WFP warns rising food and fuel prices risk pushing global hunger higher by WFP, OCHA, agencies   Mar. 2026   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that the total number of people around the world facing acute levels of hunger could reach record numbers in 2026 if the conflict in the Middle East continues to destabilize the world’s economy.   New analysis by WFP estimates that almost 45 million more people could fall into acute food insecurity or worse (known as IPC3+) if the conflict does not end by the middle of the year, and if oil prices remain above USD 100 a barrel. These would add to the 318 million people around the world who are already food insecure.   When the Ukraine war began in 2022, triggering a cost of living crisis, global hunger reached record levels with 349 million people impacted. WFP’s latest projections indicate we are at risk of facing a similar situation in the months ahead if the Middle East conflict continues. During the 2022 period, food prices were fast to spike but slow to come down. This meant that vulnerable families already struggling with hunger were priced out of staple food items almost overnight, and for extended periods of time.   While in 2026 the conflict involves a global energy hub and not a breadbasket region, the potential impact is similar because energy and food markets are tightly correlated.   In many parts of the world, vulnerable families who today are currently managing to put some food on the table may soon find they are only able to afford little or no food.   “If this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest," said WFP Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Carl Skau. "Without an adequately funded humanitarian response, it could spell catastrophe for millions already on the edge.”   The virtual shipping standstill in the Strait of Hormuz and mounting risks to Red Sea maritime traffic are already increasing energy, fuel, and fertilizer costs, deepening hunger beyond the Middle East. The conflict reverberates far and wide — and the world’s most vulnerable people are the ones who will be most exposed to its ripple effects.   According to WFP’s analysis, countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are the most vulnerable due to a reliance on food and fuel imports. Projections indicate an increase of 21 percent in food-insecure people for West and Central Africa and 17 percent for East and Southern Africa. An increase of 24 percent is forecast for Asia.   Sudan, for example, imports around 80 percent of its wheat – a higher price for this staple will push more families into hunger. In Somalia, a country in the midst of severe drought, the price of some essential commodities has risen by at least 20 percent since the conflict began, according to local reports. Both are countries with high levels of food insecurity that have also experienced famine in recent years   This crisis comes amid severe funding shortfalls for WFP which has forced significant prioritization of programmes across all continents, ultimately meaning that people in need of assistance are being left behind. Further increases in food insecurity that are not matched by increased resources could spell catastrophe for some of the world’s most vulnerable countries that are already at risk of famine.   http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-projects-food-insecurity-could-reach-record-levels-result-middle-east-escalation http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167147   23 Mar. 2026   Millions of people around the world at risk, after three weeks of the war in the Middle East, by Jorge Moreira da Silva, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNOPS Executive Director.   Severe disruptions in supply chains and shipping routes impact availability and prices of basic goods, increasing deprivation and vulnerability.   The escalation of conflict in the Middle East continues to have a devastating toll on civilians and livelihoods with global ripple effects.   Nearly a month into this devastating war, the impact is far reaching, across borders of conflict-affected countries, shaking the world economy amid exponential price hikes in oil, fuel and gas.   Disruptions to and closures of airspace, transportation, shipping routes and key humanitarian crossings across the Middle East are impacting humanitarian operations and commercial supply chains, including availability and prices of basic goods and pharmaceuticals.   The Strait of Hormuz carries around one quarter of global seaborne oil trade, along with large volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers. Attacks on commercial vessels, stranded ships and seafarers threaten the delivery of basic supplies, risk higher food prices, and further strain fragile health systems. In Gaza, access restrictions are limiting the entry of life-saving supplies and hindering humanitarian operations.   Developing countries in Asia and the African continent are likely to bear the heaviest brunt. Disruptions in the Hormuz Strait compromise the delivery of energy supplies. Fertilizer markets are impacted, threatening food security in countries where famine or food insecurity are highest including Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.   During the course of the year, the number of people living in hunger around the world is likely to increase by tens of millions. A widening war in the Gulf could also threaten remittance flows, primarily to South Asia.   Our world is the most violent it has been since the Second World War. The number of people uprooted and forced to flee their homes is increasing by the hour. One million people are now displaced in Lebanon, and another 3.2 million people in Iran. People around the region continue to search for safety. In most countries, no place is safe as schools, medical facilities and people’s homes are coming under constant attack.   