Internal displacement and food insecurity constitute overlapping crises, as many internally displaced persons live in both protracted displacement and extreme food insecurity. According to the Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), 75% of food insecure countries are also characterized by internal displacement. While more comprehensive studies are needed to understand the full complexity of their interrelation, the GRID demonstrates that the two phenomena are closely connected and amplify each other to create lasting vulnerabilities and various difficulties for IDPs and their host communities.
The latest FAO-WFP Hunger hotspots released in November highlights that 18 hunger hotspots across 22 countries and territories face acute food insecurity and that this is likely to intensify in the upcoming months. The rise in acute food insecurity is linked to several factors including the spread of conflict and violence, which are in turn prominent drivers of internal displacement.
Some countries of the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger) remain at the highest alert level for worsening food security. At the same time, the region saw record numbers of displacement, with Burkina Faso hosting 1.9 million IDPs in late 2022. The crises in the Sahel region are compounded by escalating violence, climate change, economic challenges as well as the continuing protracted conflict in the Sudan which is also impacting Chad. Specifically, the violence exacerbates food insecurity as people are forced to flee, markets and livelihoods are disrupted, and cultivated areas are neglected, thereby further limiting food access and availability.
