PIRATE ATTACKS COULD RAMP UP HUNGER IN AFRICA, WARNS UN AGENCY

New York, Apr 16 2009 3:10PM
Several ships carrying United Nations emergency relief supplies bound for Somalia have become the latest victims of piracy off the Horn of Africa, prompting the World Food Programme (WFP) to express concern that millions of people in the strife-torn region could go hungry.

If the Sea Horse vessel, hijacked on 14 April heading for India to load up with over 7,000 tons of food meant for Somalia, is not quickly released or replaced by another ship, WFP fears that the suffering already inflicted on Somalis will be compounded.

The agency noted that last week’s attack on the Maersk Alabama - briefly sequestered en route to Mombasa, Kenya, while carrying aid for several organisations, including WFP – marked a turning point, as European Union naval escorts had kept <"http://www.wfp.org/stories/two-new-piracy-incidents-underline-threat-wfp-shipments">WFP shipments secure since they began in November 2007.

WFP stressed that the Kenyan port, which received more than 500,000 tons of WFP food in 2008, is essential to its operations in Somalia and elsewhere in Eastern and Central Africa.

If food assistance cannot arrive through Mombasa before being re-routed to Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, southern Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), millions of people will go hungry and the already high malnutrition rates will continue to climb, according to agency.

In another incident on Tuesday, the WFP-chartered Liberty Sun came under attack from pirates, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, who managed to escape before United States naval assistance could arrive.

The Liberty Sun had unloaded WFP food assistance in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, before it was attacked en route to Mombasa, loaded with 27,000 tons of WFP maize meal, corn soya blend, wheat flour, yellow peas and lentils.

As 90 per cent of WFP food aid for Somalia arrives by sea, piracy has long been a concern for WFP, which saw three of its ships hijacked or attacked in 2007.

Some 300 hostages and 17 vessels are currently held by a small group who are only interested in maximizing their illegal profits, Special Representative of Secretary-General for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said on Tuesday.

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TOP UN OFFICIALS ISSUE CALL FOR URGENT ACTION TO HELP WORLD’S HUNGRY

New York, Oct 23 2008 6:10PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto appealed for swift measures to help the world’s poor who have been hit hardest during this time of financial, food and fuel crises, as United Nations Headquarters observed World Food Day today.

“While the international community is focused on turmoil in the global economy, I am extremely concerned that not enough is being done to help those who are suffering most: the poorest of the poor,” Mr. Ban <"http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2008/sgsm11879.doc.htm">said at an event to mark the Day – which falls annually on 16 October – in New York.

He stressed that the root causes of the crisis have yet to be addressed. “The current difficulties will only intensify if we fail to take resolute action now,” he said.

The Secretary-General pointed out that food prices have increased five-fold in some parts of Haiti and Ethiopia, with families’ ability to buy much-needed food threatened by the current financial upheaval.

Over 900 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and under-nutrition, he said, calling for “strong political” will to tackle the issue and save lives.

“We have to confront these problems head-on,” Mr. Ban emphasized.

The Assembly President said there is a “fresh awakening” to the need for action to be taken on a global scale, with the UN – in spite of its “shortcomings” – spearheading the effort.

“It has taken decades of failed development policies to realize that we must put people first, that we must listen to the voices of people most affected by the poverty that is shocking in its global dimensions,” Mr. D’Escoto said.

“The top-down approach has enabled lopsided development and outrageous abuses.”

The President called on Member States to rise above “narrowly defined national interests,” appealing to them to help all people and nations.

“I reiterate my appeal to donor countries that, rather than reducing assistance to developing countries, they should triple the funds available to avoid prolonged human catastrophes,” he added.

The gathering also heard from the President of the Economic and Social Council (<"http://www.un.org/ecosoc/">ECOSOC) and the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/">FAO), as well as from the keynote speaker, former United States President Bill Clinton.

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INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND APPROVES PACKAGE OF NEARLY $16 BILLION TO HELP HUNGARY

New York, Nov 7 2008 12:10PM
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a standby arrangement for Hungary worth nearly $16 billion to help the Central European country stave off a deepening of its economic troubles amid the global financial crisis.

The IMF Executive Board approved the request yesterday under its fast-track Emergency Financing Mechanism, and about $6.3 billion will be immediately given out as part of the agreement, which covers the next 17 months.

The Hungarian economy has come under particular stress in recent weeks as a result of the global financial crisis, with the country’s high debt levels, falling stock market and depreciating currency combining to add pressure to its financial system.

The standby arrangement is designed to support the economic programme devised by Hungarian authorities, which includes a substantial fiscal adjustment to ensure the Government’s debt financing needs decline, strong levels of capitals in the local banking system, and the maintenance of adequate liquidity in those banks.

John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, said he was confident that Hungary can weather its current difficulties by consistently implementing its programme and receiving continued support from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union.

The measures proposed in the Hungarian programme tackle the country’s “most important vulnerabilities and should therefore underpin an improvement in investor confidence,” Mr. Lipsky <"http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/CAR110608A.htm">said.

“Most important, the combination of accelerated fiscal adjustment and the introduction of a rules-based fiscal framework will help persuade investors that the Government’s short- and medium-term financing needs are being addressed.”

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SOUNDING ‘ALARM BELLS,’ BAN CALLS FOR MORE AID TO LANDLOCKED DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

New York, Oct 2 2008 12:10PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the international community to show the same generosity in helping the world’s 31 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) overcome their trade-hobbling isolation as it did last week when it pledged significant new funding to help poor States in general achieve development goals.

“Today we are sounding alarm bells for the Almaty Programme of Action,” he <"http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=342">told a High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly devoted to a mid-term review of the Programme, a 2003 plan setting out specific measures to compensate LLDCs for their geographical handicaps with improved market access and trade facilitation.

Although LLDCs represent about 15 per cent of States, their share of world exports has remained well below 1 per cent, according to United Nations figures.

Mr. Ban noted that the “alarm bells” he sounded last week at the Assembly’s High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the ambitious targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to slash poverty, hunger, preventable illness and a host of other socio-economic ills, all by 2015, sparked an “unprecedented commitment” of as much as $16 billion.

