Countries may face hunger, mass migration and political instability.
Cessation of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea may provoke a global food catastrophe, which in turn will lead to hunger, mass migration and political instability in the world. This was warned by the executive director of the UN World Food Program David Beasley, writes The New York Times.
The publication explained that storage facilities in Ukraine are overflowing with grain, which in a normal year helps to feed 400 million people worldwide. However, Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has disrupted the supply chain: ports cannot function properly due to the proximity of hostilities.
He paid a four-day visit to Ukraine to study ways to deliver food to about a million Ukrainians in Russian-occupied regions, as well as to study the wider threat to world food markets.
He said key supplies were access to the ports of Odessa, the Black Sea, South and Nikolaev, which may be closed due to the expected offensive of the Russian army.
The Executive Director of the UN World Food Program addressed the Kremlin by telephone and in writing, expressing his concerns, but the parties “did not reach any process.”
“The international community must come in here and make very serious decisions about protecting ports for humanitarian purposes and opening ports to the whole world. Because the whole world will pay the price if we don't unblock the ports,” Beasley said.He also noted that due to the combined effects of wars, droughts and the Covid-19 pandemic, about 45 million people in 38 countries could face hunger. And rising food, fuel and delivery prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine will increase this figure and limit the UN's ability to help people.
According to Beasley, the operational costs of the UN food program have increased by $ 71 million a month . He explained: “This means that we will feed four to five million fewer people a year just because of the increase in costs.”
However, he added that the financial problem is short-term. The executive director of the UN World Food Program has called on rich countries and world billionaires to help fill the $ 8 billion funding shortfall.
A more alarming threat is the long-term challenge to global food markets, Beasley said. He noted that Ukrainian farmers could still reap the harvest, which would help feed the world's hungry if the war ended now. But this will not be possible if Ukrainian ports and waterways in the Black Sea are blocked by the Russian occupiers.
With this in mind, Beasley called on G7 leaders and other governments to start developing unused agricultural land to compensate for the possible disruption of food supplies from Ukraine and Russia. However, he warned that shortages in the global food market and a further sharp rise in food prices would lead to disaster in poor countries. – said the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program.
Earlier, the UN World Food Program called for provide access to the besieged cities of Ukraine .
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