CAIRO, 23 May 2012 – A regional meeting of experts held in Cairo could result in a doubling of the number of Arab countries that systematically report on disaster losses.
UNISDR brought together over 40 participants from 15 Arab countries to discuss and exchange experiences on establishing national disaster loss databases. These disaster inventories (www.desinventar.net) enable countries to analyse disaster trends and their impacts in a systematic manner through the collection of historical disaster data.
Reaffirming its commitment and support, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany signed an agreement with IGAD to enhance the capacity of the organization to achieve its mandate and increase drought resilience in the region.
The Executive Secretary of IGAD, Eng. Mahboub Maalim, who signed the agreement in the presence of Mr. Mathias Richter, The Chargé d'affaires of the German Embassy of Djibouti, underlined the long friendship and cooperation between IGAD and Germany.
This document provides an overview of developments in the Mediterranean Basin and other regions of interest from 08 May - 14 May, with hyperlinks to source material highlighted and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to the region, please contact the members of the Med Basin Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.
An African Development Bank (AfDB) mission is currently in Khartoum, Sudan, working with Government authorities and other stakeholders to develop a program intended to build resilience to droughts and provide sustainable livelihoods in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHOA). The mission is headed by AfDB livestock specialist, Umar Lawal, together with Abdul B. Kamara, AfDB’s Resident Representative for Sudan, and various experts from the AfDB and from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
This is the Project Performance Assessment Report (PPAR) for the Food Crisis Response Development Policy Grant (Trust Fund 92328), which was issued under the auspices of the Global Food Crisis Response Program.
The grant was approved on May 29, 2008 and closed, as expected, on June 30, 2009. The grant was for US$5.0 million. A first tranche of US$4.0 million was released, as expected, on July 1, 2008. A second tranche of US$1.0 million was due to be released on December 30, 2008 but release was delayed until January 23, 2009.
Nairobi, Kenya — Sub-Saharan Africa cannot sustain its present economic resurgence unless it eliminates the hunger that affects nearly a quarter of its people, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) argues in the newly released Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future.
Le Directeur général de la FAO, José Graziano da Silva, s’alarme d’un déficit important de financement pour les activités planifiées par la FAO au Sahel et dans la Corne de l’Afrique.
South American drought fuels fears of food price shocks, as soya bean harvests suffer
The viability of water supplies throughout key regions of China, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the US are under threat from unsustainable domestic, agricultural and industrial demands, according to a new study that maps water use down to 10km² worldwide.
WASHINGTON, May 8, 2012 – The World Bank said today that nine million people are currently facing food shortages in the Horn of Africa (down from a high of 13.3 million in September 2011 when the drought was at its peak), and nearly 14 million people in the Sahel region, which mainly includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger are at risk of hunger because of drought, limited food, political instability, and periods of conflict.
NAIROBI [ACTED News] - The poor performance of the 2012 long rains (March – May season) predicted for the Horn of Africa threatens to reverse recovery efforts and negatively affect food security for people struggling to recover from the region’s worst food crisis during the past century.
CERF is off to a strong start in 2012. As of mid-April, CERF has received US$381 million in pledges; $340 million has been received for 2012. During the annual CERF High-level Pledging Conference held in December 2011, 45 UN Member States, Observer States and a regional government pledged a total of $375 million to the Fund. CERF is now supported by 126 of 193 UN Member States and Observer States.
Reduction of CERF’s Loan Window
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