“I hope for a similarly hope-inspiring response,” he said. “Let us use the success of the High-Level Event on the MDGs as inspiration for this review.”

It is vital that landlocked developing countries increase their volume of exports in order to meet the MDGs, yet the biggest obstacle to this is the very high cost of transport, in some cases exceeding 70 per cent of the export value, Mr. Ban told the opening session of the two-day meeting, calling for more vigorous international cooperation.

Despite some encouraging progress since 2003 in improving transit transport policies, much more needs to be done in infrastructure development as roads and railways remain inadequate, and many ports use obsolete cargo handling equipment, he said. Integrated transport networks must be developed and customs operations modernized.

Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto also said much more needed to be done to help the LLDCs. “Geographical realities coupled with critical infrastructure deficiencies, as well as cumbersome border crossing procedures, continue to pose daunting impediments to the external trade of landlocked developing countries,” he told the plenary.

“Today, high trade transaction costs remain the single most important obstacle to the equitable and competitive access by landlocked countries to global markets.”

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UNICEF SAYS 180,000 CHILDREN IN SOMALIA ARE MALNOURISHED

New York, Jul 25 2008 5:00PM
Nearly 180,000 children in Somalia are acutely malnourished, with 25,000 severely malnourished, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which has scaled up its nutrition operation to reach more than 50,000 children under the age of five.

A new survey carried out by the Food Security Analysis Unit in Somalia has found that there has been an 11 per cent increase in malnutrition in the last six months.

“So far we have been lucky to be strongly backed by our donors. However, with the recent increase in malnutrition rates and the need for accelerated humanitarian assistance, more funds are required for us to continue and expand our programmes effectively,” said Christian Balslev-Olesen, UNICEF Representative to Somalia.

UNICEF and its partners have just completed a second round of its blanket feeding programme, which involves the distribution of UNIMIX-food supplement, rich with vitamins and minerals, to 54,000 under-five children in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia’s Afgoye Corridor and the capital, Mogadishu.

The IDP concentration areas are among the most at risk of malnutrition, according to UNICEF. The prolonged conflict and civil insecurity in Mogadishu and its surrounding areas have led to an influx of displaced people into temporary settlements across the country.

Afgoye hosts one of the biggest IDP settlements with a displaced population exceeding 300,000 people. Analyses indicate that the nutrition situation in Afgoye is critical, further complicated by the limited access because of the security situation.

Northern parts of Somalia are also hit hard by the deteriorating nutrition conditions, worsened by skyrocketing food prices and the devaluation of the Somali shilling. The urban poor and displaced are the most vulnerable populations, with thousands of families from the conflict-affected south forced to seek temporary refuge in the northern parts of the country.

In Bossaso IDP camps, where about 28,000 people are located, global acute malnutrition rates have been recorded at 23.3 per cent, well above the rate of 15 per cent which is considered to constitute an emergency. Glakayo and Garowe IDP camps have also recorded very critical global acute malnutrition rates.

Starting in August and throughout the remainder of the year, UNICEF and partners will provide rations of 10 kilos of UNIMIX a month per child to approximately 7,500 under-five children in Bossaso IDP camps, as well as to children in Garowe and Galkayo camps, combined with a therapeutic feeding programme for severely malnourished children.

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INSECURITY AND DROUGHT LEAVE MILLIONS OF SOMALIS IN DIRE NEED OF AID – UN

New York, Jul 18 2008 10:00AM
Attacks on aid workers and threats to ships delivering food aid to Somalia, coupled with the effects of drought and poor harvest, have left millions in the strife-torn nation in need of urgent aid, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

Some 2.6 million people – representing 35 per cent of the population – are believed to be in need of food aid in the country, which has not had a functioning government since 1991. That number is expected to rise to 3.5 million by December.

WFP says that insecurity, drought and successive poor harvests are only worsening the suffering of millions, and pushing thousands more into poverty. Price rises in basic commodities and the weakness of the Somali shilling have only added to the misery.

“Somalia is at a dire crossroads,” Peter Goossens, WFP’s Country Director for Somalia <"http://appablog.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/somalia-united-nations-world-food-programme-somalia-faces-dire-crossroads-as-insecurity-and-drought-combine/">told a news conference today in London. “If sufficient food and other humanitarian assistance cannot be scaled up in the coming months, parts of the country could well be in the grips of disaster similar to the 1992-1993 famine, when hundreds of thousands of people perished.”

Mr. Goossens warned that deteriorating security was hindering land and sea deliveries of food. Some 90 per cent of the food aid distributed to Somalis arrives by sea.

WFP has appealed to countries to provide naval escorts to protect WFP food ships against piracy. France, Denmark and the Netherlands had done so over the last eight months but the agency has received no commitments for further escorts beyond June.

The humanitarian aid operation is also being hindered by a spate of killings or kidnappings of staff from UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

WFP has to double the amount of people it feeds from more than one million per month, to 2.4 million by December. CARE International and the International Committee of the Red Cross are to assist the remaining 1.1 million.

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PANAMA’S RURAL POOR TO BENEFIT FROM UN-BACKED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

New York, Jul 15 2008 11:00AM
A new project backed by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) aims to improve the lives of some 10,000 men and women in rural Panama – the majority of them small farmers, landless labourers, unemployed youth and female heads of household.

IFAD is providing a $4.2 million loan towards the six-year, $12.3 million project, under an agreement signed today in Rome by the agency’s President Lennart Båge and the Ambassador of Panama to IFAD, Eudoro Jaén Esquivel.

The project targets the five poorest districts of Veraguas Province in central Panama and those whose annual income is less than $953. It will focus on promoting new income-generating activities and identifying new national and international markets to sell produce.

To help the region’s farmers, the project will provide basic inputs and technical assistance to increase productivity, as well as programmes to enhance access to micro-credit and to improve their business skills.

The project will feature an innovative “territorial development council,” consisting of local government representatives, producers and community groups who will make up the main decision-making body.

