Stefan J. Bos
A key United Nations agency has warned that the world risks widespread famines "of Biblical proportions" due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In projections released Tuesday, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the crisis threatens to double the number of people nearing starvation. The WFP predicted that the number of people facing "acute food insecurity" stood to rise to 265 million by the end of this year, up from 135 million in 2019.
David Beasley, WFP's executive director, appealed for urgent international action to avoid a catastrophe. He told the UN Security Council that the world was moving towards "the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two."
WFP has linked the global food insecurity to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on wages, supply chains, and humanitarian aid. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned last week that the global economy was likely to experience the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The global lender predicted that global growth would contract by 3 percent this year because of the virus.
IMF officials also fear global social unrest, with more than half the world's population forced into a lockdown or other restrictions as part of government efforts to halt the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19. "At the same time as dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are on the brink of a hunger pandemic," stressed Beasley.
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