How climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, with dangerous consequences for import-reliant Middle East

Special How climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, with dangerous consequences for import-reliant Middle East
This picture taken on April 6, 2023 shows a view of a failed wheat field during a drought in Medjez el-Bab in northern Tunisia. (AFP)
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Updated 27 July 2024
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How climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, with dangerous consequences for import-reliant Middle East

How climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, with dangerous consequences for import-reliant Middle East
  • UN report show nations are falling well short of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating hunger by 2030
  • FAO expert warns that climate shocks could lead to more conflict in the region over limited access to water and resources

RIYADH: Global food insecurity is far worse than previously thought. That is the conclusion of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 report published this week by a coalition of UN entities, which found that efforts to tackle undernourishment had suffered serious setbacks.

As countries across the world fall significantly short of achieving the second UN Sustainable Development Goal of “zero hunger” by 2030, the report notes that climate change is increasingly recognized as a pivotal factor exacerbating hunger and food insecurity.

As a major food importer, the Middle East and North Africa region is considered especially vulnerable to climate-induced crop failures in source nations and the resulting imposition of protectionist tariffs and fluctuations in commodity prices.

“Climate change is a driver of food insecurity for the Middle East, where both the global shock and the local shock matter,” David Laborde, director of the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, told Arab News.

“Now, especially for the Middle East, I think that the global angle is important because the Middle East is importing a lot of food. Even if you don’t have a (climate) shock at home, if you don’t have a drought or flood at home — if it’s happened in Pakistan, if it’s happened in India, if it’s happened in Canada — the Middle East will feel it.”

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The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report has been compiled annually since 1999 by FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UN Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization to monitor global progress toward ending hunger. 

During a recent event at the UN headquarters in New York, the report’s authors emphasized the urgent need for creative and fair solutions to address the financial shortfall for helping those nations experiencing severe hunger and malnutrition made worse by climate change. 

In addition to climate change, the report found that factors like conflict and economic downturns are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, impacting the affordability of a healthy diet, unhealthy food environments, and inequality.




In this photo taken on July 2, 2022, Iraqi farmer Bapir Kalkani inspects his wheat farm in the Rania district near the Dukan reservoir, northwest of Iraq's northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah, which has been experiencing bouts of drought due to a mix of factors including lower rainfall and diversion of inflowing rivers from Iran. (AFP)

Indeed, food insecurity and malnutrition are intensifying due to persistent food price inflation, which has undermined economic progress globally. 

“There is also an indirect effect that we should not neglect — how climate shock interacts with conflict,” said Laborde.

In North Africa, for example, negative climate shocks can lead to more conflict, “either because people start to compete for natural resources, access to water, or just because you may also have some people in your area that have nothing else to do,” he said.

“There are no jobs, they cannot work on their farm, and so they can join insurgencies or other elements.”

DID YOUKNOW?

Up to 757 million people endured hunger in 2023 — the equivalent of one in 11 worldwide and one in five in Africa.

Global prevalence of food insecurity has remained unchanged for three consecutive years, despite progress in Latin America.

There has been some improvement in the global prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five.

In late 2021, G20 countries pledged to take $100 billion worth of unused Special Drawing Rights, held in the central banks of high-income countries and allocate them to middle- and low-income countries.

Since then, however, this pledged amount has fallen $13 billion short, with those countries with the worst economic conditions receiving less than 1 percent of this support. 




Protesters set out empty plates to protest hunger aimed at G20 finance ministers gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 25, 2024. (AP/Pool)

Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that has exceeded its 20 percent pledge, alongside Australia, Canada, China, France, and Japan, while others have failed to reach 10 percent or have ceased engagement altogether.

“Saudi Arabia is a very large state in the Middle East, so what they do is important, but also they have a financial capacity that many other countries don’t,” said Laborde.

“It can be through their SDRs. It can also be through their sovereign fund because where you invest matters and how you invest matters to make the world more sustainable. So, I will say yes, prioritizing investment in low- and middle-income countries on food and security and nutrition-related programs can be important.




Saudi Arabia does produce wheat but on a limited scale. (SPA/File photo)

Although the prevalence of undernourishment in Saudi Arabia has fallen in recent years, the report shows that the rate of stunting in children has actually increased by 1.4 percent in the past 10 years.

