WFP launches food security atlas of oPt – WFP press release, report

WFP Launches Food Security Atlas of Occupied Palestinian Territory

RAMALLAH — The United Nations World Food Programme has released a socio-economic and food security atlas of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) which maps out Palestinians’ access to food and nutrition.
Palestinian National Authority Minister of Agriculture H.E. Dr. Ismail Daiq launched the Atlas during a ceremony that gathered representatives from the international donor community, relevant Palestinian National Authority ministries, UN partners and local universities.

The Socio-economic and Food Security Atlas is the first of its kind to be produced in the occupied Palestinian territory. It provides an extensive map-based spatial analysis of numerous sectors in the occupied Palestinian territory including data on food security, socio-economic indicators, demography, health and nutrition, agriculture, environment, water, and education.  

As well as delivering food to the hungry, WFP develops state-of-the-art mapping tools like this Atlas to show exactly where the needs are, said Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, WFP Country Director in the oPt. We use them as part of our Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) operations to make sure that we reach the neediest people.

The collection of maps gives better access to information on the geographical distribution of the food security and the nutritional situation among the people and regions of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This helps the Palestinian National Authority and humanitarian workers improve the delivery of assistance to those who need it most and highlights the areas that are most at risk in order to refine the targeting of humanitarian assistance.   

The Atlas is part of the already existing Food Security Monitoring System developed by WFP, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistcs (PCBS).  It is the result of joint efforts between WFP, the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ) and other groups in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Atlas will be handed over to relevant Ministries of the Palestinian National Authority and will help develop the strategic food security decisions for the national social protection policy and strategy.

#                              #                                 #

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. In 2010 WFP aims to feed more than 90 million people in 73 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see:  http://www.wfp.org/rss

WFP has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews with WFP officials.

For more information please contact:
Abeer Etefa, WFP/Cairo, Tel. +20-2-2528 1730 (abeer.etefa@wfp.org)

Ancel Kats, WFP/oPt, Tel. +972-2-5401340/1/2 (ancel.kats@wfp.org)