Vulnerable people in the Middle East and beyond have suffered enough. Following decades of turmoil, repeated wars, economic stagnation, sanctions and socio-economic crises, people in the region deserve and need peace, stability and sustainable development.   There is no military solution. The only way to end this mayhem and people’s suffering is through diplomatic and peaceful solutions.   * The Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol warns the energy crunch prompted by the US-Israel war on Iran exceeds the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks and gas shortages stemming from Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine put together.   Birol said the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on energy facilities had reduced global oil supplies by about 11 million barrels per day, more than double the combined shortfalls of the 1970s’ crises. He said liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies had been reduced by about 140 billion cubic metres, compared with a shortfall of 75bcm in the aftermath of Ukraine’s invasion by Russia.   “The global economy is facing a major threat today, and I very much hope that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible,” Birol said. At least 40 energy facilities across nine countries have been severely damaged in the conflict, he said.   On Friday, the Paris-based intergovernmental organisation, which earlier this month announced plans to coordinate the release of 400 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles, proposed a series of measures governments could take to reduce energy consumption. The proposed measures include facilitating more remote working and carpooling, and lowering speed limits on motorways.   The IEA chief said he was in consultation with different countries about releasing more strategic oil reserves if needed, but the “single most important solution” to the crisis was to open the strait, which usually carries about one-fifth of global oil and LNG supplies.   Oil prices have surged more than 50 percent since the start of the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, followed by Iran’s blockade of the critical energy waterway.   http://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/speeches/millions-of-people-around-the-world-at-risk-over-three-weeks-on-the-war-in-the-middle-east   * ACAPS: 18 March 2026 Egypt:   Food prices in Egypt are increasing following the Government’s announcement of a 30% rise in fuel prices, driven mainly by the conflict escalation in the Middle East and supply chain disruptions linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Rising prices are likely to reduce purchasing power and hinder food access in a context where around 49% of households face insufficient food access and 21% of the population (22.5 million people) live below the national poverty line. The prices of key items, including fruits, vegetables, bread, and meat, have increased. For example, tomato prices have surged by 200%, potatoes by 87%, and bread by up to 50% in some areas, with nationwide bread prices projected to increase by 15–20% if disruptions continue. Besides higher fuel costs, rising agricultural input costs, dry weather conditions are further driving price increases.   8 Mar. 2026   WFP warns rising food and fuel prices risk pushing global hunger higher   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that surging food and fuel prices driven by the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could have ripple effects that will worsen hunger for vulnerable populations in the region and beyond.   The escalation has already had a devastating impact on civilians bearing the brunt of the violence through mass displacement, loss of life, and the destruction of essential infrastructure.   As the conflict disrupts supply chains, drives up costs and weakens the purchasing power of families, people already on the edge could be pushed further towards severe food insecurity.   Early impacts of the conflict on food security:   The conflict is already having immediate food security impacts in the Middle East. In Lebanon, significant internal displacement is occurring within a population that has been grappling with high levels of food insecurity for several years.   In Iran, preexisting economic pressures are compounding the crisis. Economic stagnation, high food inflation, and rapid currency depreciation were already driving food insecurity prior to the current conflict, leaving households with limited capacity to absorb further shocks.   In Gaza, border closures at the onset of the crisis triggered sharp food price increases. While one crossing have since reopened, food prices remain elevated, continuing to constrain access to affordable food.   Beyond the region, the conflict is causing severe global supply chain disruptions with an unprecedented ‘dual chokepoint’ scenario for transport affecting shipping, energy, and fertilizer markets with clear knock-on effects.   A significant share of the global fertilizer supply transits through the Strait of Hormuz; any disruption there risks reduced availability, lower crop yields, and hence higher global food prices.   Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   "The consequences of the war in the Middle East do not stop at the front lines. Beyond the impact on civilians, the fallout will ricochet through markets, shipping and aviation routes, and food prices – across the region and around the globe.   The impact on our lifesaving humanitarian work will be immense. Millions of people are at risk. We are already seeing this play out. Fuel prices have soared, driving up global shipping costs. Flight and maritime disruptions have slowed the movement of goods and personnel, putting humanitarian supplies at risk of six-month delays. Global supply chains are under strain.   And traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most vital trade corridors – has slowed to a trickle. When ships stop moving through that Strait, the consequences travel fast. Food, medicine, fertilizer and other supplies become harder to move and more expensive to deliver.   Humanitarian supply chains are fragile. When routes close and costs surge, the help we can deliver shrinks – and the people who need it most are the ones who lose it first.   http://unctad.org/news/hormuz-shipping-disruptions-raise-risks-energy-fertilizers-and-vulnerable-economies http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167167 http://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-president-war-on-essential-infrastructure-is-war-on-civilians http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories   * Oil prices and food prices move in concert with energy prices affecting every stage of the food supply chain from the fertilisers used in the fields to the trucks that carry food from the fields to supermarket shelves. Rising oil prices directly affect shipping and the cost of transportation.   In lower-income countries, where populations spend a far greater share of their income on food and import large quantities of grain and fertiliser, rising oil prices will translate into higher food prices and potential food shortages.   For much of the world, higher energy prices will raise the cost of living, lead to higher inflation and interest rates curtailing economic growth and increasing unemployment.   Mar 12, 2026   Worries of fertilizer crisis stemming from Iran War, by Noah Gordon and Lucy Corthell - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace   The war in Iran has already claimed many direct victims, from the more than 100 children killed in a U.S. strike on an Iranian elementary school, to the Iranians inhaling toxic substances released by Israeli strikes on oil facilities in and around Tehran, to those soldiers and civilians killed and wounded across the region by the conflict.   And no matter how quickly the fighting ends—wars often resist one protagonist’s desire to end them—its indirect victims could include billions of people hoping for good harvests and affordable meals in the coming year.   The Gulf region is a key producer not only of liquified natural gas (LNG) and oil products but also of fertilizer. About one-third of global seaborne trade in fertilizers typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been nearly entirely closed since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.   In particular, Gulf countries are important producers of nitrogen fertilizers, which depend primarily on natural gas burned at high pressure in the presence of hydrogen to synthesize ammonia. (The hydrogen usually comes from natural gas as well.)   But it’s not just that Gulf fertilizer can’t make it to export markets such as Sudan, Brazil, or Sri Lanka. It’s also that fertilizer producers elsewhere lack key ingredients. This is where the second-order effects of a supply chain crisis appear, just as they did during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which sent fertilizer prices soaring.   Deprived of their natural gas supplies from Qatar, fertilizer firms in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have had to shut down production. Egypt, another important producer, has lost its gas imports from Israel and must turn to the ever-pricier LNG market. The benchmark price of urea, the most widely traded fertilizer, is up about 30 percent in the last month.   The damage extends beyond nitrogen to another key crop nutrient, phosphorus. Gulf countries produce around 20 percent of phosphate fertilizers, and as well as a quarter of global sulfur, which is largely an oil and gas byproduct. Fertilizer producers need sulfur (sulfuric acid, to be precise) to turn phosphate rock into a liquid that plants can absorb.   Because fertilizer has less value than oil and gas, political and business leaders expend fewer resources to make sure it keeps flowing. A ship captain bold enough to brave drone strikes and dash through the Strait of Hormuz would prefer to carry oil than fertilizer, a preference that would be shared by any potential navy escort, which the United States is in any case not yet able to provide.   G7 countries don’t maintain strategic fertilizer reserves to match their oil stockpiles. The pipeline that Saudi Arabia built to enable exports through the Red Sea rather than the Strait of Hormuz is for oil, not ammonia products.   To be clear, about half of fertilizer is not traded internationally at all. The United States, a land of abundant natural gas, produces about three-quarters of the fertilizer it consumes, while China is even more self-sufficient. But because these are globally traded commodities, problems in one place ripple throughout the global economy.   Even before the war in Iran, China was restricting fertilizer exports to protect its own farmers—but it needs Brazil, which is highly dependent on Middle Eastern urea, to be able to grow soybeans to feed to the pigs and cows in both countries. U.S. importers have seen the price of urea at the port in New Orleans rise more than 25 percent since the end of February, pushing the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation to write a plaintive letter to President Donald Trump warning that this “production shock” threatens national security. The price of urea as a ratio of the price of corn is approaching record levels.   This bad news comes at a bad time, just before spring planting season in the Northern Hemisphere. Farmers typically order fertilizer in March to apply in April or May. Now, the president of the South Carolina Farm Bureau is worried “farmers are not going to be able to finance planting their crop” while economists and fertilizer analysts expect “inflation going through the roof” over coming months as crops planted today are supposed to be arriving in supermarkets.   