Preventing Acute Food Crisis: On FAO's Role in a Humanitarian Context
#WorldHumanitarianDay is commemorated on August 19.
What is FAO’s role in humanitarian context to prevent acute hunger and support countries struck by food crises?
FAO aims to respond to crises affecting food production and rural communities. From Day 1, FAO works to protect and restore the livelihoods of affected farmers, fishers, herders and foresters. Meanwhile, FAO’s resilience building efforts not only save livelihoods, but also help communities lay the foundations for long-term recovery.
Today FAO’s programme focuses on four key components to save lives and livelihoods threatened by the pandemic:
Component 1. Rolling out data collection and analysis
Component 2. Ensuring availability of and stabilizing access to food for the most acutely food-insecure populations
Component 3. Ensuring continuity of the critical food supply chain for the most vulnerable populations
Component 4. Ensuring food supply chain actors are not at risk of virus transmission
However, for 2020, FAO requires an additional USD 428 million to help countries address the impacts of COVID-19 in food crises in 34 countries.
FAO Action in Africa and the Middle East
Conflict and climate shocks have had devastating impacts on food security and agriculture. The Syria crisis continues to drive humanitarian needs. In 2019, about 35% of the Syrian population suffered from severe food insecurity. FAO has continued to assist vulnerable farmers by building low tunnels and planting seedlings, vaccinating farm animals.
In 2019, in Southern Africa, drought, consecutive cyclones and flooding have disrupted and destroyed harvests. Furthermore, 2019 ended with the worst desert locust upsurge in more than 70 years across the Greater Horn of Africa spreading to the Arabian Peninsula and reaching as far as Pakistan and India. FAO spearheaded international operations against that transborder pest that threatened livelihoods and food security of millions of people ravaging tens of thousands hectares of cropland and pastures. Russian Federation, among other donors, contributed USD 10 million to FAO locust control operations in East Africa.
Watch a video on FAO’s Humanitarian Response.
Learn more about FAO’s work in Emergences on the website.