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	With acute food insecurity growing livelihood-saving agriculture activities are crucial by IFAD, UN Food and Agriculture Organization   Dec. 2021   Global food prices are at their highest in a decade. (FAO)   The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) which measures the monthly change in the international price of cereal, dairy, meat, vegetable oils and sugar, averaged 134.4 points in November 2021, up 1.6 points (1.2 percent) from October and 28.8 points (27.3 percent) from November 2020. The latest increase marked the fourth consecutive monthly rise in the value of the FFPI, putting the index at its highest level since June 2011.   Prices of cereals and dairy saw the sharpest gains, followed by sugar, while prices of meat and vegetable oils fell slightly in November from the previous month.   Soaring food prices are hitting low-income households especially hard because higher prices for essentials like bread, meat, milk and rice eat up a larger share of their incomes.   According to the UN, cereal prices jumped 3.1 percent in November on a monthly basis, and 23.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Wheat prices have grown for five consecutive months and are now at their highest level since May 2011.   Dec. 2021   Urgent investments in small-scale farming needed to offset soaring food prices and deepening malnutrition, says IFAD.   With soaring food prices pushing millions of people into food insecurity, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is calling on governments and the private sector to urgently step up their investments in small-scale agriculture focused on locally produced, nutrition-rich food.   Millions of people living in developing countries are experiencing increases from 5 to 17 percent1 in the prices of staples such as cereals and vegetable oils, as well as in nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables and fish. This is hurting the most vulnerable populations, who spend a large share of their incomes on food.   Small farms, which provide the world with more than a third of its food, typically produce more diverse crops than big farms and play a vital role in supplying diets that are more varied.   In addition, improving yields in small-scale agriculture leads to higher incomes for rural people living in poverty which further increases their opportunities to purchase more nutritious foods. By investing in small-scale farmers and in agriculture, many developing countries can increase local food production while relying less on food imports.   “Small-scale agriculture is a fundamental part of the solution to our malnutrition crisis. Investing in small farms which are focused on producing nutrient-rich, diverse foods is essential to address malnutrition in the world’s poorest communities,” said Gilbert Houngbo, President of IFAD.   “It is not just about tackling health issues, it also makes economic sense. Fairly compensating small scale producers to facilitate access to good nutrition allows their children to reach their full physical and intellectual potential, so that they can grow into healthy adults who can contribute to the economic development of their families and communities and lift themselves out of poverty.”   IFAD is calling for more investments to support small scale farmers increase the production of nutritious foods for market and self-consumption; to promote nutritious neglected and underutilized species; to improve infrastructures for water supply, storage and transport for nutritious but perishable foods; and to increase awareness and education on healthy diets.   Even before food prices soared, hunger, lack of access to healthy diets and malnutrition have increased since 2015 due to climate change, economic shocks, conflict and, since last year, to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Three billion people cannot afford healthy diets, largely due to excessive costs. Globally one out of 10 people – up to 811 million – are living with hunger and one out of four children under five years of age are stunted or too short for their age.   According to the Global Nutrition Report 2021, the world is not on track to achieve targets for nutrition indicators by 2030. Progress is too slow in the indicators related to maternal, infant and young children nutrition.   Without access to adequate, affordable and nutritious food, generations remain trapped in poverty, unable to take advantage of education and job opportunities to fulfil their potential.   http://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/news/urgent-investments-in-small-scale-farming-needed-to-offset-soaring-food-prices-and-deepening-malnutrition   Dec. 2021   Global Humanitarian Overview 2022: Addressing Emergency Humanitarian Needs - Livelihood-saving agriculture activities are crucial. (FAO)   A total of 274 million people worldwide will need emergency humanitarian aid and protection in 2022, a 17 per cent increase compared to last year’s launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO). The United Nations and partner organizations aim to assist 183 million people most in need across 63 countries in 2022.   Intensifying and spreading conflicts and other humanitarian emergencies, climate extremes and the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic -- compounded by the multiple impacts of the climate crisis -- have pushed more and more people to the extremes of hunger.   By September, at least 161 million people were experiencing high acute food insecurity of whom 45 million were facing an imminent risk of starvation.   Rural people are right on the frontlines. Two-thirds of those experiencing acute hunger are in rural areas, relying on agriculture for their daily food and income, and their livelihoods are being threatened.   