Climate Change

Over the past two years, the impacts of ongoing regional conflicts, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian-Ukraine war have drastically weakened the world’s already inadequate, unsustainable food systems. This confluence of factors has induced in supply chain disruptions and high and volatile prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel, and the result has been the third global food crisis in less than two decades.

Women play a vital role in agricultural production in low-income countries, but often lack the information needed to improve their agricultural practices. A recent dissemination event in Uganda highlighted the potential of targeted video-based extension to boost women’s adoption of key climate-smart technologies.

The Horn of Africa is facing a fifth consecutive season of severe drought, with extreme dry conditions expected to extend through May 2023, according to a new alert released by FEWS Net. The situation has significantly increased the likelihood of famine in the region, and global action is needed urgently to address the growing humanitarian crisis.

Food systems around the world have experienced numerous shocks in the past two years, and African food systems are no exception. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, global and local supply chain disruptions, climate change, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have placed enormous pressure on food and nutrition security in the region, threatening the likelihood that Africa will achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

It seems that joint food and energy crises have become the norm: Three have now occurred in just the last 15 years, driven by climate change and other human-made crises such as COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

All three crises dramatically pushed up food and energy prices, as well as those of fertilizers, leading to an increase in the number of undernourished people worldwide (Figure 1). The number of hungry has now been on the rise for almost a decade now, and it is unclear if or when the global community will come together to implement interventions to turn this around.