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India is ranked at 71st position in the Global Food Security (GFS) Index 2021 of 113 countries, but the country lags behind its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka in terms food affordability, according to a report.

Pakistan (with 52.6 points) scored better than India (50.2 points) in the category of food affordability. Sri Lanka was even better with 62.9 points in this category on the GFS Index 2021, a global report released by Economist Impact and Corteva Agriscience on Tuesday said.

Ireland, Australia, the UK, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, France and the US shared the top rank with the overall GFS score in the range of 77.8 and 80 points on the index.

The GFS Index was designed and constructed by London-based Economist Impact and is sponsored by Corteva Agriscience.

The GFS Index measures the underlying drivers of food security in 113 countries, based on the factors of affordability, availability, quality and safety, and natural resources and resilience. It considers 58 unique food security indicators including income and economic inequality calling attention to systemic gaps and actions needed to accelerate progress toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.

According to the report, India held 71st position with an overall score of 57.2 points on the GFS Index 2021 of 113 countries, fared better than Pakistan (75th position), Sri Lanka (77th Position), Nepal (79th position) and Bangladesh (84th position). But the country was way behind China (34th position).

In the food affordability category, Pakistan (with 52.6 points) scored better than India (50.2 points). Sri Lanka was also better at 62.9 points on the GFS Index 2021.

In case of availability of food, quality and safety as well as protecting natural resources for food production, India scored better than Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on the GFS Index 2021, the report added.

However, over the past 10 years, India's incremental gains in overall food security score were lagging behind that of Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

India's score improved only by 2.7 points to 57.2 in 2021 from 54.5 in 2012 when compared with Pakistan by 9 points (to 54.7 in 2021 from 45.7 in 2012) while that of Nepal by 7 points (to 53.7 points in 2021 from 46.7 points in 2012) and Bangladesh by 4.7 points (to 49.1 in 2021 from 44.4 points in 2012).

China's score improved by 9.6 points to 71.3 in 2021 from 61.7 in 2012, the report said.

"The GFSI looks beyond hunger to identify the underlying factors affecting food insecurity around the world," said Tim Glenn, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, Corteva Agriscience.

The findings of GFS Index 2021 also showed that global food security has decreased for the second year in a row after seven years of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal of achieving zero hunger by 2030.

According to Pratima Singh, Head of the Global Food Security Index at Economist Impact, "The index shows that, while countries have made significant strides toward addressing food insecurity in the past ten years, food systems remain vulnerable to economic, climatic, and geopolitical shocks. Action is imperative at all levels--local, national, and global--to end hunger and malnourishment and ensure food security for all."

In its global report, Economist Impact stated that the Index shows that to meet these present and emerging future challenges requires that investments in food security are sustained from innovation in climate-resilient crop yields to investing in programs to assist the most vulnerable.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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india ranking on global food security index 2021

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India at 71st on Global Food Security index 2021 of 113 nations

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Read more about India at 71st on Global Food Security index 2021 of 113 nations on Business Standard. India is ranked at 71st position in the Global Food Security (GFS) Index 2021 of 113 countries, but the country lags behind its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka in terms food affordability

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Water problem between Turkey, Syria and Iraq

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Water security in Egypt: threatened by  Ethiopia Dam. Patricija&Maka

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Water security in Egypt: threatened by  Ethiopia Dam. Patricija&Maka

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Egypt and Ethiopia’s dual drive for water security has the potential to lead to conflict, with a growing need for water certainty stemming from the ever increasing threat posed by climate change along with these nations rapidly growing populations.

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Egypt farmers fear water supply threat from Ethiopia Dam

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By Gabriel Ewepu - Abuja

Following challenges in access to water supply, WaterAid Nigeria, Tuesday, raised alarm over threat posed by dreaded climate change to water supplies in Africa.

This was made known by WaterAid in a statement, where it announced Africa Climate Week, to be hosted virtually by Uganda and United Nations, UN, partners, from Sunday 26-29 September, as African countries prepare their positions in advance of the COP26 climate summit in the UK.

According to WaterAid, Africa is the most-exposed region to the adverse effects of climate change despite contributing the least to global warming. The entire continent accounts for less than four per cent of total global carbon emissions but is home to 33 of the top 50 countries most vulnerable to climate change.

The statement reads in part, "This year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report shows a clear link between climate change and water. It makes a stark warning that urgent action is needed to tackle the dangerous effects of climate change, which is most felt through access to water: flooding, drought, unpredictable weather patterns and salination from rising seas.

"Current examples include by 2025 Niger's annual water needs will exceed the available water resources and by 2050 water volumes are expected to fall significantly across Burkina Faso; The UN declared that Madagascar is on the brink of experiencing the world's first "climate change famine" in the south of the island nation.