IFAD has now financed eight rural development and poverty eradication projects in Panama, committing over $80 million.

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NEW UN REPORT SPOTLIGHTS ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE NATIONS

New York, Jul 11 2008 4:00PM
Although least developed countries as a group had registered impressive economic growth over the past 30 years, the number of poor continued to rise, according to a new United Nations report released today.

The Least Developed Countries Report 2008, published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), provides an account of the economic situation in the world’s 50 most vulnerable nations.

Highlighting some of the report’s findings, UNCTAD’s Catherine Sibut told a news conference in Geneva that some 277 million people in the LDCs lived on less than $1 a day.

While economic growth had improved, the population had grown faster, she noted, adding that the food crisis had worsened the situation, with one least developed country out of three being dependent on food imports.

The report also provides information on the progress of LDCs towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the set of anti-poverty targets world leaders pledged to achieve by 2015.

Taking into account the development patterns and policies that were currently implemented in the LDCs, those countries were off-track to achieve the MDG of reducing the incidence of poverty by half by 2015, Ms. Sibut stated.

Established in 1964, UNCTAD promotes the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy. Among other things, it provides technical assistance tailored to the specific requirements of developing countries, with special attention to the needs of the LDCs and of economies in transition.

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PROTECTION’ THE THEME AS UN ACTIVITIES MARK WORLD REFUGEE DAY

New York, Jun 20 2008 9:00AM
From recreations of refugee camp life in national capitals to film festivals, food bazaars and fashion shows, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is observing World Refugee Day today with a series of activities around the globe to draw attention to the plight faced by the displaced.
The events, which are supported by UNHCR’s partners, including governments, donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the agency’s Goodwill Ambassadors and refugees themselves, also include light shows, photography exhibitions, lectures, concerts, sports competitions, quizzes, essay-writing competitions, tree-planting projects, seminars, workshops and public awareness campaigns.
Using “rotection” as the theme of the Day this year, UNHCR is recreating refugee camp life in around 20 capitals. Earlier this week it set up family tents with exhibits of relief items and a burned-out hut in London’s Trafalgar Square to raise awareness of conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Darfur.
Rome's fabled Colosseum is being illuminated with the UNHCR logo and the legend: “Protecting refugees is a duty. Being protected is a right.” In keeping with annual tradition, the soaring Jet d'Eau in Geneva is being bathed in blue light to mark the day.
A photographic exhibition, "Do You See What I See?" is taking place at Geneva's Palais des Nations, the UN's European headquarters, as well as in Yemen and Namibia. Refugee children in Yemen's Kharaz camp and Osire camp in Namibia have documented their lives, hopes and dreams through text and images.
In Syria, a charity concert at the Opera House in Damascus by acclaimed Iraqi oud (lute) player, Naseer Shamma, will raise money for UNHCR's Iraqi refugee programme, which faces a funding crisis.
UNHCR offices in Uganda and Ethiopia have full programmes planned in refugee camps and settlements, while refugee-themed film festivals are being held in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Mexico, Poland and Venezuela.
In India, the highlights include a clothes drive and a cultural extravaganza run by UNHCR as well as a free health camp for refugees, organized by the refugee agency's partner, New Delhi YMCA.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Osvaldo Laport is attending a tent exhibition in Buenos Aires, where the bookshop El Ateneo will be handing out UNHCR bookmarks based on a local awareness campaign.
In neighbouring Chile, President Michelle Bachelet – a former refugee – will meet UNHCR Regional Representative Cristian Koch and refugees living in the country, including some of the more than 100 Palestinians recently resettled in Chile after fleeing the violence in Iraq.
UNHCR's Deputy High Commissioner L. Craig Johnstone will lead World Refugee Day celebrations in the United States, attending a public ceremony and a film screening at the National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C.
A special message from UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has been released on the video-sharing website YouTube around the world, while Sudan-born basketball star Luol Deng is inviting YouTube users and Facebook users to join an online campaign to “Give Refugees a Hand.”

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UN AGENCY ASSISTS HIGHEST EVER NUMBER OF REFUGEES AND DISPLACED

New York, Jun 17 2008 1:00PM
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provided assistance to 25.1 million people in 2007 – an all-time high – according to its latest annual global snapshot, released today.
“After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we have now seen two years of increases, and that’s a concern,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres <"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/485244f52.html">said in London today after the report was released.
Using figures collected from 150 countries the report says there were a total of 11.4 million refugees outside their countries, as well as 26 million others displaced internally by conflict or persecution at the end of 2007.
“We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future,” Mr. Guterres said. “They range from multiple new conflict-related emergencies in world hotspots to bad governance, climate-induced environmental degradation that increases competition for scarce resources, and extreme price hikes that have hit the poor the hardest and are generating instability in many places.”
The number of refugees under UNHCR's responsibility rose from 9.9 to 11.4 million by the end of 2007. UNHCR also currently provides protection or assistance directly or indirectly to 13.7 internally displaced persons (<"http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3b84c7e23.html">IDPs) – up from 12.8 million in 2006.
In addition, the report lists other categories of concern to UNHCR, including stateless people, asylum-seekers, returned refugees, returned internally displaced, and “others.”
In all, it lists 31.7 million people entitled to UNHCR support, excluding 4.6 million Palestinian refugees helped by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (<"http://www.un.org/unrwa/news/index.html">UNRWA).
Among refugees, the report notes that Afghans (around 3 million, mainly in Pakistan and Iran) and Iraqis (around 2 million, mainly in Syria and Jordan) accounted for nearly half of all refugees under UNHCR's care worldwide in 2007, followed by Colombians (552,000) in a refugee-like situation, Sudanese (523,000) and Somalis (457,000).
It says much of the increase in refugees in 2007 was a result of the volatile situation in Iraq. The top refugee-hosting countries in 2007 included Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Germany and Jordan.
Among the internally displaced, the report cites up to 3 million people in Colombia; 2.4 million in Iraq; 1.3 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); 1.2 million in Uganda; and 1 million in Somalia.
Some 647,200 individual applications for asylum or refugee status were submitted to governments and UNHCR offices in 154 countries last year – a 5 percent increase and the first rise in four years.
The report says the increase can primarily be attributed to the large number of Iraqis seeking asylum in Europe. By nationality, the individual claims included Iraqis (52,000), Somalis (46,100), Eritreans (36,000), Colombians (23,200); Russian Federation (21,800); Ethiopians (21,600) and Zimbabweans (20,700).
Top destination countries for individual asylum-seekers were the United States, South Africa, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Greece.
Some 731,000 refugees were able to go home under voluntary repatriation programs in 2007, including to Afghanistan (374,000), Southern Sudan (130,700), the DRC (60,000), Iraq (45,400) and Liberia (44,400). In addition, an estimated 2.1 million internally displaced people went home during the year.
Refugee resettlement referrals to third countries increased substantially in 2007, with UNHCR submitting 99,000 individuals for consideration by governments – the highest number in 15 years and an 83 per cent increase over the previous year.
But overall, less than one per cent of the world's refugees are resettled by third countries. By the end of the year, 75,300 refugees were admitted by 14 resettlement countries, including the United States (48,300), Canada (11,200), Australia (9,600), Sweden (1,800), Norway (1,100) and New Zealand (740).
The year also saw a decline of some 3 million people who had been considered stateless, primarily as a result of new legislation in Nepal providing citizenship to approximately 2.6 million people, as well as changes in Bangladesh. It is estimated that there are some 12 million stateless people worldwide.

