Lao People's Democratic Republic (the)

By Herve Verhoosel

This article is part of a series of opinion pieces to mark World Food Day October 16

Herve Verhoosel is Senior Spokesperson at the UN World Food Programme (WFP)

GENEVA, Oct 15 2018 (IPS) - How much would you expect to pay for the most basic plate of food? The kind of thing you might whip up at home – nothing fancy, just enough to fill you up and meet a third of today’s calorie needs. A soup, maybe, or a simple stew – some beans or lentils, a handful of rice, bread, or corn?

AG/EF/3499

Assemblée générale Deuxième Commission
Soixante-treizième session, 10e et 11e séances – matin & après-midi

GA/EF/3499

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECOND COMMITTEE
SEVENTY-THIRD SESSION, 10TH & 11TH MEETINGS (AM & PM)

Destructive impacts of climate change like droughts, floods and increasingly severe storms are the primary culprits behind decreased farming output and rising hunger worldwide, speakers told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), as it took up agriculture, food security and nutrition today.

Introduction

INDONESIA

By watchariya.l

Following the collapes of an under-construction dam in Southeastern Laos, Ms. Kanungnij Chantatin, Head of the Capacity Building and Disaster Preparedness Unit of the TRCS Relief Division, and Ms. Porntheera Chaleekort, Registered Nurse 6 of the Thai Red Cross Health Station No.7 in Ubon Ratchathani Province, were deployed as the Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) to Laos for relief and WASH support.

Monkeypox - the United Kingdom ex Nigeria - 2018 Opening date: 12 September 2018 Latest update: 28 September 2018 ÎUpdate of the week On 26 September 2018, the UK reported an additional case of monkeypox. The case was involved in the care of the case in Blackpool Victoria Hospital before monkeypox was diagnosed.

Our analysis shows that millions of ‘people caught in crisis’ - people living in conflict, and/or who are displaced within their own countries or across borders – are in fact being left behind. Failure to take action now means that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be met, undermining the credibility of the international community and leaving millions to die unnecessarily.

East Asia and the Pacific is the most disaster-stricken region in the world.

1 In 2016, disasters affected more than 86 million people in the region, compared with 40 million people in 2015.

2 In February 2018, Papua New Guinea was struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake which caused devastating landslides and widespread destruction. Some 270,000 people, including 125,000 children, are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.

Landing at Xieng Khouang airport, evidence of the chilling legacy of the Second Indochina War cannot be missed. Craters left behind by the ceaseless bombing of Laos between 1964-1973 are scattered throughout the landscape. Despite these obvious scars on the landscape, for many Lao people these craters are not the most haunting reminder of a war that ended decades ago. Provinces like Xieng Khouang are still covered with something much less ominous:

VIENTIANE, September 20, 2018 – Lao PDR will test a new cross-cutting and evidence-based approach to reducing stunting in four northern provinces, with support from the World Bank. Representatives from the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Agriculture, Public Works and Transport, and Health, together with the World Bank, met today to discuss this strategy, which targets not only healthcare, but also diversified food production, improved hygiene, and social welfare programs.

By watchariya.l

Part of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam in Champasak and Attapeu Provinces, Southeastern Laos, the subsidiary dam under construction collapsed on 23 July 2018. The collapse resulted in flooding of several villages with 5,000 million cubic meters of water resulting in more than 20 people dead and leaving around 100 people missing and 6,600 people homeless.

In Numbers

10 metric tons of food assistance distributed

US$ 0 six months (September-February) net funding requirements

16,766 people assisted in August 2018

Operational Updates

• Tropical Storms caused heavy rains and flooding in 79 districts of 14 provinces across Lao PDR. According to the Government, over 80,000 families have been affected. In response, the UN Logistics Cluster, led by WFP, was activated and provided logistics support.

ATTAPEU, LAO PDR – U.S. Ambassador Rena Bitter visited U.S. government funded relief projects for people affected by recent flash floods and met with Provincial Governor Leth Xayaphone and local officials to discuss recovery efforts during her recent trip to Attapeu Province on September 10-11, 2018 as part of the United States’ ongoing support to the Government of Laos’ efforts to help local people affected by the disaster.

Simon Nazer

ATTAPEU, Lao PDR, 12 September 2018 - “I just remember water coming into my home and people shouting,” says Khao Yai, 12. “I don’t really remember much after that. We just had to go right away, we left everything.”

A dam breach in southern Lao PDR in July released over five billion cubic meters of water – two million Olympic swimming pools worth – immersing an estimated 55,000 hectares of land and covering it with mud and sludge.

Weeks after the collapse of a dam in south-east Laos, SOS Children’s Villages is helping children whose families were displaced by the disaster and heavy monsoon rains.

As one of the first organisations to respond following the 23 July collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam, SOS Laos is providing food as well as recreational and educational activities at two child-care spaces in southern Attapeu Province.

The number of dead continues to climb as updated reports come in from remote areas of Laos hit by flooding and landslides in recent weeks, Lao sources say.

In Houaphanh province in eastern Laos, heavy rains last week poured down a mountain into a valley, flooding a small river and slamming into villages nearby, an official of the province’s Labor and Social Welfare Department told RFA’s Lao Service on Thursday.

Pioneering technology will help eliminate landmines across Africa and Asia helping the world’s most vulnerable communities access safe land.

New UK aid funded technology, including radar detectors, will help trace ammunition in the equivalent of more than 16,000 football pitches. Remote controlled machines, such as the Mine Wolf, will also help clear cluster bombs more rapidly.

Manufactured in Newcastle, the eight-tonne Mine Wolf is a remote-controlled mine-clearing machine used in high risk areas. It can clear up to 12,000 square metres a day.

Author Karen Villholth Principal researcher; also Coordinator of the global partnership GRIPP, Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice, International Water Management Institute