There has also been an increase in the rates of overweight children, obesity, and anemia in women as the population continues to grow. In this sense, it is not so much a lack of food but a dearth of healthy eating habits.

“Saudi Arabia is a good example where I would say traditional hunger and the lack of food … become less and less a problem, but other forms of malnutrition become actually what is important,” said Laborde. 

In 2023, some 2.33 billion people worldwide faced moderate or severe food insecurity, and one in 11 people faced hunger, made worse by various factors such as economic decline and climate change.

The affordability of healthy diets is also a critical issue, particularly in low-income countries where more than 71 percent of the population cannot afford adequate nutrition.

In countries like Saudi Arabia where overeating is a rising issue, Laborde suggests that proper investment in nutrition and health education as well as policy adaptation may be the way to go. 

While the Kingdom continues to extend support to countries in crisis, including Palestine, Sudan, and Yemen, through its humanitarian arm KSrelief, these states continue to grapple with dire conditions. Gaza in particular has suffered as a result of the war with Israel.




A shipment of food aid from Saudi Arabia is loaded on board a cargo vessel at the Jeddah Islamic Port to be delivered to Port Said in Egypt for Palestinians in Gaza. (KSrelief photo)

“Even before the beginning of the conflict, especially at the end of last year, the situation in Palestine was complicated, both in terms of agricultural system (and) density of population. There was already a problem of malnutrition,” said Laborde.

“Now, something that is true everywhere, in Sudan, in Yemen, in Palestine, when you start to add conflict and military operations, the population suffers a lot because you can actually destroy production. You destroy access to water. But people also cannot go to the grocery shop when the truck or the ship bringing food is disrupted.”

While Palestine and Sudan are the extreme cases, there are still approximately 733 million people worldwide facing hunger, marking a continuation of the high levels observed over the past three years. 

“On the ground, we work with the World Food Programme (and) with other organizations, aimed at bringing food to the people in need in Palestine,” Laborde said of FAO’s work. “Before the conflict and after, we will also be working on rebuilding things that need to be rebuilt. But without peace, there are limited things we can do.”

FAO helps food-insecure nations by bringing better seeds, animals, technologies, and irrigation solutions to develop production systems, while also working to protect livestock from pests and disease by providing veterinary services and creating incentives for countries to adopt better policies.

The report’s projections for 2030 suggest that around 582 million people will continue to suffer from chronic undernourishment, half of them in Africa. This mirrors levels observed in 2015 when the SDGs were adopted, indicating a plateau in progress.




Graphic showing progress on the United Nation's 17 sustainable development goals since the baseline of 2015. (AFP)

The report emphasizes the need to create better systems of financial distribution as per this year’s theme: “Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition.”

“In 2022, there were a lot of headlines about global hunger, but today, this has more or less disappeared when the numbers and the people that are hungry have not disappeared,” said Laborde, referring to the detrimental impact of the war in Ukraine on world food prices.

“We have to say that we are not delivering on the promises that policymakers have made. The world today produces enough food, so it’s much more about how we distribute it, how we give access. It’s a man-made problem, and so it should be a man-made solution.”
 

 


Canada to pull children of diplomats out of Israel, Canadian Press reports

Canada to pull children of diplomats out of Israel, Canadian Press reports
Updated 08 August 2024
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Canada to pull children of diplomats out of Israel, Canadian Press reports

Canada to pull children of diplomats out of Israel, Canadian Press reports
  • Global Affairs Canada said it has approved the temporary relocation of the diplomats’ children and their guardians to a safe third country
  • Canada on Saturday warned citizens to avoid all travel to Israel, citing the ongoing regional conflict and unpredictable security situation

