The annual Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) provides a consensus-based overview of the world’s food crises. It focuses on crises where the local capacities to respond are insufficient, prompting a request for the urgent mobilization of the international community, as well as countries/territories where there is ample evidence that the magnitude and severity of the food crisis exceed the local resources and capacities needed to respond effectively. The 2021 edition reported the growing severity and magnitude of these crises with at least 155 million acutely food-insecure people in need of urgent assistance in 55 countries/territories in 2020 (Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent). This figure represented the highest number in the GRFC’s five-year existence, reflecting the compounding impacts of persistent conflict/insecurity, economic shocks, including those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and weather extremes.