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SOARING FOOD PRICES JEOPARDIZING UN’S ABILITY TO FEED THE WORLD’S HUNGRY

New York, Apr 24 2008 4:00PM
The accelerating rise in food prices worldwide is threatening the work of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to feed the millions of hungry people around the globe, the head of the agency said today.

“We can buy 40 per cent less food than we could last June with the same contribution,” WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a video conference from Rome, voicing concern that as many as 100 million people face being pushed deeper into poverty.

The aggressive price increases – caused by such factors as income growth, rising oil prices, increasingly severe weather and trade policy, among others – began last June, she noted. In the past month alone, the price of rice in Asia has nearly doubled.

“If people don’t have resiliency it makes it very difficult to adjust,” she said, adding that those in the developing world spend more than 70 per cent of their household income on food already.

In countries where people subsist on less than $1 per day, many have cut back on meals, only eating several times per week.

“We’re also concerned because this isn’t just an issue of hunger, but also an issue of instability,” Ms. Sheeran pointed out, with protests against soaring food prices having been held in dozens of countries.

Furthermore, there is the additional challenge of adequate supply, with up to 40 countries now imposing export bans on food, impacting importing countries, which are most impacted by the food crisis.

Those most at risk are children and mothers; refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); pastoralists; and the urban poor.

The Executive Director also cautioned that farmers are joining the ranks of the “new face of hunger,” the millions being pushed into the urgent hunger category. Despite the higher prices farmers can get for their products, many do not have access to credit or any form of support and are therefore unable to afford the inputs required and must plant less.

In Kenya’s Rift Valley, non-IDP farmers are planting only one-third of what they did last year due to soaring prices of supplies such as fertilizer.

Along with governments, other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), <"http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=31">WFP is pursuing a three-track global strategy for the current crisis. As part of an immediate response, it seeks to assess needs and identify the newly vulnerable and target its distribution of food in extreme situations.

In the medium term, WFP hopes to provide seeds, fertilizer and other key inputs, as well as expand its cash and voucher initiatives, while in the longer term, it seeks policy reform, bolstered agricultural production and investment in sustainable safety nets.

Last week, the agency announced it faced a $755 million shortfall – in addition to its budget of over $3 billion for 2008 – to feed the hungry worldwide due to food and fuel price increases.

UN Children’s Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_43651.html">UNICEF) Executive Director Ann M. Veneman also expressed concern over the “negative social and economic impacts” of climbing food prices, particularly in low-income and least developed nations.

In a statement, she observed that the rising prices will most affect the most vulnerable, including people depending on humanitarian assistance, orphans, those affected by HIV and AIDS, refugees and poor urban families.

“The increase in food prices may not only slow down progress towards achieving health and nutrition related Millennium Development Goals [<"http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">MDGs], but can also reverse or negatively impact child-related social indicators,” Ms. Veneman remarked.

Calling for evidence-based interventions, she said that the most pressing priority is to assist already malnourished children and prevent the deterioration of the nutrition situation of affected populations.

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GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS ‘SILENT TSUNAMI’ THREATENING OVER 100 MILLION PEOPLE, WARNS UN

New York, Apr 22 2008 10:00AM
The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today <" called" target="_blank">http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2820">called for urgent action to tackle the “silent tsunami” of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger.

“This is the new face of hunger – the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, after addressing a British parliamentary hearing in London.

She said that like the 2004 tsunami, which hit the Indian Ocean leaving quarter of a million dead and about 10 million more destitute, the food price crisis – the biggest challenge WFP has faced in its 45-year history – requires a global response.

“The response calls for large-scale, high-level action by the global community, focused on emergency and longer-term solutions,” she added.

Recalling the record $12 billion provided by the donor community for the tsunami recovery effort, Ms. Sheeran said “we need that same kind of action and generosity.”

Stressing the role of partnerships in fighting the food “emergency,” she said WFP has been working with donor governments, other UN agencies, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and other humanitarian actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure a coordinated response.

The impact of the crisis is already being felt in different parts of the world. Unless new funding can be found on time, WFP will have to suspend school feeding to 450,000 children beginning in May in Cambodia.

In addition, protests and riots have broken out in some countries over the rising cost of many basic foods, such as rice, wheat and corn.

Addressing a gathering of trade and development officials in Ghana over the weekend, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon <" urged" target="_blank">http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=222">urged immediate steps to guarantee the world’s food security, starting with ensuring that WFP has the additional $755 million it needs to cover the rising costs of its existing emergency operations.