In 2021, humanitarian appeals related to the agricultural sector were underfunded despite being a highly cost-effective humanitarian frontline intervention.   For example, in Afghanistan, where four out of five people experiencing high acute hunger are in rural areas, a $157 wheat cultivation assistance package can supply a family of seven with enough staple food for a full year.   Likewise, keeping livestock alive and protected against diseases costs little but provides enormous benefits. For a family on the edge, just one cup of milk a day can make the difference between life and death.   In Yemen, for example, with just $8, FAO can vaccinate and deworm an average herd of five sheep or goats, protecting assets worth $500 on the local market.   The FAO is calling for greater support to help vulnerable people grow food right where it is needed most. This means providing farmers with seeds and fertilizers in time for the planting season, as well as better access to water and other resources.   The overarching theme of the 2022 Global Humanitarian Overview - a global analysis of humanitarian needs published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) - is centered around climate change and humanitarian action.   While conflict remains the number one driver of acute hunger, the climate crisis acts as a risk multiplier, affecting the socio-economic condition, livelihoods and natural resources of people worldwide and increasingly eroding their capacities to cope. It also heightens tensions between communities.   Smallholders and rural communities as a whole are bearing a disproportionate burden of the impact of climate change, climate extremes and conflict.   As the climate crisis deepens, the livelihoods of 2.5 billion small-scale farmers, fishers and pastoralists are being exposed to rapidly mounting risks. In 2020, 15 food major crises were caused primarily by weather extremes.   Continued actions to strengthen resilience and scale up disaster risk reduction at the community level is necessary to mitigate the impact of inevitable climate extremes on food production and availability. It is also critical to increase resources for anticipatory action linked to early warning.   The world has not faced a risk of widespread famine affecting multiple countries so severe in over a decade. In four countries, 584 000 people are living in famine conditions. Elsewhere, an additional 45 million are at a tipping point. Intensifying and spreading conflicts, climate extremes and the continued effects of the coronavirus disease pandemic have pushed more and more people to the brink.   Agriculture is among the most cost‑effective humanitarian frontline interventions. Emergency livelihoods assistance responds to immediate hunger needs – enabling nutritious food to be produced right where it is needed most – and offering a path out of protracted and deepening food crises.   We need to invest in rebooting local agricultural production to save lives and making agriculture in vulnerable countries more resilient, otherwise 2022 will look just like 2021 – or worse.   http://www.fao.org/emergencies/en/ http://gho.unocha.org/ http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-3-november-2021 http://www.ipcinfo.org/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/new-fao-report-land-and-water-resources-paints-alarming-picture-enarruzh http://www.fao.org/americas/publicaciones-audio-video/panorama/2021/en/   * The world’s climate-stressed and pollution-degraded farming and agricultural system must shift quickly to sustainable practices to feed an additional 2 billion mouths expected by 2050, a new United Nations report from the FAO reports:   http://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/01/un-report-the-worlds-farms-stretched-to-a-breaking-point/ http://theecologist.org/2022/feb/03/farms-globally-breaking-point http://www.fao.org/land-water/solaw2021/en Visit the related web page
	The production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9tn in 2020 by France 24, DW, Guardian News, agencies   Oct. 2021   Fossil fuel production to increase to 2040 and beyond, undermining Paris Climate Agreement   Governments plan to produce more than double the amount of energy from fossil fuels in 2030, than the amount that would limit global warming to the Paris Agreement level of 1.5°C.   That’s according to the 2021 Production Gap Report, released this week by leading research institutes and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).   Over the next two decades, governments are projecting an increase in global oil and gas production, and only a modest decrease in coal production. Taken together, these plans mean that fossil fuel production will increase overall, to at least 2040.   Current plans would lead to about 240 per cent more coal, 57 per cent more oil, and 71 per cent more gas production in 2030, than would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.   Global gas output is projected to increase the most between 2020 and 2040, continuing a trend of long-term global expansion inconsistent with the Paris Agreement.   Reacting to the report, the UN Secretary General António Guterres said, “It is urgent that public financiers as well as private finance, including commercial banks and asset managers, switch their funding from coal to renewables to promote full decarbonization of the power sector and access to renewable energy for all”, he said.   Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have directed over $300 billion in new funds towards fossil fuel activities.   “The research is clear: global coal, oil and gas production must start declining immediately and steeply to be consistent with limiting long-term warming to 1.5°C,” says Ploy Achakulwisut, a lead author on the report. “However, governments continue to plan for and support levels of fossil fuel production that are vastly in excess of what we can safely burn.”   