Turning the tide on Food Crises:
Harnessing Strategic Anticipatory Action and Emergency Agriculture

Food crises driven by extreme weather events and protracted conflicts are increasingly predictable, necessitatingthat humanitarian and development actors double down on anticipatory action to reduce most acute needs, saving and changing lives.In 2024, over 17 million people were reached through anticipatory action in 45 countries, compared with 12.8 million reached in 48 countries in 2023. Food and nutrition actions featured in 31 active anticipatory action frameworksand were used in 27 activations in places such as Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Namibia and Somalia.

Anticipatory action is increasingly recognized as an effective toolfor addressing food crises before they escalate, allowing partners to act based on pre-agreed triggers, conducting pre-agreed activities, and leveraging pre-agreed financing. The proposed side event will outline findings from extensive research and evidence demonstrating the cost-effectiveness and life-saving impacts of measures that mitigate the impacts of predicted shocks. By acting early based on forecasts – such as facilitating access to drought-tolerant seeds, providing cash transfers ahead of forecasted droughts, or vaccinating livestock in at-risk areas ahead of floods – organizations have mitigated or reduced the severity of emergencies driven by predictable hazards. As food crises become ever more frequent and severe,anticipatory action stands out as a critical, cost-effective strategy for safeguarding food security and supporting communities before they reach a breaking point.

Discussions will further investigate ongoingefforts to reconfigure the humanitarian system through the Humanitarian Reset and how these can present a crucial opportunity to further embed anticipatory action in the food security sector — enabling more effective, cost-efficient measures that protect more people with fewer resources. Local knowledge and local leadership of anticipatory action is key to alleviating food insecurity and strengthening community resilience against future crises,

Finally, the event will respond to a growing interest aboutthe role of emergency agriculture and food production to achieve food security outcomes in emergency crisis.Agriculture has also a proven role in preventing hunger, preserving dignity, supporting food security in emergencies along with food and cash assistance. Agriculture assistance contributes to food diversity and nutrition, prevents animal or crop diseases, protects assets, prevents irreversible copying mechanisms, increases the availability of and access to food for entire communities, markets and can help to stabilize food prices in local markets while increasing households' food stability and resilience - while preventing aid dependency and preserving dignity of assisted people

Modality:Virtual

Participating Stakeholders: WVI, WFP, FAO, local partner.