The United Nations recently visited Houla - the site of a massacre of more than 100 people last year - which had been almost completely cut off for many months.

The crops, animals and trees found in forests can play a crucial role in improving food security and nutrition around the world, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is hosting a gathering on the issue in Rome next week.

Forests cover nearly a third of the globe and provide an invaluable variety of social, economic and environmental benefits. Around 1.6 billion people – including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures – depend on forests for their livelihood.

Population displacement could surge amid Government military operations and ongoing fighting between rival armed groups in northern Pakistan, near the Afghan border.

29 avril 2013 – Les Nations Unies ont lancé lundi le Défi Faim Zéro en Asie et dans le Pacifique, appelant gouvernements, agriculteurs, scientifiques, secteur privé, société civile et consommateurs à œuvrer ensemble à l'éradication de la faim dans la région où vit la majorité des personnes sous-alimentées dans le monde.

« Le développement durable et la croissance inclusive ne se feront pas le ventre vide», a déclaré la Secrétaire exécutive de la Commission économique et sociale pour l'Asie et le Pacifique (CESAP), Noeleen Heyzer.

24 April 2013 – The African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and its humanitarian partners have delivered nearly 80,000 kilograms of critical humanitarian aid to thousands of civilians displaced by renewed fighting in Labado and Muhajeria, East Darfur, where access has been extremely difficult, the Mission announced today.

12 April 2013 – The United Nations today reaffirmed its determination to back the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) after a terrorist suicide bombing killed three Chadian members of the force, which is helping national efforts to recover the northern Sahara region of the trouble-wracked country from insurgents.

At the same time UN humanitarian officials warned that the food situation in the north of the West African country is alarming, while an international humanitarian aid appeal is grossly underfunded.

After managing its first deliveries to the region in 19 months, the United Nations has reached 51,000 people with food rations so far.

Donors have only contributed $12 million to UNICEF for its operation in Jordan. Without additional funds, UNICEF will have to stop the daily delivery of water to Zaatari camp.

3 April 2013 – A growing number of people in Haiti do not have enough to eat, according to the United Nations relief wing, mostly as a result of drought and the impact of recent tropical storms.

“The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that some 1.5 million people continue to have severe food insecurity in Haiti, mostly as a result of drought and the impact of Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy,” UN spokesperson Eduardo del Buey told journalists today in New York.