"The fluctuations in the levels of Malawi's 2nd largest body of water, Lake Chilwa, have become ever more extreme affecting the lives of 1.5 million who live in that densely populated basin region. Pictured above and available here.

"In Nigeria, 60 million people lack clean water close to home, depending almost entirely on groundwater for domestic water supply, especially in rural areas.Groundwater provides much-needed protection against the impacts of climate change, acting as a buffer to changing water availability and quality in many parts of the world.

"Climate change is also aggravating the sanitation crisis. Extreme weather - floods, rising temperatures, prolonged droughts - are causing irreparable damage to weak sanitation systems and causing illnesses to spread further in vulnerable communities. An estimated 250,000 additional deaths per year are predicted between 2030 and 2050 due to climate change and many of these deaths will be linked to poor sanitation."

The statement also pointed that poor sanitation and the transmission of fatal, but preventable illnesses - such as cholera - are also compounded by the effects of climate change. Only 88 million people living in Nigeria (that is 44% of the population) can rely on safely managed sanitation - that is a toilet serviced to allowed human waste to be treated and disposed of safely.

"About 32 million people (16% of the population) have limited sanitation - that is the use of improved latrines where there is hygienic separation of human faeces from human contact but that is shared by two or more households. A staggering 112 million people still do not have access to a private toilet of their own, and about 46 million have no choice but to practise open defecation.

"Where decent toilets are lacking, human faeces can contaminate the groundwater or end up in rivers and lakes, polluting what is often the only supply of water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Children play on ground rife with pathogens and as a result of faecal contamination, whole communities can contract diarrhoeal diseases.

"Nigeria ranks 55th most vulnerable country to climate change - among the top 35% in the world - but only receives USD $1 per person, per year in climate finance. This is for both mitigation - cutting carbon emissions - and adaptation - reducing the impacts of climate change. While developing countries contribute very little to global carbon emissions, they are the least prepared to withstand the effects, with little money allocated towards helping them. The average person in Nigeria accounts annually for emissions of 0.546 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide - compared to the average per capita emission in the United States of 16.5 metric tonnes."

Meanwhile, the Country Director, WaterAid Nigeria, Evelyn Mere, Country said: "Climate change has intensified both the sanitation and water crisis. The climate clock is ticking and if efforts are not made to better understand, value and protect this vital resource, making it a central feature of climate change adaptation strategies, then we face a very bleak future.

"The government must respond now to the urgent threat of climate change and recognise the vital role climate-resilient water and sanitation services and systems play in helping vulnerable communities be more prepared for climate change; because despite contributing the least to it, it is the world's poorest people currently suffering the brunt of its destructive impact."

The statement added that, "Achieving these national climate plans requires significant financing to use to adapt to climate change. At present, only five per cent of total global climate funding is spent on helping countries adapt to the changing climate, and that money is not targeted at the communities most vulnerable to climate change. Indeed, some of the most climate vulnerable countries only receive $1 per person annually for investment in water resources and services.

However, WaterAid's Regional Director for East Africa, Olutayo Bankole-Bolawole said, "We need urgent action to make sure that the most vulnerable in Africa can cope in the face of climate change.

"Given the undeniable links between climate change and water, this means that everyone must have a reliable and sustainable source of clean water and access to a toilet that is clean, safe and climate-resilient.

"This level of funding is a completely inadequate response to the growing crisis and to the critical need to begin adaptation initiatives now to build resilience for the future.

"Africa Climate Week is a major opportunity to highlight to national governments, regional donors and institutions the value that climate-resilient WASH brings to climate change adaptation for national action, and to advocate for the funding needed to make climate adaptation sustainable and resilient.

"We are calling for all governments to urgently address the effects of the climate crisis and ensure sustainable access to clean water is a fundamental part of their national strategies for both adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change."

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WaterAid raises alarm over threat by climate change to water supplies in Africa

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Following challenges in access to water supply, WaterAid Nigeria, Tuesday, raised alarm over threat posed by dreaded climate change to water supplies in Africa. This was made known by WaterAid in a statement, where it announced Africa Climate Week, to be hosted virtually by Uganda and United Nations, UN, partners, from Sunday 26-29 September, as African countries prepare their positions in advance of the COP26 climate summit in the UK.

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Aral sea problem in Uzbekistan.

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HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Before the coronavirus pandemic, Mai Tafara Children's Center was a bustling refuge for the 50 children it serves.

The kids, many of whom are orphans, would come to the center in Tafara, a high-density suburb in Zimbabwe's capital city of Harare, and enjoy a heavy lunch consisting of sadza - a dense porridge made from maize meal - plus sugar bean, leafy greens or soya mince, an inexpensive, soybean-based protein. They would eat their fill and spend the afternoon doing arts and crafts or homework.

