Day: November 3, 2022

As world leaders converge on Sharm el-Sheikh for UN climate conference COP27, we highlight some of the countries hit hardest by droughts, floods and storms

Storms, droughts and floods of immense magnitude are worsening an unprecedented global food crisis. Across the world, the devastating effects of climate change are already hitting some of the planet’s poorest people, who depend on the land and predictable weather for their future. At the same time, the World Food Programme (WFP) is empowering communities and governments to prepare, respond and recover.

It’s not too late to tackle the climate crisis and the hunger storm it is whipping up, but we need to act fast.

Floods

Record-breaking floods – affecting 33 million people – left a third of **Pakistan **under water in August and September, uprooting communities and smashing roads, bridges and livelihoods. Although it contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse emissions annually, the country is a hotspot for climate-related disasters.

WFP is supporting the Government in reaching 1.9 million people with food, nutrition and recovery. Looking ahead, WFP’s priority will be to return to supporting the people of Pakistan to build long-term resilience, engaging the UN Green Climate Fund to finance adaptation programmes to protect the country’s smallholder farmers and food systems.

Nepal has similarly been hit by heavy rains, deadly flash floods and landslides in recent weeks. “With reliable forecasts, it is increasingly possible to anticipate extreme weather events and take necessary action in advance,” says Robert Kasca, WFP Representative and Country Director in Nepal. “WFP supported Nepalese authorities by dispatching cash assistance and early warning messages to at-risk communities.”

Meanwhile, deadly floods have swept across West and Central Africa, affecting 5 million people in 19 countries and deepening an already alarming food crisis. WFP is helping to build regional capacity to respond to climate extremes, supporting governments and communities to avert or mitigate their impacts – for example through early warning messages, or farming techniques such as water-harnessing ‘half-moons’ dug into the soil to help restore degraded land.

In the West African countries of Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso, WFP also distributed US$9.4 million of African Union climate insurance payouts, to help communities recover from a crippling 2021 drought.

“Last year, my crop failed due to drought,” says Karim Sore, a farmer in Burkina Faso’s Centre-Nord Region. “But thanks to the [WFP] climate insurance payout, I was able to pay school fees for my children and meet other basic needs for my family.”

Torrential rains and widespread flooding hit conflict-torn Yemen this year, damaging infrastructure and homes, and leaving 73,0000 people in need of food and other urgent assistance.

Climate shocks are deepening the country’s already dire hunger conditions, with more than 20 million Yemenis needing humanitarian assistance. But water scarcity could be Yemen’s bigger long-term problem. Some experts predict the country could run out of water within the next few decades – and that climate change along with extensive environmental destruction threatens to exacerbate existing tensions in the country.

Along with lifesaving food assistance, WFP is working with local communities to build their resilience to ravages of extreme weather – like a flood protection wall in the eastern village of Al-Ghorafi. “We used to spend nights awake in fear of flooding,” says Saeed, a father of 10 who participated in the project. “The wall will protect the village and the monuments in it.”

Droughts

One of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, Somalia has seen a threefold increase in extreme weather events over the last 30 years, experts say. Now, the longest drought in four decades, combined with the backlash from the global food crisis, leaves some 6.7 million people facing severe hunger – and more than 300,000 facing catastrophic levels of hunger, unless humanitarian aid is significantly ramped up.

Despite funding and security challenges, WFP has sharply scaled up its operations in Somalia, reaching record numbers of people with food and nutritional support – including roughly 4.6 million people in September alone. Beyond immediate relief, WFP is investing in building the capacity of government institutions and giving Somalis the tools to become more resilient against shocks and less dependent on humanitarian aid.

“In Somalia, we triggered what we call ‘anticipatory action’ over the short term, in areas hardest hit by drought,” says Gernot Laganda, who heads WFP’s climate and disaster risk reduction programmes. “It means we don’t just wait until there is a failed season. We work with forecasts – and if they cross a certain threshold, we provide aid before the damage has happened.”