Like anyone else with a fossil-fueled vehicle, U.S. farmers are also paying more for fuel since the war started, diesel fuel being the relevant one for agriculture.   As in the 2022 crisis, poorer countries will suffer the most. As Carnegie nonresident scholar Adam Tooze noted, the countries whose fertilizer use (and yields) fell most in 2022 included Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The fertilizer shortage of 2022, caused by the loss of many Russian and Belarusian products and a spike in gas prices, was one reason for a stark rise in global food prices in that year.   The most dramatic example came from Sri Lanka, whose president had made the baffling decision to ban synthetic fertilizer such as urea and ammonia in 2021. Local agriculture collapsed, as did his government, and he had to flee the country.   In 2022 countries such as Sri Lanka could at least count on foreign aid to help fill gaps. With the U.S. Agency for International Development now shuttered, that safety net may no longer be available.   The fertilizer crisis will cast a spotlight on the inefficiencies in the food system. About 20 percent of food designed for human consumption is wasted and never consumed. Almost 40 percent of cropland is used to grow animal feed at a huge efficiency cost: A cow requires 50 calories of feed to produce one calorie of beef. A third of U.S. corn is used to produce ethanol transport fuels for dubious environmental benefits.   Even if the Strait of Hormuz does open soon, restarting production and transport for fertilizers and their components could take weeks—weeks that Northern Hemisphere farmers do not have. Consumers around the world are already beginning to see higher prices for their gasoline and plane tickets. The more worrisome costs for the most vulnerable—those at the grocery store—are yet to come.   http://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/03/fertilizer-iran-hormuz-food-crisis Visit the related web page
	Nature is everybody’s business by Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity Dr. David Obura, Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services   Feb. 2026   * In 2023, global public and private finance flows with directly negative impacts on nature, were estimated at $7.3 trillion, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion.   * Less than 1% of publicly reporting companies mention their impacts on biodiversity in their reports.   Every business depends on biodiversity, and every business impacts biodiversity. The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing. This is a central finding of a landmark new report published today by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).   Even companies that might seem far-removed from nature or that do not see themselves as nature-based rely, directly or indirectly, on material inputs, regulation of environmental conditions. Yet, businesses often bear little or no financial cost for their negative impacts on the environmental conditions we all depend on for life. Businesses are central to halting and reversing biodiversity loss.   The IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment report finds that the current conditions in which businesses operate are not compatible with achieving a just and sustainable future, and that these conditions also perpetuate systemic risks.   Businesses often face inadequate or perverse incentives, barriers that hinder efforts to reverse nature’s decline, an institutional environment with insufficient support, enforcement and compliance, as well as significant gaps in data and knowledge. These combine with business models that result in ever-increasing material consumption and an emphasis on reporting quarterly earnings, whilst contributing to the degradation of nature around the world.   The Report makes the point that fundamental change is possible and necessary to create an enabling environment to align what is profitable for business with what is beneficial for biodiversity and people.   “This Report draws on thousands of sources, bringing together years of research and practice into a single integrated framework that shows both the risks of nature loss to business, and the opportunities for business to help reverse this,” said Matt Jones (UK), one of three Co-chairs of the Assessment.   “This is a pivotal moment for businesses and financial institutions, as well as Governments and civil society, to cut through the confusion of countless methods and metrics, and to use the clarity and coherence offered by the Report to take meaningful steps towards transformative change. Businesses and other key actors can either lead the way towards a more sustainable global economy or ultimately risk extinction…both of species in nature, but potentially also their own.”   Business-as-usual incentives are driving nature’s decline and do not support the transformative change necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.   For example, large subsidies that drive losses of biodiversity are directed to business activities with the support of lobbying by businesses and trade associations.   In 2023, global public and private finance flows with directly negative impacts on nature, were estimated at $7.3 trillion, of which private finance accounted for $4.9 trillion, with public spending on environmentally harmful subsidies of about $2.4 trillion.   In contrast, $220 billion in public and private finance flows were directed in 2023 to activities contributing to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, representing just 3% of the public funds and incentives that encourage harmful business behaviour or prevent behaviour beneficial to biodiversity.   “The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business”, said Prof. Stephen Polasky (USA), Co-chair of the Assessment. “Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it. Business as usual may once have seemed profitable in the short term, but impacts across multiple businesses can have cumulative effects, aggregating to global impacts, which can cross ecological tipping points.   