But that changed in March 2020, as the coronavirus emerged. Like many countries, Zimbabwe enacted a strict lockdown to limit the spread of the virus.

"Things have been very tough for the children," says Eleanor Alfred, founder of Mai Tafara Children's Center. "These children do not have parents, and sometimes no family at all, to go to for food and necessities - just us. And we cannot let them down."

The effects are ricocheting through communities worldwide. Child hunger has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic, according to the 2020 Annual Report from the United Nations Children's Fund, known as UNICEF. An additional 6.7 million children under age 5 are now at risk of wasting, a form of malnutrition, in the next year. This could lead to at least 10,000 more children dying each month from food insecurity.

The pandemic has added pressure on centers like Mai Tafara, which serve as a fragile last resort to feed and educate vulnerable children. COVID-19's repercussions, including death and loss of employment, mean centers have more mouths to feed, alongside an ever-dwindling base of resources.

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Alfred, fondly known as "Mai Tafara" - Shona for "mother of Tafara" - says that it has become increasingly difficult to provide meals for the children. The center's one donor, a Zimbabwean living in Australia, was unable to continue funding the operation due to financial struggles prompted by the pandemic. The donor had supplied the center with money to buy food, such as mealie meal, a hot porridge made from maize flour and a staple meal in Zimbabwe.

"I have had to sometimes dig into my own pocket and resources to try and stretch them out so the children have some form of consistency," Alfred says. "I take foodstuffs from home sometimes to cook at the center, and sometimes I take whatever money I have to add to the children's school fees, especially those in examination classes."

Water shortages are a persistent issue in Zimbabwe due to lack of purifying chemicals and an ailing pipe system. But that means children must "go and queue all day for water, without having eaten anything, only to go home at the end of the day and find nothing," Alfred says, noting that many of the children live with grandparents who aren't strong enough to work.

The number of vulnerable children and orphans in Zimbabwe has increased amid two decades of economic instability. HIV/AIDS and related illnesses also have had an impact; in 2019, 13% of Zimbabwean children age 17 and younger had lost one or both parents to the disease, according to a survey by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

"These children do not have parents, and sometimes no family at all, to go to for food and necessities - just us. And we cannot let them down." Founder of Mai Tafara Children's Center

In May, Faith Community Support Trust, a child-care center in Kambuzuma, a suburb of Harare, was stretching supplies meant to serve 30 children in order to care for 40, said Orpah Magadzire, the resident caregiver, who later contracted COVID-19 and died. Phone calls to the center now go unanswered.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, Siduduzile Nkomo uses income from her tailoring business to care for about 45 orphaned and vulnerable children at the center she runs.

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In addition to her own funds, she also receives assistance from the surrounding community, including residents and some businesses. But Nkomo says the coronavirus has affected everyone, and contributions have tapered off.

The government is grappling with a currency crisis and many donation-based organizations working in the region already are stretched thin.

Henry Chigama, president and chief executive officer of EatOut Movement, a startup initiative meant to fight homelessness and poverty, says the pandemic has dried up resources.

"When COVID-19 began, companies and individuals were able and willing to donate items which we then gave to orphans and vulnerable children," he says. "However, as the pandemic continued, companies also became strained, a situation which has also affected us as an organization."

For child-care centers, that may mean turning to other revenue streams.

"These homes will need to come up with other self-sustaining methods, such as agriculture," says Thomas Sithole, a Zimbabwean social expert and civic society leader. "The impact of COVID-19 on various societal aspects has been profound, and homes that look after vulnerable children have not been spared."

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HARARE, ZIMBABWE - Before the coronavirus pandemic, Mai Tafara Children's Center was a bustling refuge for the 50 children it serves. The kids, many of whom are orphans, would come to the center in Tafara, a high-density suburb in Zimbabwe's capital city of Harare, and enjoy a heavy lunch consisting of sadza - a dense porridge made from maize meal - plus sugar bean, leafy greens or soya mince, an inexpensive, soybean-based protein.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NB6EH_Amy8k

Since the Arab Spring reached Yemen, the people of the country went out against the regime in several protests. As a result, it led to violence within the state. This violence became a civil war since 2014, so that we have The Houthi militias supported by Iran on one side & the regime supported by Saudi Arabia on the other side. The war created a huge Food crisis in the country, so that more than 62% of the population suffer from Malnutrition & food insecurity. The crisis is still ongoing despite the efforts of many NGOs such as; WFP, FAO, Islamic Relief, etc.

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Hunger crisis in Yemen: ‘It’s like a living hell on earth’