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UN FOOD AGENCY FACES $750 MILLION SHORTFALL AS IT BIDS TO FEED WORLD’S HUNGRY

New York, Apr 18 2008 5:00PM
The recent drastic rise in food prices means the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) now needs more than $750 million to meet its commitment to feed the world’s 73 million hungry people this year.

In late February, WFP announced that it required an additional $500 million, on top of its original appeal for this year of $2.9 billion, to carry out its efforts, but surging food prices have led <"http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=31">WFP to revise that figure upwards to $756 million.

The cost of rice in Thailand, for example, swelled from $460 per ton on 3 March to $780 five weeks later.

WFP warned that prices could rice even higher. “We are not looking at a picture anymore, we are watching a movie,” the agency’s Christiane Berthiaume told reporters in Geneva today. To date, $900 million has been received towards WFP’s original appeal.

In a related development, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accepted an invitation from Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/">FAO), to attend a summit on the topic of food security in Rome.

He confirmed his attendance today at the start of the 30th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that the UN agency has a crucial role to play in tackling the issue.

The three-day event, which will start on 3 June at FAO Headquarters, “must take place in a rational manner, without being clouded by emotions or left or right-wing ideologies,” the President said. “We need scientific foundations so that people can discuss solutions to the crisis to offer to the world in years ahead.”

Dr. Diouf said the upcoming summit will be a “golden opportunity to adopt policies, strategies and programmes that will enable us to face the major challenges currently confronting us which, aside from the price surges, include the question of agricultural production, especially in poor countries.”

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FOOD PRODUCTION MUST BENEFIT WORLD’S POOR, URGE UN-BACKED SCIENTISTS

New York, Apr 15 2008 4:00PM
A United Nations-backed group of over 400 scientists are calling for a radical change to the way the world grows food to better serve the poor and hungry and to protect the planet’s resources.

Modern agriculture has brought significant increases in food production, but its benefits have been uneven and have come at a high cost to small-scale farmers, workers, rural communities and the environment, according to a new report by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development.

The group, which is sponsored by several UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/">FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=531&ArticleID=5769&l=en">UNEP), as well as the World Bank, proposes putting measures in place that will boost production while also protecting and conserving precious resources such as water, forests and biodiversity.

“To argue, as we do, that continuing to focus on production alone will undermine our agricultural capital and leave us with an increasingly degraded and divided planet is to reiterate an old message,” said Professor Bob Watson, Director of IAASTD.

“But it is a message that has not always had resonance in some parts of the world. If those with power are now willing to hear it, then we may hope for more equitable policies that do take the interests of the poor into account,” he added.

The group also calls for addressing trade regimes and subsidy systems, since, as Professor Watson noted, “the poorest developing countries are net losers under most trade liberalization scenarios.”

The report comes just one day after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need for a “significant increase in long-term productivity in food grain production,” in addition to short-term measures to address critical needs and avert starvation in many parts of the world amid the global surge in food prices.

The crisis has already sparked unrest and tensions in many countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco and, most recently, in Haiti, where several people have died in riots.

Today the UN Children’s Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) expressed concern that the increasing food prices could force families to spend more on less food, and families might remove their children from school so that they can work and earn money.

Stopping school meals due to lack of funds is another concern, since the only semi-balanced meal many children eat are provided at schools, the agency noted.

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SOARING CEREAL TAB CONTINUES TO AFFLICT POOREST COUNTRIES, UN AGENCY WARNS

New York, Apr 11 2008 12:00PM
With food riots reported across the globe from the Philippines to Haiti, the United Nations agricultural agency warned today that the cereal import bill of the world’s poorest countries is forecast to rise by over 50 per cent in the current fiscal year.

“Food price inflation hits the poor hardest, as the share of food in their total expenditures is much higher than that of wealthier populations,” said Henri Josserand of the Global Information and Early Warning system of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000826/index.html">FAO).

Citing FAO’s new <I><"http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai465e/ai465e00.htm">Crop Prospects and Food Situation</I> report, he noted that “food represents about 10 to 20 per cent of consumer spending in industrialized nations, but as much as 60 to 80 per cent in developing countries, many of which are net-food-importers.”

The report states that the rise of 56 per cent in 2007-2008 comes after the already harsh increase of 37 per cent in 2006-2007 that had been squeezing lowest-income households hard.

For low-income, food-deficit countries in Africa, the cereal bill is projected to increase by a colossal 74 per cent, due to the sharp rise in international cereal prices, freight rates and oil prices, according to FAO.

Food riots have already been reported in Egypt, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Haiti in the past month, the agency said.

In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to avoid seizing of food from the fields and from warehouses.

To help countries cope with the situation, FAO said it has launched an Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP), offering technical and policy assistance to help vulnerable farmers increase local food production. Field activities are starting in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal.

It is also working with Governments, the UN World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/english/">WFP) and other partners to create strategies to alleviate the situation.

The FAO report, in addition, tentatively predicts that cereal production in 2008 could increase by 2.6 percent to a record 2,164 million tonnes, with the bulk of the increase in wheat.

“Should the expected growth in 2008 production materialize, the current tight global cereal supply situation could ease in the new 2008-09 season,” the report said.

But much will depend on the weather, FAO cautioned, recalling that at this time last year prospects for cereal production in 2007 were far better than the eventual outcome.

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INDIAN LEADER AWARDED UN PRIZE FOR BOOSTING COUNTRY’S AGRICULTURE

New York, Apr 10 2008 12:00PM
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today <" http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000824/index.html">bestowed its highest award, the Agricola Medal, on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his efforts to spur agricultural development and reduce hunger and poverty in India.

Mr. Singh had shown “exemplary vision and resolve” in promoting the growth of Indian agriculture, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said, as he presented the award in New Delhi during the first-ever Global Agro-Industries Forum.

“With your deep understanding of India’s economy you have made modernizing and revitalizing your country’s agriculture one of your highest priorities,” he added.

