3 Countries, One Region on Brink of Famine, UN Says

聯合國：三個國家、一個地區正瀕臨飢荒

United Nations food agencies are warning that COVID-19, conflict and lack of humanitarian aid are increasing levels of acute hunger around the world, with several countries and one region on the brink of famine.

由於新冠病毒疫情、衝突升級、缺乏人道(humanitarian，註 1)援助，聯合國（United Nations）糧食組織警告，全球嚴重(acute)飢餓狀況持續加劇，包括好幾個國家地區都將瀕臨(on brink of)飢荒。

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3 Countries, One Region on Brink of Famine, UN Says
VOA News｜Africa
November 06, 2020 11:00 AM  (source)

3 Countries, One Region on Brink of Famine, UN Says

聯合國：三個國家、一個地區正瀕臨飢荒

November 06, 2020 11:00 AM

Lisa Schlein

Geneva, Switzerland

United Nations food agencies are warning that COVID-19, conflict and lack of humanitarian aid are increasing levels of acute hunger around the world, with several countries and one region on the brink of famine.

The World Food Program reports more than 100 million people globally already are suffering from severe food shortages. It warns that number is expected to increase by another 121 million without urgent action to combat this rising tide of global acute hunger.

A new assessment by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Program has identified 20 countries as acute food insecurity hotspots. The report warns four of these hotspots—Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Yemen and northeastern Nigeria—could soon slip into famine if conditions continue to deteriorate over the coming months.

FAO senior food crises analyst Luca Russo says currently there is still no evidence of a famine occurring now in these countries but early attention is needed.

"Essentially, the moment you declare a famine, it is already too late to act in the sense that we saw this in the past with Somalia when the famine was declared already 260,000 people had died because of the famine. So, we want to raise an early warning before a famine occurs and we want also to highlight some of the key factors that need to be monitored,” Russo said.

The report cites intensification of violence, economic crises exacerbated by COVID-19, weather extremes and a lack of humanitarian access as key drivers of hunger. These factors, it notes, have caused the number of desperately hungry people to almost triple since 2019 in Burkina Faso. They also are behind food insecurity and high levels of acute malnutrition in children in Yemen.

Russo told VOA that insecurity and hunger are rising in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria where Boko Haram militants remain a dangerous force.

"These are areas where basically today there is no possibility of having humanitarian access. So, that means that the people are left on their own in a situation in which many of them are displaced and this is what can trigger the famine. In South Sudan, we are talking about Jonglei state and there, there is a bit better access but there are floods, conflict and so on. People are displaced,” Russo said.

The U.N. food agencies say the world is at a catastrophic turning point. Unless urgent action is taken now, they warn the world could experience its first outbreak of famine since it was last declared in 2017 in parts of South Sudan. That famine affected 5.5 million people and put more than 200,000 children suffering acute malnutrition at risk of death.

由於新冠病毒疫情、衝突升級、缺乏人道(humanitarian，註 1)援助，聯合國（United Nations）糧食組織警告，全球嚴重(acute)飢餓狀況持續加劇，包括好幾個國家地區都將瀕臨(on brink of)飢荒。

世界糧食計劃署（World Food Program）指出，全球已經超過 1000 萬人遭受嚴重的糧食短缺，並警告若再不立即行動，對抗全球升溫的嚴重飢荒，數字預估會再攀升 1 千 210 萬人。

根據「聯合國糧食及農業組織（U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization）」及「世界糧食計畫署（World Food Program）」新發布的評估報告，有20個國家被視為嚴重糧食不安全的熱點地區，並警告其中四個熱點地區，包括布吉納法索（Burkina Faso）、南蘇丹（South Sudan）、葉門（Yemen）以及奈及利亞（Nigeria）東北部，未來幾個月狀況若持續惡化(deteriorate，註 2)，這些國家不久將陷入(slip into，註 3)飢荒。

聯合國糧農組織（FAO）糧食危機高級顧問魯卡．魯梭（Luca Russo）表示，儘管這些國家目前還未出現飢荒的徵兆，但提早關注是必要的。

魯梭說：「一旦宣布飢荒，一切都為時已晚，我們看到過去索馬利亞（Somalia）的狀況，飢荒發布當下，已有 26 萬人喪生，因此我們希望在饑荒前就事先警告，而加強某些需要關注的重要指標」。

報告指出飢荒情形，肇因於暴力衝突加劇(intensification，註 4)、新冠病毒疫情惡化(exacerbate)所導致的經濟危機、極端氣候及人道救援受限等不利關鍵驅動因素(driver，註 5)，這讓布吉納法索的極端飢餓人口增長，高達 2019 年的 3 倍，葉門的孩童也處於糧食不安全及高度嚴重營養不良(malnutrition)的風險中。

魯梭也與VOA提及，奈及利亞北部波諾州（Borno state）長期遭受極端組織博科聖地（Boko Haram）威脅，不安全及飢荒狀況也持續升溫，

魯梭說：「這些地區完全缺乏人道救援管道，代表許多居民流離失所(displaced)，這也是引發飢荒的原因，南蘇丹也面臨相同的狀況，瓊萊州（Jpnglei state，音譯）儘管有較佳的人道救援管道，但仍飽受洪水、區域衝突等威脅」

聯合國糧食組織表示：全球正處於災難性的(catastrophic)轉折點，除非採取立即行動，否則饑荒恐怕再度爆發，上一次發布飢荒是在 2017 年南蘇丹的部分區域，有 550 萬人民處於飢餓，超過 20 萬孩童因嚴重營養不良而瀕臨死亡。