The Canadian government said on Wednesday it has decided to pull the children and guardians of its diplomats out of Israel, amid fears of a widened conflict in the Middle East, the Canadian Press reported.
Israel’s tensions with Iran and Hezbollah have fanned fears of a broader conflict in a region already on edge amid Israel’s assault on Gaza which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, including widespread hunger.
There has been an increased risk of escalation into a broader Middle East war after the killings of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
Global Affairs Canada, in a statement cited in the Canadian Press, said it has approved the temporary relocation of the diplomats’ children and their guardians to a safe third country. It added that diplomats stationed in Ramallah in the West Bank and in Beirut do not have dependents living with them.
Canada on Saturday warned citizens to avoid all travel to Israel, citing the ongoing regional conflict and unpredictable security situation. It also urges its citizens to not travel to Gaza and the West Bank.
The embassies in Tel Aviv and Beirut and the representative office to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank “all remain fully operational and continue to provide essential services to Canadians,” the Canadian government said in the statement cited by the Canadian Press.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry says that since then Israel’s military assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million and leading to genocide accusations that Israel denies.

 


Tunisian president sacks PM amid growing discontent over recurring water and electricity crisis

Tunisian president sacks PM amid growing discontent over recurring water and electricity crisis
Updated 08 August 2024
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Tunisian president sacks PM amid growing discontent over recurring water and electricity crisis

Tunisian president sacks PM amid growing discontent over recurring water and electricity crisis
  • Hachani's dismissal comes exactly a year after he was tapped to replace Najla Bouden

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani and appointed Social Affairs Minister Kamel Maddouri as his replacement, the Tunisian presidency said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Hachani was named as Tunisia’s prime minister in August last year. A few hours before he was dismissed, Hachani said in a video message that the government had made progress on a number of issues despite global challenges, including securing the country’s food and energy needs.

Hachani's dismissal comes exactly a year after Saied appointed him to replace Najla Bouden as prime minister.

The dismissal comes amid popular discontent with the recurring water and electricity outage crisis in many parts of the country. While the government says that Tunisia is suffering from a continuous drought that has led to a quota system in water distribution, Saied sees the water cuts as a conspiracy ahead of presidential election and says that the dams are full.
The agriculture ministry says that the dam level is extremely critical and has reached 25 percent.
Saied announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in October amid widespread criticism from the opposition, human rights groups and candidates for restricting and intimidating competitors to pave the way for him to win a second term.


Fatalities in Israeli attack include head of Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit

Fatalities in Israeli attack include head of Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit
Updated 07 August 2024
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Fatalities in Israeli attack include head of Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit

Fatalities in Israeli attack include head of Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit
  • 2 killed, 7 injured, says Israeli army

BEIRUT: Two people were killed — one a civilian and the other, according to the Israeli army, the head of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit — and seven others injured on Wednesday in renewed Israeli hostilities in several towns in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in the town of Jouaiyya at noon, and a passing car was hit, injuring those inside.

The emergency operations center at the Ministry of Health reported that two people were killed, Hezbollah member Hassan Fares Jeshi and a civilian named Mohammed Hassan Shoumar, while four others were injured.

The Israeli army said: “Hassan Fares is the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank rocket unit.”

Israeli artillery shelling and air raids continued on border towns known for their loyalty to Hezbollah. These attacks hit the towns of Blida, Tayr Harfa, Khiam, Jebbayn, Chihine, Majdelyoun, Naqoura, Zibqin, Chaqra, Baraachit, Halta, Kounine, Mhaibib, and Kfarkela.

The emergency operations center said that “phosphorus artillery shelling targeted the town of Shebaa, causing a citizen to suffer from suffocation, requiring hospitalization.”

Hezbollah responded by targeting “the Raheb site and the Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells, and the Malikiyah site with missile weapons.”

Israeli warplanes breached the sound barrier for the second successive day over Beirut.

The National News Agency in Lebanon reported that Israeli aircraft did the same in two waves over the cities of Sidon and Jezzine, and various parts in the south of the country, with activists on social media sharing footage of planes breaching Lebanese airspace.

Inhabitants of Beirut and dozens of towns in the Mount Lebanon region had experienced severe panic on Tuesday as Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier at low altitude, causing a loud boom.

Border villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors suffered hours of tension later in the day with the Israeli army firing flares, while Hezbollah carried out nine operations against Israeli military sites.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Tuesday that a response to last week’s assassination of the group’s prominent military leader Fuad Shukr was “inevitable.”

The Israelis are also anticipating the response of Hezbollah and Iran to the assassination of Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran just hours after Shukr’s death in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The Israeli army is constantly developing its defensive and offensive capabilities.”