The Report shows that business as usual is not inevitable – with the right policies, as well as financial and cultural shifts, what is good for nature is also what is best for profitability. To get there, the Report offers tools for choosing more effective measurements and analysis.”   The Report finds that a wide range of methods, knowledge and data exist for measuring business impacts and dependencies, which can already inform decisions and action. Yet less than 1% of publicly reporting companies mention their impacts on biodiversity in their reports.   The Report makes it clear that all businesses, including financial institutions, have a responsibility to address their impacts and dependencies. The authors point out in their report the many actions that businesses can take now that benefit business and biodiversity.   “Better engagement with nature is not optional for business – it is a necessity”, said Prof. Rueda. “This is vital for their bottom line, long-term prosperity and the transformative change needed for a more just and sustainable future. To avoid greenwashing though, it is essential that businesses have transparent and credible strategies, which clearly demonstrate their actions and how they contribute to biodiversity outcomes and that they publicly disclose their impacts and dependencies as well as their lobbying activities”.   The Report explores both actions that can be taken by businesses themselves and ‘signalling’ actions that can publicly influence and inspire action by others.   Another central message of the Report is that businesses cannot, by themselves, deliver the scale of change needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Collaboration, collective and individual actions are essential to create an enabling environment where businesses contribute to a just and sustainable future.   Five specific components are identified as central to such an enabling environment: policy, legal and regulatory frameworks; economic and financial systems; social values, norms and culture; technology and data; and capacity and knowledge. The Report provides more than 100 specific examples of concrete actions that can be taken, across each of these five components, by businesses, governments, financial actors and civil society.   “Better stewardship of biodiversity is central to managing risk across the whole of the economy and throughout societies – it’s not some distant environmental issue, but a core challenge now in every boardroom and cabinet-room,” said Prof. Polasky.   “We need to move beyond the fallacy of a binary choice between governments and decision-makers being either pro-environment or pro-business. All business depends on nature, so actions that conserve and sustainably use nature can also be those that help businesses thrive in the long-term.   One of the innovations of this Report is that it provides a template for accelerating collaboration and collective actions at all levels among and by governments, financial actors, other actors including civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, consumers, NGOs, international organisations, and academia in addition to the action needed by businesses and financial institutions themselves.”   Speaking about the significance of the Business and Biodiversity Report, Dr. David Obura, Chair of IPBES said: “This IPBES Assessment Report was delivered with urgency, as a vital contribution to efforts by businesses, governments, financial actors and the whole of society to meet the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change".   "It relates very directly to Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which focuses on businesses, but ultimately to all our shared global goals because businesses are at the centre of how our economies, and large parts of our society, depend on and impact nature”.   "Nature is everybody’s business and the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity is central to business sustainability and success".   http://www.ipbes.net/business-impact http://www.ipbes.net/node/97532 http://ipbes.canto.de/v/IPBES12Media/ http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1yl72cx8w http://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment http://www.ipbes.net/media_release/Values_Assessment_Published http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/time-to-align-economic-practice-with-ecological-reality-the-critical-need-to-include-nature-in-macroeconomic-models/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2026/02/a-business-necessity-align-with-nature-or-risk-collapse-ipbes-report-warns/ http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/biodiversity http://royalsociety.org/news-resources/projects/biodiversity/ http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/governments-must-protect-nature-or-pay-a-higher-price-for-borrowing-study-finds/   # Biodiversity is the natural world around us, and the variety of all of the different kinds of organisms - the plants, animals, insects and microorganisms that live on our planet. Every one of these live and work together in ecosystems to maintain and support life on earth, and exist in delicate balance. Biodiversity is one of the most precious and important things we have.   Without biological diversity, our entire support system for human, as well as animal life, would collapse. We rely on nature to provide us with food and clean water, for medicines, to prevent flooding and other extreme weather effects. So much is provided by the natural ecosystems around us – they’re truly vital to life on earth. Because biodiversity is so crucial to our future survival, its loss is a crisis on a global scale. Visit the related web page
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