In the southern Somali town of Dolow near the Ethiopian border, Muhuba Hassan Warsame, 35, has benefitted from a WFP resilience programme that gave her a plot of land and resources to plant a vegetable garden. “I have gained skills through this project on how to cultivate the farm, and how to plant and store crops,” says Muhuba. “I am better off since my life has changed.”

Part of the Central America’s Dry Corridor, Guatemala is another global climate hotspot, intersecting with other crises. A recent joint study by WFP and research group CGIAR finds climate swings – from long dry spells to untimely heavy rains – are deepening hunger, poverty and inequality in the region, exacerbating conflict. Indeed since 2009. Guatemala has seen a stunning 44 per-cent decrease in rainfall.

WFP supports hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in Dry Corridor countriesto adapt to climate change, through projects that create assets, build livelihoods and rehabilitate and reforest degraded and marginal lands.

“We sow cilantro, onion, chipilines, nightshade, chayotes, squash, cassava, and other little things,” says 32-year-old Damaris Reyes, leader of a women’s farming group in the eastern Guatemalan department of Chiquimula which is growing drought-resistant crops and making organic pesticides with WFP support. “With these vegetables in our plots, we are saving about 700 quetzales (or US$88) per week, because the cost of vegetables right now is quite high.”

Storms

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year. Climate change is expected to make these extreme events more destructive and unpredictable. Last December, the country saw the third-strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in the northern hemisphere. Typhoon Rai affected more than 12 million people, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless overnight. Working with authorities and partners, WFP reached vulnerable communities with food assistance, and helped them to rebuild and recover sustainably.

Over this past year, for instance, some 80,000 people benefitted from WFP Rai recovery projects – from cleaning debris-littered coastal areas, to repairing damaged roads, restoring mangroves (key storm barriers and climate-mitigators) and organizing community gardens. “The communities have become so clean and green and, most importantly, people receiving WFP assistance are keen on sustaining these improvements and initiating regular community-led cleanups,” says WFP’s Alice Follosco, who helped support our typhoon response.

A raft of factors – from poverty and deforestation to exposure to earthquakes and extreme weather events – makes Haiti among most the climate-vulnerable countries in Latin America and Caribbean. The fallout of these multiple hazards feeds into a toxic mix of crime, poverty and high prices that have brewed a hunger disaster.

Despite extremely difficult operating conditions, WFP works with Haitian authorities and communities to fight climate change through projects like watershed management, infrastructure rehabilitation and emergency preparedness. In the northern commune of Limbe, for example, 60-year-old mother-of-six Dozimène earned US$70 monthly for participating in a WFP programme rehabilitating flood-hit irrigation canals and roads.

“These works really changed my and my children’s lives,” says Dozimène,, who used the money for food and transport and funneled the rest into a small business selling detergents at the market.

Source: World Food Programme

I thank the Government of Ghana for organizing this open debate on “integrating effective resilience-building in peace operations for sustainable peace”.

Our peace operations – which include peacekeeping operations and special political missions – provide the space for political solutions.

They help protect civilians and prevent violence.

They enable the work of peacebuilding, development, humanitarian, and human rights actors.

But the local and global contexts in which they operate are becoming more challenging by the day.

Geopolitical tensions are rising.

Insecurity is spreading.

The drivers of instability are powerful, many, and mutually reinforcing.

They include: escalating climate catastrophes, worsening hunger and poverty, deepening inequalities, spreading violent misogyny, mis- and disinformation, and waning trust in institutions.

All of this is fuelling political tensions, economic despair, and social unrest.

Unconstitutional changes of government are proliferating – alongside inter-state conflicts, invasions, and wars.

Entrenched divides between world powers continue to limit our ability to collectively respond.

The chasm between humanitarian needs and humanitarian assistance keeps widening.

Human rights and the rule of law are under assault.

Cyberwarfare and lethal autonomous weapons are presenting risks we barely comprehend and lack the global architecture to contain.

Our world is transforming at breakneck speed.

We must keep pace to keep peace.

Peacebuilding gains on the African continent and elsewhere are reversing.

We must ensure a sharper focus on [prevention] and building resilience.

The New Agenda for Peace proposed in my report on Our Common Agenda will prioritize investment in prevention and peacebuilding.

