The number of people who are hungry or struggling around the world is increasing, while the amount of money the world's richest countries are contributing to help them is falling. The warning was issued by the United Nations, which says at best it will be able to raise enough money to help around 60% of the 307 million people it predicts will need humanitarian aid next year. . This means that at least 117 million people will not receive food or other assistance in 2025.
The UN will also end 2024 having collected about 46% of the $49.6 billion it requested for humanitarian aid across the globe. It is the second year in a row that the world organization has collected less than half of what it sought. The shortage has forced humanitarian agencies to make painful decisions, such as cutting rations for the hungry and cutting the number of people who qualify for aid, A2 CNN reports.
The consequences are being felt in places like Syria, where the World Food Program (WFP), the UN's main food distributor, was feeding 6 million people. Looking at its forecast for aid donations earlier this year, WFP lowered the number it hoped to help there to about 1 million people, said Rania Dagash-Kamara, the organization's assistant executive director for partnerships and resource mobilization. .
Dagash-Kamara visited WFP Syria staff in March. "We're taking at this point from the hungry to feeding the hungry," she said in an interview.
U.N. officials see little reason for optimism at a time of widespread conflict, political turmoil and extreme weather, all factors that fuel hunger.
"We have been forced to scale back appeals to those most in need," Tom Fletcher, the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told Reuters.
Conflict, extreme weather and rising inflation have left an increasing number of people in need of humanitarian assistance. There is also a widening gap between the funding the UN seeks for humanitarian aid and the amount that donors actually provide.
Financial pressures and changing domestic politics are reshaping some rich countries' decisions about where and how much to give. One of the UN's biggest donors, Germany, already has $500 million in funding from 2023 to 2024. The country's cabinet has recommended another $1 billion reduction in humanitarian aid for 2025. The new parliament will set next year's spending plan after the federal election in February. (A2 Televizion)
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