The head of the world's largest food aid agency has issued a stern warning to European leaders: "Pay more now to prevent the possibility of large parts of the world population going hungry or suffering a migration crisis in the future."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sent shock waves through international food markets, exacerbating the already acute problem of global hunger, disrupting supply and inflating prices.
This risks driving the world's poorest regions into political chaos and creating an unprecedented migration crisis, according to David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Programme.
In an interview with Politico, Beasley warned that Europe urgently needs to provide more funding or it will bear the brunt of the impact.
"We're billions short," he said. "Failure to give a few extra billions of dollars this year means that famine, destabilisation and mass migration will come."
Beasley's intervention comes at a time when EU governments are drawing up plans to tackle the food crisis caused by the war.
Russia and Ukraine are among the world's largest producers and exporters of grain. The turmoil caused by the war has had a direct impact on the countries that rely on these supplies in the Middle East and Africa.
Half of Africa's wheat imports come from Ukraine and Russia, which is also a major fertiliser exporter. As for Ukraine, its exports have stopped and its ability to continue producing food this year hangs in the balance.
The critical time will be in the fall, Beasley said, when the full impact of the war's turmoil is likely to be felt.
"Get ready"
"If you think we have hell on Earth right now, just get ready," he warned. "If we neglect North Africa, North Africa will come to Europe. If we neglect the Middle East, the Middle East will come to Europe," he added."
Economic conditions in these parts of the world are now worse than they were before the Arab Spring, he said. And it's not just the populations of Middle Eastern and North African countries that will be hit hard.
The World Food Programme is already feeding millions of people in Sahel countries like Niger and Burkina Faso, where problems will worsen if global food prices remain high.
"I have been warning developed nations for several years that the Sahel will collapse if we are not careful," he stressed."
Beasley is on an emergency fund-raising mission to Brussels, where he held talks with two EU commissioners on Tuesday. If the food crisis gets out of control and the world faces critical supply shortages, the wealthy West will not be spared political turmoil.
"What do you think will happen in Paris, Chicago and Brussels when there is not enough food?" he said, speaking in the lavish space of Belgium's Royal Museum of Fine Arts, where the EU held a major humanitarian conference this week. "It is easy to be indifferent in your glass tower when you are not the one who is hungry."
Source: skai.gr
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