Our peace operations must be empowered and equipped to play a greater role in sustaining peace at all stages of conflict, and in all its dimensions.

That requires committed, inclusive national ownership that considers the needs of the most vulnerable, including women, young people, and minorities.

Above all, development and respect for all human rights – economic, social, cultural, civil, and political – are the world’s best preventive tools against violent conflict and instability.

Today, allow me to focus on four priorities.

First, we must deepen engagement with local communities and promote more responsive and inclusive governments and institutions.

Peace operations are manifestations of the political leverage of this Council.

They bring the normative role and technical capacities of the UN system to bear on the ground.

And they contribute to shared goals for legitimate, responsive, and inclusive governance.

Peace operations create space for dialogue and political participation, reduce community violence, secure the delivery of basic services, encourage reconciliation, and promote equal access to justice.

But we must act more quickly and effectively to address needs and grievances.

Specifically, that means strengthening a whole-of-society approach and increase investments that build trust, community engagement and cohesion.

Second, we must bolster the leadership of women and youth in shaping the future of their countries and ensure they benefit from peace and development gains.

The contributions of women peacekeepers and local women networks are pivotal to building community resilience and ensuring that women’s concerns are front and centre in conflict prevention and resolution efforts.

We know securing women’s rights and equal participation in decision-making is essential to building and maintaining peace.

That is why we are investing in partnerships with local women leaders and peacebuilders, including by increasing the number of women personnel at all levels.

And we are pursuing policies that guarantee full gender parity and women leadership – including through quotas – across election monitoring, security sector reform, disarmament, and justice systems.

At the same time, we must ensure the voices of young people are heard loud and clear in articulating peacebuilding priorities.

Our Youth, Peace and Security Agenda – together with the African Union’s 2020 Continental Framework for Youth, Peace and Security – are important and complementary tools to amplify these critical voices.

Third, we need a more holistic and integrated approach to building resilience and sustaining peace, with tailored investments across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

That means strengthening synergies across the range of peace work – from conflict prevention and resolution to peacekeeping, peacebuilding and long-term development.

It means deepening partnerships between the UN, the African Union, and other regional organizations, as well as with international and regional financial institutions.

And it means better integrating the work of UN country teams with the mandates of peace operations, particularly in transition contexts.

Fourth and fundamentally, the crucial question of finance.

We all recognize that prevention and peacebuilding are cost-effective and save lives.

But that understanding in principle is not matched with the necessary resources in practice.

The international community continues to underinvest in peace.

It is time to walk the talk.

The General Assembly’s Financing for Peacebuilding resolution reflects a commitment to find solutions for increased and more predictable and sustainable funding.

The Peacebuilding Fund continues to be an invaluable resource.

Last year, the Fund provided $150 million to 25 countries in Africa and became the catalyst for much larger contributions by other financial institutions.

But needs far outpace resources.

Funding must be scaled up – and partnerships with International Financial Institutions even more strengthened.

The Security Council plays a critical role in supporting the efforts of our peace operations to build resilience and sustain peace.

By acting early, engaging strategically, and speaking with one voice, this Council can mobilize the international community’s political and financial support and foster the commitment of conflict actors to secure peace.

I look forward to continuing to work with the Council to strengthen peace operations and advance peace.

Thank you.

Source: UN Secretary-General

Maize grain remained the most traded commodity in the region in the third quarter of 2022 (July to September) as shown in Figure 1 above and trade flows remained above average due to below-average harvests amid high demand. Wheat flour trade declined from 16 to 10 percent from the previous quarter due to reduced demand following the erosion of purchasing power.

Regional trade in sorghum, rice, and dry beans was below average driven by below-average harvests and reduced trading margins, and cheaper substitutes.

The prices of staple food commodities followed seasonal patterns but were elevated given below-average harvests, high costs of production and marketing, and Russia-Ukraine conflict-related high global commodity prices.

Livestock trade between Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya declined because of the end of religious festivities in July and was below average due to a prolonged drought that reduced the number of quality animals in the market. However, trade increased between Uganda and South Sudan because of the high demand for rural restocking and urban consumption.

Source: World Food Programme