ROME , — The drought-stricken nation of Madagascar is a wake up call for the world about what climate change means in the future, said the head of UN’s food aid agency.
David Beasley is the executive director of The World Food Program. He told The Associated Press that the current situation in South India Ocean Country is “the beginning” of what the World Food Program can expect to see as global warming becomes more severe.
Beasley stated that Madagascar was “heartbreaking” after his recent trip there. He said, “It’s just depressing,” as people were forced to sell their household pots and pans in order to purchase food.
According to Beasley, 38 million people were forced to flee their homes last year due to climate change. This makes them vulnerable to hunger. In the worst case scenario, that number could rise to 216 millions people who are displaced by climate change in 2050.
This year, many industrialized countries, but not China, Russia, or India, have set a target to achieve carbon neutrality. That is, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that they can be absorbed, and thus add zero to our atmosphere.
Beasley, an ex-Gov. of South Carolina, assumed the World Food Program helm for 2017 and stated that the number one reason people were on the verge of starvation was due to man-made conflicts, followed closely by climate change.
Since then, however, climate change has become the main driver of displacement and people not knowing where their next meal is coming from. According to Beasley, 38 million people were forced from their homes last year by climate shocks and climate change.
He said, “I think this is the worst case scenario — 216,000,000 people by 2050 who will be migrating to or displaced due to climate change.”
Updated WFP figures Tuesday show that close to 30,000 people in Madagascar are within reach of famine by year’s end. Some 1.1 million suffer from severe hunger. Extremely hot temperatures, drought, and sandstorms are all causing problems on the island.
Crops are dying and there is a shortage of harvests. According to the U.N. food agency, people have started to eat cactus leaves which are usually cattle fodder.
Beasley stated that Madagascar is not an isolated event. “The world must look to Madagascar for the future, and (to) many countries around it.”
He also pointed out that Madagascar (a country with 27 million inhabitants) is responsible for just a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions.
He asked rhetorically, “What did they do for climate change?”
The World Food Program supplies food and nutritional supplements to 700,000 children and pregnant women on the island.
Ethiopia’s famine, however, is caused by conflict.
According to the World Food Program, 5.2 million people in Tigray (Ethiopia’s troubled northern region) are in urgent need of food assistance. Officials from the United Nations have warned that over 400,000 people may die from starvation if aid is not delivered promptly. However, aid is still available to those who are most in need.
Tigray militias claim they are pressing Ethiopia’s government for an end to a month-long blockade of their region, home to around 6 million people. Basic services have been cut off and aid denied.
Beasley claims that the WFP has been “messaging all sides, including to the Ethiopian government and the leadership, this is a crisis”‘ and needs immediate access to food aid. He said that “we are not making any headway.”
“We are unable to get food aid trucks in or fuel in. Beasley said that they are unable to even get the money to the people who need it.
Tigray’s people are now “dead at an unprecedented rate, but we don’t have the access we need,” he stated. It’s a shame.
According to him, the WFP should have 30 trucks per day that are loaded with food and 70 trucks that are full of medical aid and humanitarian assistance. The agency director stated that only 10% of the WFP’s needs are being met in trucks per day.
Beasley stated that for many Tigrayans, it comes down to “either migrate or die.”
Paradoxally, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have granted WFP access to food distribution centres and schools where many teachers are not being paid, Beasley stated. While international donors haven’t been providing sufficient funding, Beasley added.
Beasley stated, “You run into the problem of donors (who), do not want to appear in any way as aiding, abetting and supporting the Taliban.”
Afghanistan has 22.8 million people, which is half the population. Beasley described it as “marching towards starvation” or acute food insecurity.
The impoverished nation is now facing a food crisis due to drought and conflict.
If more donors fail to come through, the dire situation in Afghanistan will only get worse starting January.
Beasley stated that the price tag for feeding them is $230 million per month, with only partial rations. He also said that there are 8.7 million Afghans waiting to be fed.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to U.N. Agency.
