By the end of 2007, the world was confronted with a new and very different emergency: rising food and fuel prices threatened to push millions more people into hunger, driving up the cost of providing life-saving food assistance. These price pressures converged with other challenges including increased frequency and scope of natural disasters, tightening commodity markets, declining levels of food aid in a post-food surplus era and skyrocketing energy costs. WFP stepped up, providing 86.1 million people in 80 countries with life-saving food assistance, helping hundreds of communities gain access to food and thus re-establish food security.
