The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) recently launched a report titled “Hunger Hotspots FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity: November 2024 to May 2025 outlook”. In details, the report pointed out that the acute food insecurity in Lebanon is tipped to worsen amid the military operations that destroyed infrastructure and caused massive internal displacement. The report commented that 830,000 individuals have been displaced due to the conflict in South of Lebanon as of October 2024, with more recent estimates by national authorities putting the number at over 1 million. In addition, and while inflation has been on a downward trajectory recently, the cost of the “survival minimum expenditure basket” in July 2024 was 15 percent higher in US dollar terms on an annual basis, while the price of the bread loaf increased by 20% by September as the government lifted the subsidy on wheat. The report also anticipated the ongoing conflict to impact the tourism sector (a key source of foreign earnings) and the agricultural sector (80% of southern Lebanon’s GDP). Accordingly, the FAO and the WFP indicated that nearly 1.3 million people in Lebanon (23% of the population) are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity. The report finally recommended a series of actions to tackle the situation of which we mention:

-       Expanding the distribution of food rations and hot meals for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

-       Expanding cash and in-kind support for communities hosting IDPs

-       Scaling up cash assistance programs for Syrian refugees and providing unconditional cash assistance for conflict-affected farmers