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UNOG Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Hunger Tightens Grip In Northern Ethiopia WFP - OCHA
Food security in Tigray has plummeted after 15 months of conflict with almost 40% (2 million people) of the Tigrayan population now severly food insecure, said the UN World Food Programme (WFP) at today's release of its latest food security assessment.
It found that more than 80 % of the population (4,6 million people) are food insecure and struggle to find enough to eat.
“Severe hunger is tightening its grip on northern Ethiopia”, said Tomson Phiri, WFP’s spokesperson at a news briefing at the UN in Geneva. “After 15 months of conflict, almost 40% of Tigrayans are suffering in extreme lack of food. Meanwhile, across all three conflict affected regions of the north, it is estimated 9 million people are in need of humanitarian food assistance, the highest number yet”.
Families are exhausting all means to feed themselves with three quarters of the population using extreme coping strategies to survive. Diets are increasingly impoverished as food items become unavailable and families are forced of limiting portion sizes.
“In terms of nutrition, they say they found that 13% of Tigrayan children under the age of five and half of all pregnant and nursing women are malnourished”, said WFP’s Tomson Phiri. “This obviously is leading to poor pregnancy outcomes, low-birth weight, stunting and even maternal death”. He added that “famine is not being declared in Tigray. We have people who are in IPC phase 4 and IPC phase 5.”
However, IPC phase 4 and IPC phase 5 means “famine like conditions”, according to Mr. Phiri. WFP is calling on all parties to the conflict to agree to a humanitarian pause and formally agreed transport corridors, so that supplies can reach the millions besieged by hunger.
“WFP estimates that on average, crisis-affected families in northern Ethiopia were getting less than 30 percent of their caloric needs in the past months, pushing people deeper into crisis”, said Mr. Phiri. “It’s expected that that constant humanitarian food assistance will be required at least throughout 2022.”
According to WFP, in the Amhara region, hunger has more than doubled in five months because of the fighting between the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and the Tigray Forces (TF).
In Afar region, to the east of Tigray, conflict-driven displacement is pushing hunger and malnutrition rates up. Malnutrition rates for children under five were at 28 percent, far above the emergency threshold of 15 percent.
“Most recently, however, no convoy has reached Tigray since mid-December”, reported WFP’s Tomson Phiri. “Fighting and insecurity means the World Food Program and other humanitarian actors are struggling to reach areas that have been cut off by the conflict, in conditions that risk the safety of both our staff and other volunteers as well as the security of humanitarian supplies.”
Since March, WFP has reached almost 4 million people across northern Ethiopia with food and nutrition assistance.
Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) raised the lack of access due to the ongoing fighting: “In Tigray, the United Nations and our NGO partners have been forced to scale back operations because of the severe shortages of supplies, fuel and cash. Organizations have warned that operations could seize completely by the end of February. Nutrition supplies for supplementary feeding and treatment of severe acute malnutrition have already run out.”
Laerke added that “the reason why these supplies are not getting through over land at the moment is the fighting that is going on around Abala”.
-ENDS-
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations Palace of Nations, Geneva. UN flag flying.
- Wide shot, press room UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP): “Severe hunger is tightening its grip on northern Ethiopia. After 15 months of conflict, almost 40% of Tigrayans are suffering in extreme lack of food. Meanwhile, across all three conflict affected regions of the north, it is estimated 9 million people are in need of humanitarian food assistance, the highest number yet.”
- Medium shot, masked participants listening.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP): “In terms of nutrition, they say they found that 13% of Tigrayan children under the age of five and half of all pregnant and nursing women are malnourished. This obviously is leading to poor pregnancy outcomes, low-birth weight, stunting and even maternal death.”
- Wide shot, podium speakers seated with TV screen on his left side.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP): “No, famine is not being declared in Tigray. We have people who are in IPC phase 4 and IPC phase 5.”
- Medium-wide shot, camera screen showing participants, podium speakers to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP): “WFP estimates that on average, crisis-affected families in northern Ethiopia were getting less than 30 percent of their caloric needs in the past months, pushing people deeper into crisis. It’s expected that that constant humanitarian food assistance will be required at least throughout 2022.”
- Medium shot, masked participant looking at laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP): “Most recently, however, no convoy has reached Tigray since mid-December. Fighting and insecurity means the World Food Program and other humanitarian actors are struggling to reach areas that have been cut off by the conflict, in conditions that risk the safety of both our staff and other volunteers as well as the security of humanitarian supplies.”
- Medium shot, participant looking at laptop, podium speakers to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “In Tigray, the United Nations and our NGO partners have been forced to scale back operations because of the severe shortages of supplies, fuel and cash. Organizations have warned that operations could seize completely by the end of February. Nutrition supplies for supplementary feeding and treatment of severe acute malnutrition have already run out.”
- Medium shot, masked participant taking notes on laptop.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The reason why these supplies are not getting through over land at the moment is the fighting that is going on around Abala”.
- Medium shot, masked participants looking away with cameraman to rear.
- Wide shot, press room UN Geneva, podium speakers to rear.
- Medium shot, journalists with cameraman
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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