2024 marked the warmest year in the 175-year observational record, causing unprecedented weather-related disasters which threatened the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people. As people around the world continued to grapple with extreme heatwaves, devastating floods, unprecedented storms and persistent droughts, WFP continued to scale up its Disaster Risk Financing programmes recognising the need to financially protect communities from the losses and damages caused by weather-related events and to prevent them from being pushed into hunger and food insecurity, aiming to close the crisis protection gap.
Since 2008, WFP has prioritised advancing financial protection for food insecure communities and strengthening governments’ disaster risk financing and response strategies as a means of building resilience to extreme weather events. In 2024, expanded its Disaster Risk Financing portfolio to protect six million people across 37 countries, with more than US$361 million in financial protection. In regions affected by drought, loods and tropical cyclones, US$49 million in payouts enabled WFP to assist over two million people – US$33 million higher than 2023.
