Riyadh/New York, February 20 – Wars, climate disasters and economic collapse are causing the largest food crisis in modern history, spreading famine that is affecting millions of people around the world, the chief U.N. humanitarian affairs and emergency coordinator said in an appeal to help those in needs.

“The world is facing the largest food crisis in modern history, and famine is knocking on many doors,” Martin Griffiths told a humanitarian forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on behalf of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The forum was held under the theme “The Evolving Humanitarian landscape for 2023 and beyond” and attended by heads of state and government and donors to the U.N. emergency fund known as CERF.

“Our mandate and mantra is ‘We don’t give up.’ But to discharge this mandate, we need your help in practical and tangible ways,” Griffiths said.

Griffths described the current humanitarian landscape as “rough and rugged one” where needs are spiralling across the world and humanitarian crises are piling on top of each other, and “desperate people are looking to us in their hour of need.” He said women’s human rights specially are under “vicious attacks” in many places and injustice has festered for decades.

Griffiths said more than 350 million people around the world currently need humanitarian assistance and close to US$ 54 billion are needed to meet the basic needs of the worst affected among them.

“But experience shows that we can expect to raise barely half of that amount. Each year, our count of people in need, and dollars to raise, takes another jump. The trend is clear, and there are three main reasons for this,” he said.

He said more than 222 million people globally “don’t know when or even if they’ll eat another meal” and 45 million people are already on the brink of starvation with most of them women and children.

 The economic collapse fuelled first by the shock of Covid-19 pandemic, the year-old war in Ukraine and the recent earthquake in Turkeye and Syria are pushing millions of people to the brink, the U.N said. The U.N. has allocated up to $50 million to assist earthquake victims and $250 million from CERF to meet urgent humanitarian needs in score of countries.

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