I am writing to request that as you consider emergency supplemental appropriations, you prioritize robust funding to address the dire global hunger crisis and lasting impacts caused by the conflict in Ukraine. As this conflict continues, humanitarian needs in Ukraine and other countries around the world are outpacing existing funding levels.
Within Ukraine, a growing number of people face hunger and displacement. They are in urgent need of food assistance, safe drinking water, healthcare and safety. The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and its resulting depletion of the Kakhovka Reservoir in June this year was a particularly grim development as tens of thousands of people immediately lost access to shelter, their livelihoods, healthcare and clean water. Thousands of people were displaced. Large agricultural regions remain indefinitely without a source of water, further threatening food production in the Ukrainian “breadbasket.”
The events in Ukraine are having an outsized impact on global food security and malnutrition. The crisis continues to disrupt grain production and shipments that feed the world. The recent suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative threatens to further increase food insecurity and global instability. These impacts of the conflict are contributing heavily to rising food, fuel and fertilizer costs. The result is one of the greatest global hunger crises in generations.
Even before the conflict in Ukraine, decades of progress on global hunger and malnutrition were undone due to the compounding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate shocks. Now, the crisis in Ukraine is serving as a “hunger multiplier.” 735 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat. By 2030, 23 million more people could face hunger. This global food insecurity and malnutrition crisis is hitting women and children the hardest. Today, 45 million children under five are severely hungry, and 60% of the world’s hungriest people are women and girls.
These staggering needs come at a time when there is great uncertainty about the level of funding for vital humanitarian and development programs in the FY24 appropriations process. The emergency supplemental funding is urgently needed to address the worsening crisis in Ukraine and its global impact now and in the years to come. We urge you to consider the new Ukraine supplemental funding bill, which has robust support for international humanitarian assistance including food and nutrition assistance and long-term agricultural resilience programs, as quickly as possible.
