The Global Network against Food Crises and the Food Security Information Network have recently co-released the 2023 global report on food crises, being the seventh edition of said report. The report first commented that more than 250 million people across 58 countries/territories (up from 193 million across 53 countries/territories in 2021) suffered from acute food-insecurity and required urgent food assistance in 2022, which means that this figure has risen for the fourth year in a row to attain its highest level in seven years. For the purpose of clarifying jargon that will be later used in this summary, the IPC/CH serves as a classification that is divided into five levels of food insecurity as follows: minimal/none (IPC/CH phase 1), stressed (IPC/CH phase 2), crisis (IPC/CH phase 3), emergency (IPC/CH phase 4) and catastrophe/famine (IPC/CH phase 5). The report added that more than 40% of the population in IPC/CH phase 3 or above was concentrated in just five countries being the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen. As for the countries with the highest share of people residing in IPC/CH phase 3 or above territory, Syria and Yemen came in first with a share of 55%, followed by Afghanistan (46%), Pakistan (43%) and Myanmar (27%). The report further added that around 35 million people across 39 countries were classified as IPC/CH phase 4. The report also emphasized on the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the global food crises, as the dueling parties used to represent a large chunk of the global trade of commodities such as fuel, fertilizers, wheat, maize and sunflower oil. The brunt of the crisis was mainly shouldered by countries covered by this report, being low-income and net food importing countries. Always on the same front, the report added that although food prices have dropped by end of 2022, they remain well above the levels that were prevailing prior to the crisis. The report also mentioned other factors that have contributed to the global food crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, weather extremes and droughts, all of which are expected to persist in 2023. Locally, the report mentioned that Lebanon has been facing an acute food insecurity crisis since October 2019, driven by a severe economic and financial crisis. The situation has been exacerbated by the political stalemate and lack of governance, as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis has had a devastating impact on Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees living in the country who are struggling to cover their basic needs. In figures, the report mentioned that between September and December 2022, about 1.98 million Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees (1.29 million Lebanese vs. 0.70 million Syrian) faced Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above), including over 300,000 people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). The analysis projected that the acute food insecurity situation would deteriorate for both population groups in January–April 2023, with the figure of people falling within IPC/CH phase 3 or above increasing to 2.26 million people (of which 1.46 million Lebanese and 0.8 million Syrian), corresponding to 42 percent of the analyzed population and the number of people facing IPC/CH phase 4 rising from 306K to 354K. The report commented that the highest prevalence of Lebanese residents facing food insecurity was observed in four districts namely, north-Akkar, Baalbek, el Hermel and el Minieh-Dennie were more than 50% of the analyzed population faced IPC/CH phase 3 or above. The severe and increasing inflation in Lebanon is a result of various factors such as the devaluation of the Pound in the parallel market, the rapid increase in the amount of currency in circulation, and the removal of subsidies on both food and non-food products. This inflation has had devastating effects on both Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees, making it difficult for them to afford basic necessities. In fact, the Lebanese pound has lost almost half of its value in the parallel market between October 2021 and October 2022 and more than 94% since the beginning of the crisis in October 2019. This has had dire consequences given the country’s high reliance on imports for most of its food and non-food needs. The explosion at the Beirut port in August 2020, which resulted in damage to Lebanon's main grain silos, coupled with public sector worker strikes, have further exacerbated the country's ability to import and distribute food. As a result, the food insecurity crisis in Lebanon has reached a critical level, especially for vulnerable populations like Syrian refugees who are already living in precarious conditions and rely heavily on aid. Finally, the report expected the acute food insecurity crisis in Lebanon to continue unless urgent action is taken to address the underlying economic and governance issues and accordingly stated that the international community has a crucial role to play in providing humanitarian assistance and supporting the country's efforts to stabilize its economy and promote good governance.