How the Middle East conflict is fuelling hunger as Â鶹ÊÓƵ scales up assistance
As the Middle East conflict escalates, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) is delivering life-saving assistance to tens of thousands of conflict-displaced families in the region ¨C amid fears of a broader humanitarian fallout, as fuel, food and fertilizer prices soar and global supply chains are disrupted.
¡°This is a seminal moment in global supply chain history, with impacts on the economy, on food security and on humanitarian response.¡± says Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis. ¡°If the situation persists, these higher costs and shipping delays will have serious consequences for humanitarian programmes.¡±
Bauer says the supply chain disruptions ¨C especially affecting the vital shipping lane across the Strait of Hormuz ¨C could trigger another potential wave of global inflation and a dearth of fertilizer at a time when farmers are planting their crops.?
Conflict threatens the most fragile countries
At risk are some of the world¡¯s most fragile, food-insecure countries, including war-hit Sudan and drought-stricken Somalia, he says, where millions are already facing severe food insecurity that could intensify if the disruptions continue.
Sudan, Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s largest operation, highlights the sheer scale of the disruption. ¡°Under normal circumstances, we purchase food in India, ship it to Salalah, then to Jeddah, and into Port Sudan,¡± explains Bauer. ¡°Today, because of the crisis, shipping lines are taking the same cargo on a much longer route. This is an additional 9,000km. That¡¯s like going coast to coast across the United States and back again and adds around 25 days to shipping times.¡±
Despite the uncertainties, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is responding to the fast-moving crisis ¨C reaching vulnerable communities with food assistance, and mobilizing one of our most complex emergency responses in years to keep humanitarian supply chains moving.
¡°Our partners, and the people we support, rely on us and trust us,¡± says Â鶹ÊÓƵ Supply Chain Officer Ayman Soweilam.
¡°We¡¯ve focused heavily in recent years on digital planning, stock management, route planning and tracking,¡± he adds, ¡°all innovations that help us be more efficient and move and deliver food safely and on time ¨C which is obviously essential during emergencies on this scale.¡±
¡°This is a seminal moment...with impacts on the economy, on food security and on humanitarian response¡± ¨C Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis.
In Lebanon, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is delivering hot food, fresh bread and ready-to-eat meals to tens of thousands of uprooted families within hours of the first airstrikes.
We have collaborated with the Government to ensure vulnerable people receive cash transfers for their immediate needs ¨C helping also to reduce pressure on overcrowded shelters.
¡°Being prepared for crisis is part of Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s bread and butter,¡± says Â鶹ÊÓƵ Lebanon Country Director Anne Valand. ¡°We were quickly able to activate both the food and cash response.¡±
How the impact is being felt by people
Our support is reaching people like Hanadi, from southern Lebanon, who fled her home with her daughter and found shelter at a school in Beirut.
¡°I brought nothing with me,¡± says Hanadi, clad in a dark headscarf, a worried look on her face. ¡°When the bombing happens, you can¡¯t think ¨C you just evacuate as you are.¡±
Some seeking refuge in schools and other makeshift shelters are no strangers to unrest and displacement.
¡°We¡¯re not living in stability at all,¡± says another woman, Mariam, describing being uprooted from the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila two years ago.
¡°I miss everything,¡± she adds of her old home.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ ready to respond to additional needs
In Syria, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is delivering food assistance to the newly displaced from neighbouring Lebanon.
In Iran, Â鶹ÊÓƵ continues supporting Afghan refugees ¨C and we stand ready to respond to additional needs arising from the current crisis.
But as the conflict continues, so do the risks of deepening hunger. That includes in Gaza, where Â鶹ÊÓƵ needs sustained and unimpeded access to deliver food assistance, and Afghanistan, where operations could also be affected by border closures.
Continued support will be essential to ensure food reaches the families who need it most at this critical moment.