FAO and WFP launch joint monthly briefings on food security 

The growing concerns over the increasing high levels of acute food insecurity and the important role the Geneva hub plays in the humanitarian and resilience global agendas, led FAO and WFP in Geneva to join hands and launch a series of monthly briefings addressed to Member States, UN agencies and NGOs on the global food security situation. 

The first joint FAO-WFP Briefing, held on 7 April, focused  on the trends and concerns highlighted in the March edition of the FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots report. These joint briefings are part of the High Level Task Force on Preventing Famine advocacy efforts.

Dominique Burgeon, FAO Director LOG and Annalisa Conte, WFP Director Geneva, provided an overview on the acute food insecurity situation worldwide. They highlighted that while 135 million people were facing high acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and above) across 55 countries and territories in 2019, a significant increase is being anticipated for 2020, with around 174 million people in high acute food insecurity.

“The urgent concern is that over 34 million people are grappling with emergency levels of acute food insecurity (IPC4), one step away from starvation in places like Burkina Faso, South Sudan, northeast Nigeria and Yemen”, said Mr. Burgeon.

While conflict is the main food insecurity driver, other food insecurity drivers include conflict, humanitarian access, weather and climate extremes, transboundary threats, and economic shocks.

“The window of opportunity to reverse the dangerous food insecurity situation is very limited” said Ms. Conte. However, averting starvation and famine trend is still possible. For that to happen, there is an urgent need for scaling up levels of resources, she said. Both, support for strengthening production and assistance must go hand in hand, she concluded.

The joint briefing was well received and appreciated by Members States, UN agencies and NGOs. Participants expressed interest and support to work closely with FAO and WFP, flagging the pivotal role of anticipatory action, preparedness and prevention, the need to closely engage with local actors and target the most vulnerable. The discussion also highlighted the importance of tackling the drivers and root causes of food insecurity to achieve sustainable development.

Read more on the Hotspots Report here.