Opinion: Gaza, Ukraine wars show importance of global food aid
On October 5th, I spoke to a human rights class at Mount St. Joseph University about the lack of funding to combat global hunger. The class wrote letters to Congress about increasing funding for global food aid, emphasizing saving children from deadly malnutrition.
Just two days later the war between Israel and Hamas erupted and this is leading to another hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip of Palestine.
The crisis in Gaza is another tragic example of the need for increasing global food aid funding. Another is the war in Ukraine which has made global hunger much worse. Russia’s invasion has damaged and blocked access to Ukraine’s abundant wheat supply. The UN World Food Program relies on Ukraine’s wheat for its relief operations, but the war has made it harder to obtain for other nations in need.
There are so many hunger emergencies being caused by conflict and climate change across the globe. But the UN World Food Program (WFP) has faced such low funding that it has been forced to reduce aid programs in some nations. Donations from governments and the public have not kept pace with the growing hunger emergencies. Some members of Congress have even proposed reducing global food aid.
“With the number of people around the world facing starvation at record levels, we need to be scaling up life-saving assistance – not cutting it,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “If we don’t receive the support we need to avert further catastrophe, the world will undoubtedly see more conflict, more unrest, and more hunger."
We are in the biggest hunger crisis since the post-World War II era. And that means we have to scale up global food aid, not reduce it.
David Cronin of Catholic Relief Services told me, “At a time when food insecurity is on the rise around the world, the conversation should not be about where we cut, but rather where can we do more.”
Where there is war, you’ll find hunger. The war between Israel and Hamas again reveals the enemy of hunger. Hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza are being displaced by the fighting. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank were already living in hunger and poverty before the war began. All year the WFP has been short on funds for its Palestine operations and this led to cuts in food rations for Gaza.
Palestinians are being pushed over the edge because of the war and food supplies are running out. The food distribution network in Gaza is breaking down because of the conflict. If the war continues, the humanitarian crisis will worsen by the hour.
The WFP and other relief agencies need our support with increased funding as they are facing shortages for the Gaza relief mission and others. There are many nations suffering from conflict and climate change right now.
In addition to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine there are wars in Yemen, Sudan, D.R. Congo, the Sahel, as well as severe drought in the Horn of Africa. In Afghanistan earthquakes have caused a humanitarian disaster in a country already suffering from severe hunger. The WFP and partner agencies need more funding for all these crisis areas.
You can write to your representatives in Congress about increasing funding to fight world hunger. There needs to be more funding for the Food for Peace program and the McGovern-Dole global school lunch initiative. Each of us can be a powerful voice in calling for increasing global food aid at a time when suffering nations need it most.Lambers is an author who partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: Gaza, Ukraine wars show importance of global food aid
