Friday 16 September 2022

Multiple famines could be coming, UN warns

More famines are set to have an impact all over the world, the Security Council has been told.

Humanitarian Affairs Chief Martin Griffiths explained to the council that Somalia is just the start, with 200,000 people currently at risk of famine – and this projected to rise to 300,000 by November.

He explained that “hunger is used as a tactic of war. Humanitarians will stay and deliver, but the conditions in some contexts are unacceptable.”

Climate change, combined with various supply issues from the pandemic and Ukraine War, have seen South Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia all fall into the danger of largescale famines, Mr Griffiths claims.

Millions are “quite literally on the front lines of climate change,” he stated.

He labelled climate change a threat “to peace and security,” stating that a “longer-term approach and ensure a substantial proportion of funding – as grants, not loans – for climate adaptation and mitigation” is critical.

“Time is not on our side”, he concluded.