US-Israeli war against Iran pushes over 30 million into poverty: UN
Shortages of fuel and fertilizer are causing food prices to rise drastically, putting African and Asian nations in particular at risk of hunger
More than 30 million people will be pushed into poverty by the impacts of the US-Israeli war on Iran, including rising food prices due to disruptions to fuel and fertilizer supplies occurring just as planting season for farmers is beginning, Reuters reported on 23 April.
Fertilizer shortages have already lowered agricultural productivity and will likely hit crop yields later this year, Alex De Croo, the Administrator of the UN Development Program (UNDP), told the news agency.
“Food insecurity will be at its peak level in a few months – and there is not much that you can do about it,” De Croo said. Energy shortages and declining remittances from workers to relatives in their home countries will also drive poverty rates higher, he added.
“Even if the war would stop tomorrow, those effects, you already have them, and they will be pushing back more than 30 million people into poverty,” he said.
Much of the world's fertilizer is produced in West Asia, and one-third of the global supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed to Iran's “enemies” since the US and Israel began their bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic nearly two months ago.
One-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war. Gulf countries have been forced to slash production, causing energy prices to skyrocket across international markets.
Reuters reported last week that the world has lost over $50 billion worth of crude oil that has not been produced since the Iran war began nearly 50 days ago. The “aftershock of the crisis will be felt for months and even years to come,” according to analysts and Reuters calculations.
The price of energy, in turn, affects the price of almost everything, in particular food.
Earlier this month, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the UN World Food Programme warned that the war would drastically raise food prices, burdening the world's most vulnerable populations, Reuters noted.
De Croo said the effects of the war have already destroyed an estimated 0.5 to 0.8 percent of global GDP. “Things that take decades to build up, it takes eight weeks of war to destroy them,” he said.
The war has also caused donor states to cut humanitarian funding to the UN, affecting countries already experiencing emergencies, including Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine.
“We will have to say to certain people, really sorry, but we can't help you,” he said.
“People who would be surviving on help will not have this and will be pushed into even greater vulnerability.”
Matin Qaim, executive director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany, issued a similar warning earlier this week.
“Food prices will definitely rise in the coming months, making it more difficult for many people around the world to afford adequate and healthy diets,” Qaim told Al Jazeera.
“Poor people in Africa and Asia will be hurt the most because they have to spend a high share of their income on food anyway. Hunger and undernutrition will very likely rise.”