The South Asian nation is the world’s second largest agricultural producer after China.
Over 60 per cent of the population is employed in agriculture and the sector accounts for 18.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Mr. Diouf noted that the flow of credit to Indian farmers had almost doubled in the last four years. In addition, horticultural production is set to double by 2012 while plans are underway to increase national rice, wheat and pulses production by 20 million tons, thus significantly improving domestic food security.

“Thanks to your efforts, agricultural growth in your country is on the path to contributing more to the fast growth of a global economy that includes the needs of vulnerable citizens,” he told the Prime Minister.

Previous recipients of the Agricola Medal include King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, French President Jacques Chirac, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Pope John Paul II, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Johannes Rau of Germany.

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AGRICULTURE MUST REVERT TO MORE NATURAL, LOCAL PRODUCTION – UN-BACKED REPORT

New York, Apr 7 2008 12:00PM
Modern agricultural practices have exhausted land and water resources, squelched diversity and left poor people vulnerable to high food prices, even though they are also highly productive, <" http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42192&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">according to a report announced by the United Nations scientific agency today.

“Business as usual is no longer an option,” states the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which will be formally launched on 15 April by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The report’s authors recommend that agricultural science place greater emphasis on safeguarding natural resources and on ‘agro-ecological’ practices, including the use of natural fertilizers, traditional seeds and intensified natural practices, and reducing the distance between production and the consumer.

The need for action is urgent, the report says, because many poor people are now reliant on the global food market, where soybean and wheat prices have increased by 87 per cent and 130 per cent respectively in the last year.

Global grain stores are today at their lowest level on record and prices of staple foods such as rice, maize and wheat are expected to continue to rise because of increased demand, especially in China and India, and because of the alternative use of maize and soybeans for bio-fuels.

In addition, the report states that 35 per cent of the Earth’s severely degraded land has been damaged by agricultural activities.

UNESCO says that the IAASTD report is the result of three years of cooperation between nearly 400 scientists, the governments of developed and developing countries, and representatives of civil society and the private sector.

Its conclusions will be presented for approval to the plenary session of the IAASTD intergovernmental panel that will gather from 7 to 12 April in Johannesburg, South Africa. It will then be launched simultaneously in several cities, including Washington D.C., London and Nairobi.

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UN APPEALS FOR $6 MILLION TO FEED 90,000 BURUNDIAN REFUGEES

New York, Mar 14 2008  2:00PM
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for $6 million so that it can continue to feed up to 90,000 Burundian refugees returning to their home country from neighbouring Tanzania.  

The agency warned that without an influx of funds, it may have to halt its food assistance by May or June when the returns are expected to peak.

“WFP needs donors to provide for the vital needs of the returnees – most of whom are women and children – at this critical moment,” <"http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2795">said the agency’s Burundi country director, Jean-Charles Dei. “”It would be a tragedy if we are unable to provide the full support refugees will need when returning to Burundi.”

Hundreds of thousands of Burundians have sought refuge in neighbouring countries over the years to escape deadly ethnic tensions or outright civil war.

Last year, a tripartite commission – comprising the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/news.html">UNHCR) and the Governments of Burundi and Tanzania – agreed that those who fled Burundi in 1993 should repatriate, with as many as 60,000 of these refugees expected to return to Burundi.

The commission also decided that the so-called “1972 Burundians” – some 218,000 people who fled to Tanzania that year – be given the choice to either remain and apply for Tanzanian citizenship or return to their home country. Tens of thousands of refugees have expressed their desire to return to Burundi.

WFP and its partners are supplying six-month food rations for each repatriating family, and UNHCR is providing a 50,000 Burundian franc cash grant – equivalent to $45 – to each returning refugee. Each family leaving Tanzania also receives WFP prepared meals in transit camps.

However, to meet the urgent needs of these refugees, WFP has already been forced to scale back rations to other recipients of its aid in Burundi, including schoolchildren and mothers. To keep its Burundian operations – which provide food for 600,000 people monthly – running the agency requires an additional $20 million.

“It’s crucial for the consolidation of peace in Burundi that not only the returnees, but also the communities that are receiving them, receive the assistance they need at this seminal time in the country’s history,” Mr. Dei noted.

Last weekend, UNHCR kicked off a landmark two-year programme to repatriate those “1972 Burundians” wishing to return to their home country. The new programme – which the agency deems as one of its most important in Africa this year – is heavily dependent on contributions, and so far, $9 million of the $34 million UNHCR has appealed for has been received.

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UN AGRICULTURAL AGENCY URGES INVESTMENT TO CONTAIN SOARING FOOD PRICES

New York, Mar 11 2008  1:00PM
In the wake of world food prices leaping almost 40 per cent last year, the United Nations agricultural agency is calling on governments and businesses to boost production through investment.
   
“A supportive institutional and regulatory environment is mandatory to attract private investment at all levels of the food chain,” according to a paper presented by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000808/index.html">FAO) at a conference in London yesterday.
   
“Improving policy dialogue between private stakeholders and policymakers will be instrumental,” it concluded.
   
At the conference, co-sponsored by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (<"http://www.ebrd.com/">EBRD), agribusiness leaders met with government officials from Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CI, which is believed to have great untapped agricultural potential, especially Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
   
In these countries around 23 million hectares of arable land were withdrawn from production in recent years, and at least 13 million hectares could be returned to production, with no major environmental cost, FAO said.
   
In a speech delivered by Charles Riemenschneider, Director of FAO’s Investment Centre, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf noted that current predictions for CIS grain production point to a rise of seven per cent to 159 million tons between 2007 and 2016.
   
“But let us be bolder and imagine the removal of the institutional and financial constraints that limit production in the region. The region’s cereal output and its contribution to world exports would then be well above those projections,” Mr. Diouf said.
   
An EBRD paper submitted to the conference shows that governments have responded to rising food prices by introducing price controls, increased subsidies, reduced import barriers and restrictions on exports designed to benefit consumers.
   
The Bank maintains that many of these measures could prove to be counterproductive on a long-term basis, and encourages governments to limit interventions that would distort domestic markets or disadvantage producers and traders.  
   
