Attachments
CONTEXT
-
Humanitarian conditions continue to stabilize in Sri Lanka following a multifaceted crisis in 2022 which exacerbated acute food insecurity, poor macroeconomic conditions, protection concerns, and shortages of fuel and essential services across the country. Nevertheless, approximately 7 million people, or more than 30 percent of the country’s population, required humanitarian assistance, including food security and livelihood support, as of March 2023, the UN reports.
-
An estimated 3.9 million people—17 percent of Sri Lanka’s population—are moderately food-insecure and 10,000 people remain severely acute food-insecure as of March 2023, representing decreases of approximately 40 and 85 percent, respectively, compared with May 2022 figures, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP). These improvements are attributed to enhanced food consumption following a reduction in food prices and increased incomes among farming households during the harvest period, FAO and WFP report. Despite this positive trend, widespread food needs prevail in vulnerable areas of Sri Lanka’s Central, Eastern, and Northern provinces, with the highest levels of acute food insecurity recorded among plantation communities in Sri Lanka’s estate sector, as well as daily wage laborers and households reliant on social assistance programs as a primary source of income.
-
Sri Lanka remains susceptible to natural hazards, including coastal erosion, cyclones, drought, floods, landslides, monsoons, and tsunamis. Climate change continues to contribute to the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the country and heightened related risks, including damaged crops and infrastructure, diminished coastal livelihoods, displacement, increased transmission risk of vector-borne diseases, and loss of life.