The Global Network against Food Crises and the Food Security Information Network have recently co-released the 2024 global report on food crises, being the eighth edition of its kind. The report first commented that around 281.6 million people across 59 countries/territories (up from 250 million across 58 countries/territories in 2022) suffered from acute food-insecurity and required urgent food assistance. The 2023 figure is the highest in eight years after five consecutive yearly increases in the world population affected by food insecurity. 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 some 202.6 million (circa 72%) of the 281.6 million individuals suffering from acute food insecurity were classified in IPC/CH phase 3 or above. More particularly, 705,200 individuals divided across 5 countries were categorized under as IPC/CH phase 5, while around 36.4 million people across 39 countries were classified as IPC/CH phase 4 and some 165.5 million individuals across 41 countries were considered as IPC/CH phase 3. The report further divides the drivers of food insecurity into three primary categories namely conflict/insecurity (affecting 134.5 million individuals in 20 countries/territories), economic shocks (affecting 75.2 million individuals in 21 countries/territories) and weather extremes (affecting 71.9 million individuals in 18 countries/territories). According to the report, 44 out of the 59 countries/territories were identified as having major food crises, more than double the figure registered in the first edition of the report in 2017. As for the countries with the highest proportion of people residing in IPC/CH phase 3 or above territory, Palestine came in first with a stake of 100%, followed by South Sudan (63%), Yemen (56%), Syria (55%) and Haiti (49%).

Locally, the report mentioned that between the January - April 2023 period, Lebanon’s food crisis worsened compared to the September – December 2022 period, with 42% of the analyzed population (~2.3 million individuals out of 5.4 million) facing elevated levels of acute food insecurity in 2023 (IPC/CH phase 3 and above) compared to 37% of the analyzed population (~1.98 million individuals out of 3.87 million) in 2022. The report further revealed that the 5.4 million individuals analyzed represented 92% of the total population of the country (5.8 million) in 2023. According to the report, some 35% of the analyzed population in 2023 was classified as IPC/CH phase 3 and 7% as IPC/CH phase 4.

The report noted that the four-year economic and financial crisis the country is facing has affected food security across all population groups despite the significant improvements expected in 2024. More specifically, the analysis projected that the sharp food insecurity situation for the April – September 2024 period would improve, with the percentage of people falling within IPC/CH phase 3 or above expected to drop to 20% of the analyzed population (~1.1 million individuals) and that of the population facing IPC/CH phase 4 envisaged to decrease to 1%. The report attributed food insecurity in Lebanon to two main drivers, namely economic shocks and conflict/insecurity. With regards to economic shocks, the report mentioned that the depreciation of the Lebanese Pound against the US Dollar in early 2023 contributed to elevated inflation levels as the country is highly dependent on imports. In addition, the report stated that annual food inflation reached 352% in March 2023, noting however that this figure dropped to 212% in November 2023 following Central Bank interventions that helped stabilize the LBP/USD exchange rate. The report also revealed that the employment rate among Lebanese residents improved from 44% in September 2022 to 55% in May 2023 before dropping to 53% in October 2023. As for the conflict/insecurity driver, the report stated that the conflict in Palestine (which began in October 2023) has led to an increase in conflicts along the southern border of Lebanon. By mid-January 2024, the report revealed that the strikes on South Lebanon resulted in some 83,000 individuals becoming displaced, 300,000 farm animals killed, and 460 hectares of farmland torched.