The World Food Programme (WFP) has predicted that the world would move from COVID-19 pandemic this year to hunger pandemic in 2021.
David Beasly, Head of the WFP, winners of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize said: “Next year is going to be worse than 2020″ as he expressed concerns for Nigeria.
According to him, without billions of dollars in aid to WFP, “we are going to have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.”
He said Yemen, South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria and Burkina Faso have some areas that “have reached a critical hunger situation following years of conflict or other shocks” and any further deterioration in coming months “could lead to a risk of famine.”
Beasley recalled his warning to the U.N. Security Council in April that as the world was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it was also “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within a few months if immediate action wasn’t taken.
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“We were able to avert it in 2020 because the world leaders responded with money, stimulus packages, deferral of debt”, he said.
“COVID-19 is surging again, economies are continuing to deteriorate particularly in low and middle-income countries, and there is another wave of lockdowns and shutdowns. The money that was available in 2020 isn’t going to be available in 2021″, he warned.
Beasley said he has met with leaders, spoken to parliaments, and given speeches to sensitize those in power about “this tragedy that we are facing — crises that really are going to be extraordinary over the next, who knows, 12 to 18 months. I’m telling them you’re not going to have enough money to fund all the projects you historically fund. Those are important things.”
He likened the upcoming crisis to the Titanic saying “right now, we really need to focus on icebergs, and icebergs are famine, starvation, destabilization and migration.”
Beasley said WFP needs $15 billion next year — $5 billion just to avert famine and $10 billion to carry out the agency’s global programs for malnourished children and school lunches which are often the only meal youngsters get.
According to a joint analysis by WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in October, 20 countries “are likely to face potential spikes in high acute food insecurity” in the next three to six months, “and require urgent attention.”
Other countries requiring “urgent attention” are Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.”
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