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Monday, 05 July 2004
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UN Scaling Up Humanitarian Aid to Displaced People of Darfur

Despite a shortage in funding, the United Nations is scaling up efforts to help the people displaced by violence in the Darfur region of Sudan. The UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland says that so far donors have come up with only a third of the $350 million, requested by the UN in its humanitarian appeal for Sudan.

"We are now in the middle of an ambitious 90-day action plan to dramatically step up humanitarian relief to 1.2 million internally displaced in the Darfur provinces in Sudan and 200 thousand refugees in Chad. By the end of this month, July, we will be able to feed 1 million people and provide water and sanitation and health services to three quarters of a million people."

Mr. Egeland expects the number of people in Darfur in need of assistance to increase to 2 million by October, as more people lose their livelihoods and become destitute. Jan Egeland accompanied Secretary-General Kofi Annan on a visit to Sudan and Chad last week. He says the Secretary-General has secured promises from the Sudanese government that it will guarantee unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies and will protect the people of Darfur from the militia attacks that drove them away from their homes.

FAO Warns of Locust Swarms Moving into Sahelian Countries in West Africa

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, is appealing for urgent international assistance to prevent a locust plague in West Africa. FAO says the first desert locust swarms have moved from their spring breeding areas in Northwest Africa to several Sahelian countries: Mauritania, Senegal and Mali. More than 4 million hectares have been treated with pesticides in Northwest Africa. But Clive Elliot, Senior officer of the FAO locust group, says control measures need to be extended to the Sahelian countries.

"That situation in which they move south into the Sahel is very worrying, because they will arrive at a time when the crops are being planted and will be at risk from the locusts. The question is will that upsurge turn into a plague or not, and the activity that needs to be done is for the Northwest African countries to continue their great efforts to control and the countries in the Sahel to make the preparations, so that when swarms arrive they are ready to deal with them.

So far, $9 million of emergency assistance has been pledged to locust control, but FAO estimates that 17 million will be needed. The current desert locust upsurge is the most serious since the last plague of 1987 to 1989, which cost the world more than $300 million.

Organic Producers and Seed Industry Meet in First Global Conference

Organic producers and the seed industry are holding their first global meeting to discuss issues of organic seed production, quality, certification and market access. The First World Conference on Organic Seed in Rome, Italy is co-sponsored by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. According to FAO, certified organic agriculture represents less than two percent of agricultural land worldwide, but the sector is constantly growing. Organic food retail sales have an annual growth rate of 8 percent in Europe and 12 percent in the US. Over a hundred developing countries are exporting certified organic products. However, FAO says they are still facing difficulties in exporting organic products to developed countries. New requirements by the European Union to use organically produced seed in organic production may exacerbate the problem.

Formula One Racing Start, Jarno Trulli, Speaks Out Against Child Hunger

World Food Programme has recruited Italian Formula One racing star Jarno Trulli to help convey its message about the devastating toll from child hunger. WFP's spokesperson Christiane Berthiaume sums up Mr. Trulli's duties.

"To talk about WFP and to be a kind of ambassador for the hungry people in the world to talk on their behalf, to be their voice and also he's appearing on a special TV spot for us."

The TV spot shows the speed of 720 children an hour at which malnourished children are dying around the world, and the minimal amount it costs to slow that rate down.