As prepared for delivery.
This year’s Global Report on Food Crises is more important than ever.
- Since 2016, this report has served as a warning to the international community on the global state of food insecurity.
- You have all heard the statistics. The situation is alarming. It’s putting at risk not just individual lives, but the economic potential and stability of entire societies.
But we are losing ground on the most basic human need.
At a time when needs are soaring, financing for food and nutrition crises is collapsing.
Humanitarian and development funding is declining—squeezed by tight budgets, rising debt, and competing priorities.
The resulting uncertainty is pushing an already fragmented food security system to the breaking point.
This is a wake-up call—we need to unite in solidarity with those who are suffering, double down on what works, and scale smart, cost-effective solutions to maximize impact, fast.
The World Bank Group is responding. We are intensifying efforts to help vulnerable regions prepare for, respond to, and prevent food crises.
Together with partners in this room, we’re fast-tracking Food and Nutrition Security Crisis Preparedness Plans across 28 countries.
- These plans are a critical precondition for accessing emergency funding, such as the IDA Crisis Response Window when crises hit and speed matters.
- They’re powered by real-time data and live tracking of financing responses.
- We co-invest in these tools with many of you — including on the Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard — to strengthen early warning systems and improve our decision-making processes.
We are also mobilizing resources and new ways of working across the World Bank Group.
- Our new Global Challenge Program on Food and Nutrition Security is helping us to scale impactful solutions—from fortified foods to drought-resistant seeds—to address global hunger and malnutrition, with the long-term aim of creating a food system that benefits everyone.
Food and nutrition crises demand that partners collaborate now more than ever to capitalize on our respective strengths.
We must keep our eyes set on the long-term. Strong food systems are smart insurance.
- They cut future emergency costs and deliver lasting development outcomes.
- For instance, every dollar spent on nutrition yields a 23 dollar return through healthier people and increased productivity.
The most effective interventions are integrated – addressing multiple targets at once — improving diets; supporting social safety nets, rural jobs and supply chains; and building climate resilience.
We are seeing this in action. In Yemen, thanks to our partnership with FAO, UNDP and the World Food Program, 3.5 million people are receiving both emergency and long-term support in the form of irrigation infrastructure, cash for work, and help with market access.
In Mali, where jobs for young people are scarce, we have worked with IFAD to diversify income opportunities in aquaculture and poultry value chains.
Now is the time to scale these efforts. We need to pool our resources, align strategies and drive bigger impact—together.
Let me finish by thanking the Global Network for bringing us together to launch this crucial report.
The World Bank Group looks forward to working with all of you to stop future food crises in their tracks and progress towards a world free of hunger.
Thank you.
