2013 and conditions will worsen for those already affected. Rising hunger and unemployment would prolong dependence on external aid – particularly food assistance – and contribute to additional displacement and labour migration.

Food security in the region is increasingly at risk: the crisis has severely disrupted the regional food chain; food demand and competition over employment continues to rise in host countries; and the collapse of Syria’s veterinary services, combined with uncontrolled livestock movement, is increasing transboundary animal and human health threats.

FAO's role in the Revised 2013 Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan