The climate crisis is getting worse, impacts are intensifying and their effects are already being felt across communities, businesses and markets globally, resulting in starvation, poverty and increased financial risks.

That is the stark warning from three new reports this week that all pointed to the same stark conclusion — the climate crisis is already having a severe impact all around the world, and unless "massive and immediate" action is taken, future prospects for global businesses and communities remain bleak.

A new report by Oxfam revealed that extreme hunger has more than doubled in 10 of the world's worst climate hotspots over the past six years. The climate vulnerable hotspots — which the charity defined as those with the highest number of United Nations appeals driven by extreme weather events — have suffered a 123 percent increase in acute hunger since 2016.

"Climate change is no longer a ticking bomb, it is exploding before our eyes," warned Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam International's executive director. "It is making extreme weather such as droughts, cyclones and floods — which have increased five-fold over the past 50 years — more frequent and more deadly."

Somalia, Haiti, Djibouti, Kenya, Niger and Afghanistan were among the countries highlighted, with the report finding that 48 million people across these areas are suffering from acute hunger, up from 21 million in 2016. Of those suffering, 18 million were found to be on the brink of starvation.

Climate impacts have played a central role in the hunger crisis. Droughts in Somalia and Kenya have caused widespread famine and malnourishment. In Somalia, 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of the drought, and in Kenya, the current drought has killed nearly 2.5 million livestock and left 2.4 million people hungry, including hundreds of thousands of children left severely malnourished. More broadly, heatwaves and droughts across much of the northern hemisphere this summer have pushed up the price of agricultural commodities on global markets.

"For millions of people already pummelled down by ongoing conflict, widening inequalities and economic crises, repeated climate shocks are becoming a backbreaker," Bucher added. "The onslaught of climate disasters is now outpacing poor people's ability to cope, pushing them deeper into severe hunger."

Oxfam highlighted that climate-fuelled hunger is a "stark demonstration of global inequality." Countries that are least responsible for the climate crisis are suffering the most from its impacts and are also the least resourced to cope with it, the charity said.

Read the full article about the risks of the global climate crisis by Amber Rolt at GreenBiz.