The World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, recently released their joint “Hunger Hotspots” report which calls for urgent humanitarian action in 18 hotspots that encompass 22 countries. The report covers the outlook period extending from June to September 2023. According to the report, some of the hunger hotspots might encounter a severe deterioration of already alarmingly elevated levels of food insecurity that puts lives and livelihoods at jeopardy. According to the report, the food insecurity conditions could worsen due to several overlapping drivers, namely conflict and organized violence, economic shocks, and weather extremes and climate variability. In addition, the aforementioned drivers could be affected by humanitarian access constraints, malnutrition, and animal and plants pests and disease. The report has provided country-specific recommendations that revolve around two key areas: anticipatory action (short term interventions to be implemented before new humanitarian needs take place) and emergency response (actions to resolve humanitarian needs). It is worth noting that countries are classified according to IPC/CH which divides food insecurity into five levels: 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 has added Lebanon, El Salvador and Nicaragua to the list of hunger hotspot countries since the September 2022 edition. With regards to Lebanon, the report noted that the economic crisis is expected to worsen due to political uncertainty and lingering deterioration of macroeconomic conditions. The report added that the rising prices of essential goods are aggravating the food security and livelihoods situation for Lebanese and refugees. The report revealed that the Lebanese economy has contracted by 21.4% in 2020 and by 7% in 2021, with estimates of a 5.4% contraction in 2022. The report also commented that the Lebanese Pound has lost more than 99% of its value in the parallel market since the onset of the crisis. In the same vein, the report noted that Lebanon imports almost all its food and energy needs, which makes the country particularly vulnerable to global market shocks. The quasi depleted FX reserves have led to additional currency depreciation and inflation rates to rise to circa 190% in February 2023. As per the report, even though more than three years have elapsed since the beginning of the crisis, the continuous political stalemate remains a sizeable barrier to resolving the crisis. In addition, the situation remained the same even after the 2022 general elections took place, with the continued deadlock lowering the likelihood of striking a new deal with the IMF. From another perspective, the report noted that between January and April 2023, some 2.3 million individuals (circa 42% of the analyzed population) including 1.5 million Lebanese and 0.8 million refugees were expected to encounter “Crisis or worse” conditions (IPC Phase 3 and above) including some 354,000 in “Emergency” (IPC Phase 4). These figures are significantly worse than the ones presented during the September-December 2022 period when circa 2 million individuals (around 37% of the population analyzed) were classified as IPC Phase 3 or worse. The report has provided some emergency response recommendations for Lebanon’s food insecurity situation. In details, the WFP and the FAO recommend restoring agricultural livelihoods to increase food production, supporting agricultural cooperatives for better production and productivity, and supporting employment to improve livelihoods of vulnerable population. In the same respect, the report recommends providing cash-based food assistance to vulnerable population, and extending emergency cash and vouchers to increase households’ purchasing power and to improve their ability to endure future shocks. Finally, the report suggests adjusting the value of cash-based transfers to guarantee that households are able to meet their rising food needs given the depreciation of the local currency, the rising prices, and the removal of subsidies.