Protection of the poorest consumers, the paper suggests, could be achieved through targeted income support to the most vulnerable segments of the population.
   
The Bank said it would target its own investments to the development of local supply chains and to the development of new rural financing methods.    

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21 BILLION GRAINS OF RICE GENERATED BY POPULAR UN-BACKED INTERNET GAME

New York, Mar  7 2008  2:00PM
With between 300,000 and 500,000 people playing it daily, an Internet game that to date has generated 21 billion grains of rice for the United Nations World Food Programme (<" http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2789">WFP) is proving to be an online sensation.  

Launched six months ago, <" http://www.freerice.com/">freerice.com is an interactive vocabulary game in which players donate 20 grains of rice to WFP every time they answer a question correctly, allowing children to simultaneous bolster their vocabularies and help feed the world’s hungry.

The money raised from advertising is used to underwrite FreeRice’s donation to WFP, and so far, enough rice has been generated to feed 1.1 million hungry people for one day.

The first recipients of the website’s aid went to refugees from Myanmar taking shelter in Bangladesh.

“This rice I receive from WFP allows me to feed my family adequately,” said Gool Bahar, 39, a widow supporting her family in the Nayapara refugee camp by growing vegetables.

Additional rice has also gone to Ugandan schoolchildren and pregnant and nursing women in Cambodia. The next batch will be distributed to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

“I never imagined that things would move this fast or that it would be such a success,” said the game’s creator John Breen, an online fundraising pioneer from the United States. “Quite apart from the actual amount of rice generated, FreeRice is a fantastic way of spreading the message about world hunger.”

A new audio function lets players hear how words are pronounced, and Mr. Breen said a team of lexographers is working to expand the database of 10,000 words. To scale up the game’s appeal to younger and non-native English speakers, visitors can now select the level of difficulty to start out at.

Teachers have voiced their appreciation for a vocabulary game that has the power to draw their students in.

“You cannot imagine the joy in my heart when I look out and see 25 kids doing vocabulary homework and enjoying it,” one teacher from California told the School Library Journal.

The appeal of the online game to children is such that freerice.com ‘communities’ have blossomed on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

“Wow this is so great! You prepare for English tests AND help out others. My total count so far is 6,100 grains,” a New York high school student said in a comment on Facebook.

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AFGHANISTAN: UN RUSHES AID AS LIVESTOCK SECTOR HIT HARD BY EXTREME COLD

New York, Feb 29 2008  2:00PM
The harshest winter weather conditions in nearly three decades has devastated Afghanistan’s livestock – with over 300,000 animals dying since last December – and the United Nations is providing support by sending some 80 tons of feed to the hardest-hit farmers.

Nearly 800 people have lost their lives in the extreme cold, and many others, particularly shepherds and their families, have been severely frostbitten and have required emergency amputation, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (<"http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000802/index.html">FAO).

“The situation is very worrying,” said Samuel Kugvei, the agency’s acting Representative in Afghanistan. “Livestock are a lifeline for many of the affected households, whose food situation is already precarious.”

Livestock devastation is compounded by high fuel, vegetable oil and cereal prices, further increasing food insecurity, FAO warned.

Together with the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, the agency has distributed 20 tons of feed in Herat, one of the provinces most affected, and 60 tons of feed concentrate to farmers in Bamiyan.

The agency is also appealing for mover than $2 million to provide 1,500 tons of feed, as well as vaccines, multi-vitamins and anti-parasitic treatment for the livestock of 50,000 vulnerable families. To date, the European Commission’s humanitarian aid division, known as ECHO, has pledged $500,000 for 500 tons of feed concentrate.

FAO also warned that high global prices of wheat, the main staple, combined with the low purchasing power of a large portion of the population mean that Afghanistan’s commercial import requirement this year of 550,000 tons of wheat may be met.

But according to early forecasts, prospects for this year’s wheat crop are favourable, with heavy snowfall last month making up for below-normal precipitation earlier this season.

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UN MEETING ENDS WITH CALL FOR INCREASED AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT FOR RURAL POOR

New York, Feb 15 2008  7:00PM
The annual meeting of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has wrapped up with participants issuing a call for stepped-up investment to help poor rural farmers.

At the two-day <"http://www.ifad.org/">IFAD Governing Council meeting in Rome, delegates from the agency’s 164 Member States recognized the impact of climate change and soaring food prices on poverty-stricken smallholders in developing countries.

Attendees suggested measures to ease the burden on the rural poor, including reducing transportation costs, establishing safety nets for those who purchase more food than they grow and increasing productivity through research and micro-credit programmes.

“The major donor countries have not yet fully realized that the root cause of many social ills – youth unemployment, migration, urban slums and immigration, stem from the lack of investment in rural space,” IFAD President Lennart Båge told reporters.

He appealed for more fund to support agriculture, since the vast majority of the world’s poorest reside in rural areas. Currently, only 3 per cent of all international aid is directed towards farming.

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The agency issued a news release today on the appeal, which is included in the overall UN funding goal for the Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia and Uganda.

Neill Wright, senior coordinator of UNHCR's internally displaced persons (IDPs) operations, said the agency is actively involved in some 25 IDP operations worldwide, including the latest response in Kenya.

In the Central African Republic, some 212,000 IDPs have been forced from their homes. UNHCR said any large-scale return is unlikely this year, but it will use the 2008 funding to enhance living standards. It also warned that more resources could be needed for relief aid if security there deteriorates

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Before the 6th UN World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in 2005, the prevailing rationale for the preferences was that “trade is better than aid.” The new paradigm has become “aid for trade.”

This recognizes that trade preferences per se are not sufficient to generate supply capacity and economic growth in the LDCs, but that aid is first needed to make the preferences, and trade itself work for development, says the study – Erosion of trade preferences in the post-Hong Kong framework: From “trade is better than aid” to “aid for trade.”

The study, produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), underscores the significant value of trade preferences granted by the so-called Triad - the European Union, the United States and Japan, which are the LDCs’ largest trading partners. In 2004, such preferences represented about $800 million in savings.

