UN Chief: Armed Conflict a Key Factor in World Food Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that armed conflict is a key factor driving food insecurity around the world.

In his address to the Security Council, Guterres noted that more than 117 million people faced acute hunger primarily because of war and insecurity in 2022.

He also emphasized that damage to critical infrastructure hampers food production, blocks distribution, and deprives people of safe water, citing that Syria now has 40 percent less drinking water than at the start of the conflict.

"Fighters destroy crops and steal livestock, markets cannot function, and prices rocket," the UN Chief said.

Similarly, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has contributed to the rise in the price of food, energy, and fertilizer globally, with terrible effects on the world’s poorest.