Meanwhile, leaflets were dropped on Wednesday in predominantly Druze regions, especially in the Choueifat area, bearing pictures of the children who were victims of the Majdal Shams attack in the occupied Golan, which killed 12 people. These carried the words: “We will avenge them, Hezbollah.”

Israel has accused Hezbollah of shelling the soccer field in Majdal Shams, but Hezbollah strongly denies responsibility for the attack, while Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has declared his support for the Iran-backed group.


Rights groups condemn Iran’s ‘abhorrent’ execution of protester

Rights groups condemn Iran’s ‘abhorrent’ execution of protester
Updated 07 August 2024
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Rights groups condemn Iran’s ‘abhorrent’ execution of protester

Rights groups condemn Iran’s ‘abhorrent’ execution of protester

PARIS: Iran faced condemnation from human rights groups Wednesday over its execution of a man convicted of killing a Revolutionary Guard in 2022 protests, with activists saying his confession had been obtained by torture.

Gholamreza Rasaei, in his mid-thirties, is the 10th man executed by Iran in connection with the months-long protests that erupted in September 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The Iranian Kurd had been arrested for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.

Rasaei was executed in prison in the western city of Kermanshah on Tuesday after being convicted of killing the Guards colonel, according to the Mizan Online website of the Iranian judiciary.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Iran, which they say executes more people annually than any nation other than China, of using the death penalty against protesters without due legal process in a bid to intimidate their sympathizers.

Rasaei, a member of the Kurdish ethnic minority and follower of the Yarsan faith, was executed in secret with neither his family nor his lawyer given prior notice and his family then forced to bury his body in a remote area far from his home, Amnesty International said.

“Iranian authorities have carried out the abhorrent arbitrary execution in secret of a young man who was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention, including sexual violence, and then sentenced to death after a sham trial,” said Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy.

She said the execution was another instance of Iran using the death penalty as a “tool of political repression to instil fear among the population.”


Over 1,000 UK troops ready to evacuate nearly 16,000 Britons from Lebanon amid fears of war escalation

Over 1,000 UK troops ready to evacuate nearly 16,000 Britons from Lebanon amid fears of war escalation
Updated 07 August 2024
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Over 1,000 UK troops ready to evacuate nearly 16,000 Britons from Lebanon amid fears of war escalation

Over 1,000 UK troops ready to evacuate nearly 16,000 Britons from Lebanon amid fears of war escalation
  • Hundreds of troops have been put on alert in the UK and are ready for deployment to the region if necessary
  • Military personnel were in the process of being deployed to provide operational support to UK embassies in the region

BEIRUT: The UK government has kept more than 1,000 British troops on high alert and ready to evacuate nearly 16,000 Britons currently in Lebanon amid growing fears of an all-out war, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
In response to the UK Foreign Office’s warning that the Middle East situation could deteriorate rapidly, preparations are being made in case British citizens need to be evacuated from Beirut.
The Foreign Office renewed its call for Britons to leave Lebanon on Saturday, while confirming that preparations were underway to help with any necessary evacuation as hundreds of troops had been sent to Cyprus. The UK already has a significant military presence there.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons last week that there were about 16,000 British nationals in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, hundreds of troops have been put on alert in the UK and are ready for deployment to the region if necessary.
According to Saturday’s Foreign Office statement, military personnel were in the process of being deployed to provide operational support to UK embassies in the region, although the number of troops involved was not mentioned.
Meanwhile, Sky News reported on Wednesday that hundreds of soldiers, Royal Marine commandos, sailors and aviators had already been moved forward to bolster a key Royal Air Force base in Cyprus, which would act as a hub in any evacuation mission.
RAF Typhoon fighter jets already stationed there were involved last April in a mission against an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel.
A Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Duncan, and a landing ship, RFA Cardigan Bay, are already in the Eastern Mediterranean. RAF helicopters have also been placed on standby.
Tensions have been growing across the Middle East since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Hostilities between Israel and its neighbors have escalated following the death of Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, in an attack for which Iran blamed Israel.
Haniyeh’s assassination came hours after Israel killed Iran-backed Hezbollah’s senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
Iran and Hezbollah have vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel.