Global Report on Food Crises: Joint Analysis for Better Decisions, September 2021 Update
Global Report on Food Crises 2017
Global Report on Food Crises - 2021
Global Report on Food Crises - 2020 September update
The annual Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) provides a consensus-based overview of the world’s food crises. It focuses on crises where the local capacities to respond are insufficient, prompting a request for the urgent mobilization of the international community, as well as countries/territories where there is ample evidence that the magnitude and severity of the food crisis exceed the local resources and capacities needed to respond effectively.
In 2023, 281.6 million people or 21.5 percent of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 59 food-crisis countries/territories. Although the overall share of the analysed population facing high levels of acute food insecurity was marginally lower than in 2022, it remained higher than pre-COVID-19 levels (see figure 1). The number of people facing these conditions increased by 24 million since 2022. Greater analysis coverage, as well as deteriorating acute food insecurity in some countries/territories outweighing improvements in others, underpin the rising numbers. This fifth consecutive year of growing numbers of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity confirms the enormity of the challenge of achieving the goal of ending hunger by 2030. Food crises escalated alarmingly in conflict hotspots in 2023 – notably in Palestine (Gaza Strip) and the Sudan. The population analysed has risen each year since 2020. Increased coverage between 2022 and 2023 identified 17.5 million additional acutely food-insecure people in need of urgent assistance. In countries with comparable data between 2022 and 2023, acute food insecurity deteriorated in 12 of them where 13.5 million more people needed urgent food and livelihood assistance. Two-thirds of the additional people were in the Sudan. Meanwhile, food security improved in 17 countries resulting in 7.2 million fewer people facing high levels of acute food insecurity. The GRFC has identified 36 protracted food crises (i.e. in all eight editions of the report). Nineteen of these were major food crises that have accounted for up to 80 percent of the total population facing high levels of acute food insecurity in each edition. In these 19 countries, the share of the analysed population experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity increased from 17 percent in 2016 to 25 percent in 2021 and has remained at the same level since.
Share of analysed population facing high levels of acute food insecurity in 59 countries/territories, 2023
The Global Report on Food Crises, an annual report published by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) and the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) brings together data and analysis from various early warning systems to provide a reference for coordinating humanitarian and development responses to ongoing and anticipated crises. The FSIN is a global initiative founded by FAO, WFP and IFPRI. FSIN’s work spans the effort of 16 global and regional partners committed to improving availability and quality of food security and nutrition analysis for better decision-making. It facilitates the GNAFC in obtaining better understanding of the extent and causes of food crises. The GNAFC is an alliance of humanitarian and development actors united by the commitment to tackle the root causes of food crises and promote sustainable solutions through shared analysis and knowledge, strengthened coordination in evidence-based responses and collective efforts across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus.
Global Report on Food Crises 2018
Global Report on Food Crises 2019
Sharp increase in food insecurity because of COVID-19, says global food crises report update
In 2019, as many as 135 million people across 55 countries required urgent food, nutrition, and livelihood assistance, according to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crises. This was the highest global number of acutely food-insecure people on record. The GRFC’s mid-year update, released last week, takes a look at recent data for 26 of those countries (plus Togo) and specifically examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Near-real-time monitoring of food crisis risk factors for improved early warning early action
Real-time monitoring includes production-related information, climate and conflict data, price information, and other factors to identify the likelihood of acute food insecurity and help policy makers enact timely policy responses. It monitors actual developments and can be used to update assumptions, validate or change projections, and adjust programming quickly.
In May, the Food Security Portal hosted a webinar that took stock of recent advances in real-time monitoring tools and approaches. To follow up on this webinar, the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) held a virtual discussion of the next steps in improving, scaling up, and integrating real-time monitoring in existing early warning early action systems and policy responses to food crisis risk. This discussion shared experiences related to the role of real-time monitoring in existing early warning systems, experiences in integrating real-time monitoring into existing monitoring platforms and tools, research in this area, and how to make real-time monitoring actionable by governments and regional institutions.
This discussion was one in a string of policy dialogues organized by the Food Security Portal that seeks to catalyze research and policy efforts to utilize real-time monitoring in food crisis risk assessment and prevention. In partnering with the FSN Forum, the Food Security Portal invited experts and stakeholder worldwide to share their experience with the use of early warning systems, their pros and cons, features and gaps. In addition, how to integrate early warning data into policy work and the challenges faced along the way was discussed.
Questions:
- How should real-time monitoring be designed and utilized to strengthen existing early warning systems and support preventative policy responses to food crisis risk.
- What are examples of successful policy responses at country level that have been guided by existing monitoring tools?
- Local food prices are one way to get a temperature check of local market conditions, but high frequency local market price data is not widely available. Where are the gaps such as this one in real-time monitoring and how can these be addressed both in a research and policy context?
- Advances in early warning technologies and data must be matched by developing capacity within institutions at the country and regional level to transform relevant data into preventative actions. What is needed to initiate and scale up the use of real-time monitoring in early warning early action systems by regional organizations, national governments, and other country level institutions? What are the technical and policy-related challenges associated with the use of such tools?
- Over the years, a series of different early warming early action systems have been developed by various organizations. How could greater collaboration among the various tools and approaches facilitate their effectiveness in driving policy responses?
Find the summary report here.
Global Report on Food Crises
The 2021 edition of The Global Report on Food Crises describes that the magnitude and severity of food crises worsened in 2020 as protracted conflict, the economic fallout of COVID-19 and weather extremes exacerbated pre-existing fragilities. Forecasts point to a grim outlook for 2021, with the threat of Famine persisting in some of the world’s worst food crises.