It examines which products and countries have benefited the most from existing preferences and what the likely effects will be of preference erosion. It tackles the relationship between preference erosion and recent proposals for aid for trade and finds that while there has been some progress in widening the scope of preferences, the issue of erosion remains to be addressed to the satisfaction of many developing countries.

Established in 1964, UNCTAD promotes the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy. It has progressively evolved into an authoritative knowledge-based institution whose work aims to help shape current policy debates and thinking on development, with a particular focus on ensuring that domestic policies and international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.

It provides technical assistance tailored to the specific requirements of developing countries, with special attention to the needs of the LDCs and of economies in transition. When appropriate, UNCTAD cooperates with other organizations and donor countries in the delivery of technical assistance.

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“That right has been made clear over the past two decades, as the world agreed on a set of ambitious, but achievable, development goals,” Mr. Ban told the Group of 77 developing countries and China – commonly known as the “G77” – at a ceremony at which the group’s chairmanship was handed over from Pakistan to Antigua and Barbuda.

Mr. Ban added that these objectives have been captured in the UN Development Agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the pledges made by world leaders to slash poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy by 2015.

He noted that strong economic growth in recent years has put many developing countries in a better position to achieve the MDGs by the target date of 2015. “But it is clear that growth alone is far from sufficient to meet the Goals,” the Secretary-General stressed, adding that “much more needs to be done in the next seven years if we are to win our race to the Goals on time.”

While extreme poverty is declining at the global level, millions of people are still trapped in structural poverty and go hungry every day, he said. In addition, the number of people living on less than $1 a day in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa continues to rise.

Mr. Ban called for moving from “rhetoric to reality” to expand the level of international commitment to reduce poverty and eliminate social exclusion. “Countries must work hard to ensure that their most vulnerable citizens attain a stronger voice and better quality of life.”

At the global level, the international system must become more responsive to the needs of developing countries, particularly in the areas of trade, finance, technology transfer and migration, he noted. It is also important to improve and strengthen the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), responsible for coordinating work in these fields.

“We must be bold if we are to better serve Member States and meet the needs of humanity,” he stressed.

For his part, Mr. Ban said he will continue efforts to “put the UN on a new track” so that it can better meet the daunting challenges ahead, including by moving forward with reform, by delivering more effectively on development, and by taking action on climate change and on the other issues on the world body’s agenda.

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“There are as many as 1.3 million Afghans who before were considered at borderline risk of food insecurity, but now, because of large price increases may have been pushed into a situation of high-risk of food insecurity,” WFP Country Director Rick Corsino said at a press briefing in Kabul today.

“We have concluded that assistance for this group of people is justified and necessary for the period before the next harvest,” he added, noting that an additional 40,000 tons of food – at a cost of some $30 million – would be needed, in addition to the agency’s ongoing programmes.

WFP has been working with the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture to assess the scope of the increase in prices and identify those most affected by it. The price of wheat flour, for example, has increased by nearly 60 per cent throughout the country over the past year, with some locations having seen price increases of close to 80 per cent.

“These increases are not necessarily unique to Afghanistan,” Mr. Corsino stated, noting that over the past 12 months the price of wheat globally has increased by nearly 100 per cent. The increase is attributed to several factors, including higher demand for cereals in some parts of the world, particularly in Asia, the conversion and use of some grains for bio-fuels, and a poor harvest in one or two parts of the world that have traditionally had very strong wheat production.

In addition, there have been price increases in Pakistan, where much of Afghanistan’s wheat flour comes from. And within Afghanistan itself, insecurity in certain parts of the country has contributed to higher transport costs, leading to higher prices for basic commodities.

WFP is working with the Government on an appeal for food aid which will likely be launched next week. The assistance will most likely be distributed mainly through “food-for-work” projects in rural areas, Mr. Corsino said

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UN LAUNCHES EMERGENCY OPERATION TO FEED OVER 1 MILLION DISPLACED IRAQIS

New York, Jan  3 2008 11:00AM
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today <" http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2732">launched $126-million year-long emergency operation to feed more than 1 million displaced Iraqis who are unable to meet their basic needs due to the violence wracking the country.

“We hope that the food assistance we provide can help avert a much bigger crisis,” WFP Iraq Country Director Stefano Porretti said. “We are facing a growing humanitarian crisis as a result of the continuing violence in Iraq. An increasing number of displaced people cannot meet their food needs and therefore require more help.”

Some 750,000 of the most vulnerable Iraqis displaced within the country will benefit from the programme, as will more than 360,000 others who have fled to Syria.

In Iraq, WFP will supply a complementary food package, consisting of wheat flour, white beans and vegetable oil to internally displaced persons (<" http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3b84c7e23.html">IDPs), who are unable to get rations under Iraq’s Public Distribution System (PD due to various difficulties including the transfer of their ration cards to their new place of residence.

The 750,000 are the most vulnerable among an estimated 2.2 million IDPs, many of whom now live with host families, in abandoned buildings or in poorly supported camps.
WFP aid is not intended to replace government food rations and will phase out as soon as the Government absorbs the IDPs into the PDS.

In Syria, WFP will provide monthly food rations, consisting of rice, vegetable oil and lentils, initially to 155,000 needy Iraqis but with the aim of reaching about 360,000 by the end of 2008. Syria, which has up until recently provided shelter to virtually all those who have arrived at the border, is home to over 1.5 million Iraqis, many of whom have no savings, no income and no means of support.

“The needs of Iraqis in Syria are mounting. Many have depleted their meagre resources and cannot cope with the rising costs of living. They desperately need humanitarian help,” WFP Syria Country Director Pippa Bradford said.

In a recent UN assessment, conducted in collaboration with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, about a third of Iraqi respondents said they skipped one meal a day to feed their children, while 60 per cent said they were buying less expensive foods, often less nutritious, to cope with rising prices.

The emergency operation will be implemented in close cooperation with the respective Governments as well as UN agencies and other partners. Priority will be given to local and regional purchases of food whenever possible.

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Please feel free to post any article or links on relief aid here.

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