UN, partners warn 108 mln people face severe food insecurity worldwide

Some 108 million people worldwide were severely food insecure in 2016, a dramatic increase compared with 80 million in 2015, according to a UN-backed report on food crises released Friday.

"The cost in human and resource terms only increases if we let situations deteriorate," said UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva, in a news release on the Global Report on Food Crises 2017.

"We can prevent people dying from famine but if we do not scale up our efforts to save, protect and invest in rural livelihoods, tens of millions will remain severely food insecure," he added.

Civil conflict is the driving factor in nine of the 10 worst humanitarian crises, underscoring the strong linkage between peace and food security, said the report.

"Hunger exacerbates crisis, creating ever greater instability and insecurity. What is a food security challenge today becomes tomorrow's security challenge," said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin. "It is a race against time - the world must act now to save the lives and livelihoods of the millions at the brink of starvation."

This year, the demand for humanitarian and resilience building assistance will further escalate as four countries are at risk of famine: South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and northeast Nigeria.

Other countries that require massive levels of assistance because of widespread food insecurity are Iraq, Syria (including refugees in neighboring countries) Malawi and Zimbabwe. In the absence of immediate and substantive action, the food security situation in these countries will continue to worsen in coming months, according to the report. Endit