Host communities, typically as poor as the poor coming to them for help, are drawn into the dislocation. The hosts are affected as commodity prices rise, labour markets are affected, local or national development activities are curtailed, and widespread natural resource damage results from new concentrations of displaced people needing land and fuel to survive. The recent growth in numbers of refugees and displaced people shows no signs of abating, and is the least responsive to progress made in the realms of food production or distribution. The solution to large-scale population displacements is typically political rather than simply economic or environmental. The damage wrought by crises 2.7 The human, productivity, and opportunity costs of complex emergencies are too high, however measured.
Households disrupted by armed conflict are vulnerable to hunger over long periods of time.
Destruction in countries such as Mozambique, Cambodia or Nicaragua only adds to the cost of development investments in the future. What is more, the resources dedicated to humanitarian assistance, peace-keeping and rehabilitation are increasing. Better preparedness against crises is essential in the war against hunger 2.9 Growing more food is essential, but will not in itself solve the problem of hunger. There is a need at local, national and international levels for better preparedness against crises, and more attention must be paid to the needs of hungry people once emergencies have passed-the rehabilitation phase should lay a solid foundation for development. Better interaction is also needed between development and relief professionals to ensure investments that reduce household vulnerability to disasters.