Today, Monday 19th April, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas will jointly launch the final report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020.

With important contributions from FAO, the latest WMO State of the Global Climate report highlights record-breaking temperatures, low Arctic sea-ice extent, an increasing occurrence and intensification of extreme weather events with severe damage and loss, along with new threats brought on by COVID-19.

FAO together with WFP contributed to a section with an overview of the compounding drivers of global food insecurity such as climate-related disasters, conflict, displacements, and COVID-19 mobility restrictions. For instance, during the pandemic, the feasibility of face-to-face services to provide farmers with information from seasonal weather forecasts as guidance on early actions has been reduced in many countries.

The past two decades have witnessed not only the highest global mean temperatures on record, but also the greatest number of climate-related disasters.  The economic recession brought on by COVID-19 is estimated to increase the number of undernourished people by a minimum of 83 million and possibly as many as 132 million.

A case study in Pakistan highlights FAO’s Desert Locust Information System (DLIS) and control operations across the world's largest irrigated system, the Indus River Basin. After years of extraordinary rains along the Arabian Peninsula, providing the optimal conditions for breeding and feeding of desert locusts, FAO’s monitoring and control system supported the survey of 61.4 million hectares and the treatment of 1.13 million hectares of cropland, thereafter declared locust free.

FAO's early warnings and early action responses played a key role in saving up to around 1.5 MT of cereals (enough to feed 10 million people in one year), worth around US$ 456 million across the world's most food insecure regions (the Great Horn of Africa and Yemen).

Addressing the compounded shocks faced by agriculture and food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic remains a priority for most countries. A green recovery is the only path towards realising global environmental targets, cutting carbon emissions and keeping the temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius. Recovery plans should advocate for scaling up investments in strengthening multi-risk management and early warning systems to prompt early action, which can save millions of lives.