Global Food Crisis 2021 in brief   

Global Report on Food Crises 2021  : FAO in Emergencies

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.

 15.8Mchildren under 5 years in the 55 food-crisis countries/territories were wasted.

75.2M children under 5 years in the 55 food-crisis countries/territories were stunted.

Forecast 2021
65%of the world’s 46 million internally displaced people in 2020 were in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen,
Afghanistan, Syrian Arab Republic, Sudan, northern Nigeria,
Ethiopia and South Sudan.

38% of the world’s 30.5 million refugees and asylum seekers originate from three food-crisis countries – Syrian
Arab Republic, Afghanistan and South Sudan.

In three countries, more than half of the population analysed was in Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) or equivalent.
SOUTH SUDAN 55%

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 51%

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC 60%

155M people in 55 countries/territories were in Crisis or worse  (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent – an increase of
around 20 million people from 2019.

133 000 people in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen were in Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) and needed urgent action to prevent widespread death and total collapse of
livelihoods.

28M people in 38 of the 43 countries/territories with IPC/CH analyses were in Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) and needed urgent
action to save lives and livelihoods.

 

42M people are projected to be in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 40 countries/territories for which
forecasts are available.

155 000 people will likely face Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) in two of these countries through mid-2021, with 108 000 in South Sudan
and 47 000 in Yemen.

In South Sudan, four payams of Pibor county will continue to face Famine Likely (IPC Phase 5).

In northern Nigeria, although no population/area is projected to be in Catastrophe/Famine (CH Phase 5), some indicators
suggest that a proportion of the population (<10%) may face such conditions.

The primary drivers of acute food insecurity in 2020 were conflict/ insecurity, economic shocks – including those resulting from COVID-19 –
and weather extremes. Drivers often co-exist and reinforce one another.

Children living in food-crisis countries/territories are especially vulnerable to malnutrition.

CONFLICT/INSECURITY
99.1M people in 23 countries/territories

ECONOMIC SHOCKS
40.5M people in 17 countries

WEATHER EXTREMES
15.7M people in 15 countries

Of the 155 million people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent were in 10 countries/territories –
Democratic Republic of the Congo (21.8M), Yemen (13.5M), Afghanistan (13.2M), Syrian Arab Republic (12.4M), Sudan (9.6M),
northern Nigeria (9.2M), Ethiopia (8.6M), South Sudan (6.5M), Zimbabwe (4.3M) and Haiti (4.1M).

 

While conflict will remain the major driver of food crises in 2021, the economic repercussions of COVID-19 will
exacerbate acute food insecurity in fragile economies.

Founded by the European Union, FAO and WFP at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit,
the Global Network Against Food Crises is an alliance of humanitarian and development
actors working together to prevent, prepare for, and respond to food crises and support the
Sustainable Development Goal to End Hunger (SDG 2). It seeks to reduce vulnerabilities
associated with acute hunger; achieve food security and improved nutrition; and promote
sustainable agriculture and food systems, using a ‘3×3 approach.’ This involves working at the
global, regional and national levels to support partnerships within existing structures and
to improve advocacy, decision-making, policy and programming along the following three
dimensions:

Dimension 1 | Understanding food crises
The work within this dimension aims to build greater consensus and promote evidencebased food security and nutrition analyses and reporting in order to strengthen the
collection, quality and coverage of the food security and nutrition data and analysis, and
inform decision-making and action. This will be achieved through the contribution to the
Global Report on Food Crises, a unique ‘global public good’ under the coordination and
leadership of the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), as well as the coordination,
synthesis, and publication of technical analyses, including forward-looking analyses of food
crises.

Dimension 2 | Leveraging strategic investments in food security,
nutrition and agriculture
The work within this dimension aims to advocate for ‘fit for purpose’ financing that draws
on the full range of resource flows (public and private, international and domestic) to better
prepare for, prevent and respond to food crises. It seeks to improve coherence between
humanitarian, development and peace actions (the HDP ‘nexus’) to build resilience to
shocks and promote longer-term self-reliance. Activities include a strong focus on supporting
capacity strengthening of country-level actors and institutions, as well as strengthening
coordination at the regional level to ensure that investments are focused on the right place,
at the right time.

Dimension 3 | Going beyond food
The work within this dimension aims to foster political uptake and coordination across
clusters/sectors to address the underlying multi-dimensional drivers of food crises including
environmental, political, economic, societal and security risk factors.

 

See the full report from World Food Program for details and programs: https://www.wfp.org/publications/global-report-food-crises-2021