The Group of Seven countries, popularly known as the G7, has pledged a donation of US $4.5 billion to the World Food Programme (WFP) to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from hunger and malnutrition.
The G7 made this declaration during its economic summit at Schloss Elmau, Germany. The group believes that partnering with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), which has extensive experience in combating hunger globally, will help address the challenge of food shortages.
The WFP will also be partnering with the Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS), the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM), and other initiatives to fight food shortages affecting the most vulnerable people in the world.
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The WFP welcomed the G7 commitment to keep the channels of trade open so that countries most affected by the global food crisis can benefit from easy access to food, fuel, and fertilisers.
The G7 also pledged to support domestic food production in countries most affected by the crisis.
G7 support comes at a critical time when the world is facing a global hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions.
According to the WFP, it stated that “in just two years, the number of severely food insecure people has increased by more than 200 million, from 135 million pre-pandemic to 345 million today.”
“Of these, up to 50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the edge of famine (IPC4). Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan, and Afghanistan are of particular concern. ”
“The crisis, brought on by a combination of climate shocks, the economic impact of COVID, rising food and fuel costs, and conflict, has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.” It linked the current food crisis to events in Ukraine.
The US$4.5 billion from the G7 brings the WFP pledge to fight global hunger to US$14 billion.
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