미-이스라엘의 이란 전쟁으로 전 세계 기아 위기 심화
US-Israel war on Iran driving historic levels of global hunger, UN says - The Guardian
미국-이스라엘의 이란 전쟁으로 기름 가격이 급등하고 역사적 수준의 세계적 기근이 발생하면서, 주식 시장에 압박을 가하고 있습니다.
핵심 요약
3억 6300만 명이 기아 위험에 처한 가운데, 미-이스라엘의 이란 전쟁과 자금 지원 감소로 전 세계 기아 위기가 심화하고 있습니다.
핵심요약
- 3억 6300만 명이 급성 기아 위험에 처해 있으며, 그 중 4500만 명은 미-이스라엘 전쟁의 영향입니다.
- 2025년에 가자와 수단에서 2개의 기근이 선언되며 역사적 수준의 기아 위기를 맞이했습니다.
- 미국을 비롯한 주요 기부국의 자금 지원이 3분의 1 감소하며, WFP는 아프가니스탄에서 1000만 명 지원에서 200만 명으로 크게 줄였습니다.
- Sudan의 상황은 세계 최악의 인도주의 위기이며, Darfur와 South Kordofan에서 기근이 지속되고 있습니다.
도입
이 기사는 투자자에게 중요한 의미를 지닙니다. 전 세계 기아 위기가 심화되면서 식량 안전과 관련된 산업, 특히 농업 기술, 식량 유통, 그리고 국제 원조에 관련된 기업들의 비즈니스 환경이 크게 변화하고 있습니다. 또한, 지정학적 불안정이 식량 가격에 미치는 영향을 고려할 때, 투자자들은 이러한 요인을 반영한 포트폴리오 조정이 필요할 수 있습니다.
본문 1: 식량 유통 기업의 성장 가능성
UN 세계식량계획의 보고에 따르면, 3억 6300만 명이 급성 기아 위험에 처해 있습니다. 이는 식량 유통 기업들에게 새로운 비즈니스 기회가 될 수 있습니다. 특히, 아프리카와 중동 지역에서의 식량 수요 증가는 로지스틱스와 유통 인프라를 강화한 기업들에게 유리하게 작용할 전망입니다. 그러나, 이러한 지역에서의 운영 환경이 불안정하다는 점은 리스크 요인으로 작용할 수 있습니다.
본문 2: 지정학적 리스크의 증가
미국과 이스라엘의 이란 전쟁은 유가 상승을 초래하며, 이는 전 세계적으로 식량 가격 상승으로 이어질 가능성이 있습니다. 특히, 중동 지역의 불안정성은 식량 유통의 효율성을 저하시키고, 공급망에 차질을 빚을 수 있습니다. 이는 농업 기업과 식량 유통 기업 모두에게 큰 영향을 미칠 수 있으며, 투자자들은 이러한 리스크를 고려한 포트폴리오 조정이 필요할 수 있습니다.
본문 3: 장기적 관점
장기적으로는 식량 안전과 관련된 기술 개발이 주목받을 전망입니다. 예를 들어, 수직 농업, 유기농 농업, 그리고 식량 폐기물 감소 기술 등은 투자자의 관심을 끌 가능성이 있습니다. 또한, 국제 원조와 관련된 기업들의 역할도 중요해질 전망입니다. 그러나, 이러한 기술과 사업 모델이 성공하기 위해서는 안정적인 자금 지원과 정책적 지원이 필요할 것입니다.
결론
전 세계 기아 위기가 심화되면서 식량 안전과 관련된 산업에 대한 관심은 높아지고 있습니다. 투자자들은 지정학적 리스크와 기술 발전이라는 두 가지 측면에서 포트폴리오를 조정할 필요가 있습니다. 또한, 국제 원조와 관련된 기업들의 역할도 중요해질 전망이며, 이러한 기업들의 성과를 주목할 필요가 있습니다.
Original Article
US-Israel war on Iran driving historic levels of global hunger, UN says - The Guardian
Conflict and cuts in funding have left World Food Programme ‘taking from the hungry to feed the starving’
The continuing US-Israel war on Iran has compounded other global disasters to drive record numbers of people into hunger at a time when funding to combat famine has fallen dramatically, the deputy head of the UN World Food Programme has said.
