Funding collapse leaves millions without safety net

The world’s main humanitarian food agency is warning that a deepening hunger emergency is unfolding faster than governments are willing to fund it. In a new global outlook for 2026, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) says the number of people facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse is projected to reach hundreds of millions, more than double the figure before the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency’s Rome-based analysts link the surge to a familiar trio of pressures: armed conflict, extreme weather and fragile economies.

At the same time, WFP is confronting one of the sharpest funding squeezes in its history. Despite a plan to reach more than 100 million of the most vulnerable people next year, the agency says it is likely to receive barely half the money it needs to do so. Senior officials warn that rations are already being cut in multiple countries and that life-saving programmes are being triaged in places where famine-like conditions are emerging. They describe the situation as a “double shock”: rising needs and shrinking resources.

Conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and several parts of the Sahel are cited as examples of crises where hunger has become a central weapon and consequence of war. In Gaza and parts of Sudan, integrated food security monitors have already registered conditions close to, or at, formal famine thresholds. Aid convoys face access restrictions, while local markets have collapsed under siege and displacement. In these environments, WFP staff say, every truckload of food and nutrition assistance becomes a race against time.

The funding crunch is being driven in part by sharp cuts from traditional donors. The United States, historically WFP’s largest backer, has pared back foreign aid under the current administration, while several European governments are diverting budgets toward domestic priorities and defence. WFP has warned that its overall funding for 2025 is expected to fall by around 40% compared with the previous year, forcing it to prioritise the very worst-hit communities and suspend support elsewhere.

Food insecurity is also being pushed higher by climate-related shocks, from prolonged droughts in the Horn of Africa to floods and storms in Asia and the Caribbean. The agency says repeated climate disasters are eroding households’ ability to recover between crises, locking families into cycles of debt and malnutrition. Rising food prices, currency depreciation and high interest rates in many developing countries are compounding the shock, making imported staples more expensive just as governments have less fiscal space to respond.

WFP stresses that emergency food deliveries alone cannot solve a crisis of this scale. Alongside short-term lifesaving operations, it is urging donors and national governments to invest in programmes that build resilience – from rehabilitating irrigation systems and roads to supporting climate-smart agriculture and school meals. Officials argue that every dollar spent on prevention and early action saves several in later emergency response. They also highlight the agency’s growing use of digital tools, such as mobile cash transfers and data-driven targeting, to stretch limited funds further.

Cindy McCain, WFP’s executive director, has called on world leaders to treat hunger as a global security threat that demands sustained attention rather than episodic generosity. She argues that leaving hundreds of millions of people without reliable access to food will fuel instability, displacement and conflict far beyond current hotspots. While the agency says it is innovating to become more efficient, it insists no amount of internal reform can close a funding gap of this size. The choice, WFP says, is ultimately political: either governments step up to match the scale of need, or the world accepts a future in which chronic, large-scale hunger is normalised.