"With the African island nation suffering a food crisis driven by drought on a warming planet, WFP says it's an alarm bell on the need to step up protection for vulnerable people"

"The cracked red earth and sunken eyes of gaunt children, their bellies swollen from acute malnutrition, bear witness to the devastation being wrought by Madagascar's worst drought in four decades.

As the south of the African island nation is pushed to the brink of famine, climate change researchers say such harrowing images should serve as an alarm bell over the need for drastic action to cut planet-heating emissions and climate-proof global food systems.

According to the U.N. World Food Programme, severe hunger due to the drought has touched over 1.1 million people with 14,000 of them one step away from famine."

Kim Harrisberg and Megan Rowling report for Thomson Reuters Foundation November 3, 2021. [2]