New York: Europe and the Arabs
A new UN report warned that hunger in the Arab region is worsening while access to adequate food remains out of reach for millions of people. It reported that 66.1 million people, equivalent to about 14 percent of the region's population, faced hunger in 2023. According to the UN daily news bulletin, the report, entitled "Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa 2024", indicated that about 186.5 million people - or 39.4 percent of the population - faced food insecurity, of whom 72.7 million people suffered from severe food insecurity.
The report showed that conflict is the main driver of food insecurity and malnutrition in the region, while economic challenges, high income disparities, and severe climate impacts also play important roles in this context.
He also stressed that rising food prices have exacerbated the crisis, adding that food security and nutrition indicators are expected to deteriorate dramatically due to ongoing conflicts and persistent drought in many parts of the region.
Healthy diets have also posed a serious problem for the Arab region, according to the report, with 151.3 million people unable to afford them in 2022. At the same time, the region continues to suffer from increasing trends in childhood and adult obesity, wasting, and nutrient deficiencies - such as anemia among women.
Agri-food transformation through innovative financing
The report stressed the need for a comprehensive strategy to achieve the second goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is to end hunger. It stressed the need to transform and strengthen agri-food systems, address inequalities, and ensure that healthy diets are affordable and accessible to all.
It urgently called for increased and cost-effective financing, and recommended innovative financing mechanisms - such as capital guarantees, results-based financing, climate finance, debt swaps, advanced market commitments, and innovation incubators - to bridge the financing gap.
The report highlighted the need to adapt these approaches to each country’s financial capabilities and align stakeholders’ objectives to protect agrifood systems. In addition, it called for enabling regulatory environments and policy improvements to attract capital to these innovative instruments.
“It is now critical to make better use of existing public resources and secure additional financing to drive positive impacts across agrifood, social, economic and environmental systems,” said Abdelhakim El Waer, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa. “Innovative financial instruments are key to transforming agrifood systems in Arab countries and bridging the financing gap.”
Cairo Declaration
The report is the result of a joint effort by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
Based on the report’s findings, the UN agencies issued the “Cairo Declaration on Financing the Transformation of Agri-Food Systems in the Near East and North Africa Region,” in which they affirmed their commitment to deepen their collaboration with international and regional development banks, the private sector, and national governments to develop, expand, and deploy additional financial resources to support the transformation of agri-food systems for food security and nutrition. The UN agencies stressed that the report’s findings will lead to new momentum for transforming agri-food systems in the Arab region, creating more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable systems for people and planet.