For weeks now, many families in the Lebanon They don’t sit at a table to eat. They also don’t choose what they’re going to have for lunch. They are even forced to give up dinner. Behind the direct consequences of the war—the deaths, the displacement, the devastation—, there is a noise that, progressively, is spreading among the population. It is the roar What does the stomach do when hunger presses. And, in the country of cedars, hunger is getting stronger and stronger. Around 1.24 million peopleor almost one in four, face high levels of food insecurityaccording to the latest analysis of the Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification (ICF).
“Although food is still available At the national level, the main problem is that They are no longer affordable“, he denounces Rasha Abu Durghamspokesperson for World Food Program (WFP) in Lebanon. “Vulnerable households increasingly have less access to food due to the increase in the costs of transportation and food itself, as their income continues to decrease,” he tells this newspaper. All population groups have been affected by this worsening of the food situation, but, geographically, the impact is greater in the southern Lebanonsubjected to continuous Israeli bombings and demolitions of infrastructure that block roads.
Despite the cease-fire in force, the reality in many parts of the cedar country is the same as when there was not one. The excitement of the first days motivated tens of thousands of people to return to their homes. When, upon arrival, they found their homes destroyed, the specter of violence hovering over their heads and the lack of basic servicessuch as electricity, water or health centers, hundreds decided to take the road back to their shelters this time. At least 120,000 Lebanese remain divided between 626 public sheltersaccording to the Ministry of Social Affairs. The vast majority are there with nothing to do, without being able to work, because their means of subsistence They are linked to that same land that they have been forced to abandon.
Green lung under siege
These tragic conditions force many families to depend on humanitarian aid that reaches the shelters, although sometimes that only means eating once a day, depending on the coordination of the assistance response. For the thousands of people who have decided stay in their villages in southern Lebanon and who are still alive, supplies arrive in dribs and drabs, often thanks to humanitarian convoys like those organized by the World Food Programme. In the regions of Bint Jbeil, Marjayun, Nabatiye y Tiroall in the south, both the Lebanese population and Syrian refugees have suffered the largest increases in their levels of food insecurity. These affect between the 55 and 65% of the population, including 10% of people who are in Phase 4 of the CIF, the emergency phase.
The eastern region of Lebanon is one of the main green lungs of the country and its devastation It has serious consequences. “The figures are extremely alarming: more than 56,000 hectares of agricultural landalmost a quarter of Lebanon’s total cultivated area, have been affected,” notes Nora Ourabah Haddadrepresentative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Lebanon. “About 78% of farmers in the affected areas of the south cannot access safely to their lands for a critical planting and harvest period“, he tells EL PERIÓDICO. Furthermore, the occupation of 5% of Lebanese territory by Israeli troops in the border region prevents access to agricultural plantations for dozens of families that depend economically on them.
Previous context
Many of them have been forced to be physically far from their land. This continued scrolling supposes a “aggravating factor important for food insecurity,” says Ourabah Haddad, “not only because people are forced to leave their homes, but because displacement practically alters all aspects of family stability and daily life.” Therefore, many of these families are forced to reduce the quantity and quality of the food they consume, skip meals, or even skip meals. they go into debt or they sell some essential goods in order to survive. He increase in prices It has affected those individuals who have not been displaced, but who suddenly find that they cannot afford to buy what they used to.
The worsening is news, but the country of cedars was already starting from a worrying situation before the conflict. “Food insecurity in Lebanon has become increasingly structural since 2019“explains Abou Durgham, referring to the year in which the economic crisis that has plagued the country since then, and that the World Bank considered one of the worst financial debacles in the world since 1859. “Many households already had difficulties in meeting their basic needs before the last escalation, and now, the advances previously achieved in terms of food security have been reversed,” laments the WFP representative. These setbacks are affecting at least 380,000 children at risk of food insecurity, according to Save the Children.
Ecocide
International humanitarian organizations such as the FAO or the WFP already speak of a “national crisis“, while small local NGOs multiply their efforts and expand their calls to get more volunteers to cook for the displaced population. “In many ways, the crisis is becoming not only a humanitarian and economic challengebut also in a structural threat for Lebanon’s agri-food systems, rural livelihoods and long-term food security,” adds Ourabah Haddad. In addition to the almost 9,000 deaths across the country, the Israeli offensive has burned from 2023 to 2,154 hectares of orchardsincluding 814 olive trees and 637 citrus groves, and has destroyed 5,000 hectares of forestsaccording to the National Scientific Research Council.
The Minister of the Environment, Tamara el Zeinhas accused Israel of ecocide “due to the scale and intentionality of the damages on forests, agricultural lands, maritime ecosystems, water resources and atmospheric quality.” As southern Lebanon fights Israeli bombs with green meadows, flowering trees and captivating aromas, no one can go to collect its fruits. With the perpetuation of this blockade, the echo of roaring stomachs continues to spread throughout the country.
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