The WFP says 363 million people around the world are now at risk of acute hunger, 45 million of them as a result of conflict in the Middle East and the consequent oil price spike.
The surge in need comes against the backdrop of a cut in funding last year by a third, with the US, the largest donor by far, cutting its contribution by more than half.
Carl Skau, who will become the WFP’s acting executive director on Monday when Cindy McCain steps down for health reasons, said the huge gap between needs and funding had forced the organisation to cut programmes supporting populations in food emergencies so as to focus on those already facing catastrophic famine.
“We take from the hungry to give to the starving. That’s the reality,” Skau told the Guardian. “Much of this is driven by conflict. Last year, we had two famines declared. That hasn’t happened in decades, so these are historic levels of hunger.”
The two famines declared in 2025 were in Gaza and Sudan. The situation in Gaza has improved slightly since the October ceasefire, while Sudan continues to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with pockets of famine persisting in parts of Darfur and South Kordofan.
“On the funding side, we had a drop of nearly 40% year on year,” Skau said, adding that it immediately affected staffing levels, particularly in Afghanistan and Yemen, where the Trump administration has cut off all emergency food funding. “We had to let go of 5,000 people. In Afghanistan, it’s meant we went from supporting 10 million to 2 million. It was a huge, huge drop last year.”
More than 300 million people were already facing acute hunger globally before the US and Israel started a war with Iran in February, which led to Tehran closing the strait of Hormuz and then a US counterblockade on Iranian shipping.
The WFP estimated earlier in the Iran war that if oil prices remained above $100, 45 million more people would face acute food shortages. The price of Brent crude fell below that benchmark in mid-May, but only after weeks in March and May when it was well above $100. It still costs 30% more than its prewar average and could rise again.
The war and the Hormuz closure have had several effects on global hunger and the WFP’s capacity to prevent people from dying from famine. Most directly, it drives up food prices, mostly because of transport costs.
“The price of food and energy is so closely correlated that in some places if the price of energy goes up 30%, food inflation almost meets that,” Skau said. “In a least developed country, amongst the most vulnerable, they’re already spending all their money on food, and so that means they eat 30% or 40% less.”
The spike in oil prices also directly affects WFP efforts to get food to the most desperately hungry. More of its operating costs have to go towards transport, and some aid routes have been blocked.
For example, border tensions with the Taliban government in Afghanistan in recent months led Pakistan to close border crossings, blocking the usual route for food aid. The Gulf conflict has since closed its second longest border, with Iran, so the WFP has had to resort to long and costly land routes.
Skau said 85,000 tons of food aid intended for Afghanistan had been stuck on the Pakistan border for months, then rerouted to Dubai, only to be stuck there when the Iran war broke out. The WFP then sent it through Turkey and across the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan. It was due to arrive last week, seven months late.
The oil price hike and the inflationary surge it has sent across the world also affects the willingness of donor countries to fund the WFP. Total donor contributions had already dropped from $9.8bn in 2024 to $6.5bn in 2025. In that period, US funding fell from $4.4bn to $2.1bn, while UK contributions declined from $610m to $435m. This year, the estimated funding needs are $13bn but only $2.8bn has so far been received.
Those are all immediate impacts on hunger of the Iran war, and it is already creating severe problems for next year by cutting the supply chain for a third of the world’s seaborne fertiliser .
“In east Africa, all their fertiliser comes from the Middle East, and they don’t have the capacity nor the resources to buy elsewhere,” Skau said. “So that means that if this continues, there is going to be none, and eastern Africa is now heading into the planting season, so we will see the impact on productivity six or nine months from now.”
Beyond the immediate impact of the Iran war, Skau pointed to the corrosion of international norms that had made the work of humanitarian workers like WFP staff more dangerous than ever. More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have been killed while doing their job over the past three years.
Iranian-backed Houthi forces are still holding 38 WFP workers they detained last year on unsubstantiated espionage allegations, leading the organisation to suspend operations in Houthi-controlled areas.
“We really feel this broader sense of a challenge to the rule of law,” Skau said. “We feel it at the checkpoints, and the drone wars have been terrible. We’re losing more colleagues than ever, and it’s very difficult with attribution – we can’t point to exactly who did what – and certainly there is no accountability. It’s never been more dangerous.”