SPECIAL FEATURE
end hunger and achieve food security without also ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation systems, and the energy to power them. These interlinked areas are often referred to as the Water-Energy- Food Nexus, where any progress (or regress) in one area will have an effect on the other. With seven years remaining to achieve SDG 2, the world is moving in the wrong direction and the goal is becoming increasingly out of reach. Projections from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) state that nearly 670 million people will still be facing hunger in 2030 – that’s 8 percent of the world population, which is the same as in 2015 when the 2030 Agenda was launched. Progress towards SDG 6 is not much better. According to the UN Sustainable Development Goal Report 2022, at the current rates, 1.6 billion people will lack safely managed drinking water, 2.8 billion will be without safely managed sanitation and 1.9 billion won’t have basic hand hygiene facilities. Despite hopes that the world would emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and food security would begin to improve, world hunger rose further in 2021. Conflict, the climate crisis and the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the war in Ukraine and the subsequently soaring fertilizer prices, are combining to create a food crisis of unparalleled proportions. In 2021, around 2.3 billion people were moderately or severely insecure, with 11.7 percent of the global population facing food insecurity at severe levels. “We are facing an unprecedented global food crisis and all signs suggest we have not yet seen the worst,” stressed World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley in October 2022. Hunger hotspots FAO and WFP warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further
THE OPEC FUND FOOD SECURITY ACTION PLAN Addressing global food insecurity and protecting the most vulnerable and affected populations has always been a priority for the OPEC Fund. Since its establishment in 1976, the Fund has committed US$2.6 billion to agriculture projects, representing more than 10 percent of its total operations. It has specifically targeted investments in rural infrastructure, development of production and storage facilities, trade in agricultural goods, as well as training, capacity and institution building. In June 2022, the OPEC Fund announced its US$1 billion Food Security Action Plan. Channeling
public and private sector loans, as well as grants, the facility is helping developing countries that were hit by the fallout from the war in the Ukraine, which pushed up food and fertilizer prices worldwide. The three- year plan is providing immediate assistance to cover the import costs of basic commodities such as seeds, grains and fertilizers, while supporting medium- and long-term security of food supply in partner countries. It is by building up the resilience of agriculture sectors and strengthening regional food value chains – all to future-proof against global shocks.
in 19 countries or situations – called hunger hotspots – during the outlook period from October 2022 to January 2023. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen remain at the
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