UN World Food Program Head to step down – Photo: EPA-EFE

The head of the United Nation’s World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, steps down today.

Beasley has warned that the global food crisis will only intensify. 350 million people currently face food insecurity, with 50 million of them facing famine. He cites climate change, the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine as accelerants of the current crisis. According to Beasley, the WFP must raise $23 billion to help the world’s starving, though he doubts that even 40 percent of the funding goal will be reached.

In the ideal scenario, Beasley says Russian President Vladimir Putin should end the war to let Ukraine and Russia resume their roles as global food providers. Before the war, Ukraine was the world’s third and fifth largest seller of corn and wheat respectively, while Russia was the world’s biggest exporter of wheat and fertilizers. Due to the invasion, the production and exportation of such products has deflated significantly.

Should the war continue and funding not materialize to combat the global hunger crisis, Beasley predicts increased mass migration, destabilized countries, and an increase in starving children and adults over the next 12 to 18 months. In the long term, he emphasizes the need for China and Gulf nations to increase their funding on par with the US and Germany.