DONORS URGED TO FUND UN APPEAL AS FIRST STEP IN TACKLING GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

DONORS URGED TO FUND UN APPEAL AS FIRST STEP IN TACKLING GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS New York, Apr 29 2008 11:00AM Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on donors to urgently provide the $755 million in emergency funds needed for the United Nations to feed millions of hungry people worldwide, as the first of a series of measures to tackle the global food crisis.

The recent escalation of food prices around the world has become "an unprecedented challenge of global proportions that has become a crisis for the most vulnerable," Mr. Ban told a news conference in the Swiss city of Bern, after chairing a two-day meeting of the Chief Executive Board (<" http://unsystemceb.org/">CEB), which brings together 27 heads of UN agencies, funds and programmes.

"The CEB calls upon the international community and, in particular, developed countries to urgently and fully fund the emergency requirement of $755 million for the World Food Programme and honour outstanding pledges," said Mr. Ban, standing alongside WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran and other leaders of UN bodies on the frontline in dealing with food security.

Last week <" http://www.wfp.org/english/">WFP called for urgent action to tackle the "silent tsunami" of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger.

"We see mounting hunger and increasing evidence of malnutrition which has severely strained the capacities of humanitarian agencies to meet humanitarian needs, especially as promised funding has not yet materialized," said Mr. Ban.

The Secretary-General warned that "without full funding of these emergency requirements, we risk again the spectre of widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale."

Protests and riots have broken out in some countries over the rising cost of many basic foods, such as rice, wheat and corn. Mr. Ban noted that the causes of the crisis were many and included escalating energy prices, lack of investment in agriculture over the past years, increasing demand, trade distortion subsidies and recurrent bad weather.

In addition to the immediate priority of feeding the hungry, the Secretary-General emphasized the need to "ensure food for tomorrow," urging support for farmers in developing countries. "We must make every effort to support those farmers so that in the coming years we do not see even more severe food shortages."

UN agencies are already taking concrete measures to address the crisis. The Food and Agriculture Organization (<" http://www.fao.org/index_en.htm">FAO) has proposed an emergency initiative to provide low-income countries with the seeds and inputs to boost production and is calling for $1.7 billion in funding.

In addition, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (<" http://www.ifad.org/">IFAD) is making available an additional $200 million to poor farmers in the most affected countries to boost food production.
2008-04-29 00:00:00.000

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