The 2021 Production Gap Report provides country profiles for 15 major producer countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The country profiles show that most of these governments continue to provide significant policy support for fossil fuel production.   “Fossil-fuel-producing nations must recognize their role and responsibility in closing the production gap and steering us towards a safe climate future,” says Mans Nilsson, executive director at the Stockholm Environment Institute. “As countries increasingly commit to net-zero emissions by mid-century, they also need to recognize the rapid reduction in fossil fuel production that their climate targets will require.”   Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief when the Paris climate deal was signed, said: “We must keep fossil fuels in the ground. A safe future has no space for any new fossil fuel extraction. The shift to clean energy must be accelerated in order to maintain human activity now and protect human wellbeing tomorrow.”   Christophe McGlade, a senior analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), said: “Ongoing research underlines how the rhetoric of tackling climate change has diverged from reality. None of the net zero pledges made to date by major oil and gas producing countries include explicit targets to curtail production.”   The report is produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), ODI, E3G, and UNEP. More than 80 researchers contributed to the analysis and review, including numerous universities, think tanks and other research organizations.   http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/updated-climate-commitments-ahead-cop26-summit-fall-far-short-net http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/governments-fossil-fuel-production-plans-dangerously-out-sync-paris http://productiongap.org/2021report/ http://www.sei.org/about-sei/press-room/2021-production-gap-report-fossil-fuel-production/ http://350.org/this-just-in-governments-plans-still-fall-dangerously-short-of-paris-agreement-commitments/ http://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/greenhouse-gas-bulletin-another-year-another-record http://globalenergymonitor.org/press-release/report-coal-mine-methane-emissions-exceed-those-from-oil-or-gas/   Oct. 2021   "Economists have grossly undervalued the lives of young people and future generations who are most at threat from the devastating impacts of climate change".. “Discounting has been applied in such a way that it is effectively discrimination by date of birth”, says Professor Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London Scool of Economics.   Many economic assessments of the climate crisis “grossly undervalue the lives of young people and future generations”, Prof. Nicholas Stern warned ahead of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.   Economists have failed to take account of the “immense risks and potential loss of life” that could occur as a result of the climate crisis, he said, as well as badly underestimating the speed at which the costs of clean technologies, such as solar and wind energy, have fallen.   Stern said the economics profession had also misunderstood the basics of “discounting”, the way in which economic models value future assets and lives compared with their value today.   Recent research shows people born today will suffer many times more extreme heatwaves and other climate disasters over their lifetimes than their grandparents.   Stern’s remarks are based on a paper to be published in the Economic Journal of the Royal Economic Society and made to mark the 15th anniversary of the landmark Stern review on the economics of the climate crisis in 2006. It concluded that the costs of inaction on climate were far greater than the costs of action and that the climate crisis was the biggest market failure in history.   Since the publication of the report, carbon emissions have risen by 20% and Stern was scathing about much of the economic analysis that has informed policymakers. “Cavalier treatment of risk, and the missing of the very rapid technical progress, means the models have been profoundly misleading,” he said.   The theory of discounting had not been related to its ethical foundations, he added, or allowed for the risk that global heating will make future generations poorer.   Political action has been slow since 2006, Stern said, because of the persistence of the “damaging” idea that climate action cuts economic growth.   “The economic question now is: how do we manage the radical transformation we have to make in the world economy in the next 20 or 30 years?” he said. “How do we promote the 2% or 3% extra investment we’ll need – which is a very valuable investment, not a cost.”   A whole range of policies are needed, Stern said, including carbon pricing, regulation, product standards, investment in research and reform of capital markets. A critical factor is the provision of large-scale, low-cost finance to fund the low-carbon transition, especially in developing countries.   The Stern review was criticised by some when published as exaggerating the risks of the climate crisis. “The idea that I was alarmist is just laughable in retrospect. We underestimated the dangers. The costs of inaction were very worrying 15 years ago – they are immensely worrying now.” http://bit.ly/3me93i7   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/one-billion-children-extremely-high-risk-impacts-climate-crisis-unicef http://www.savethechildren.net/news/climate-crisis-710-million-children-live-countries-high-risk http://www.savethechildren.net/born-climate-crisis   Oct 2021   The fossil fuel industry benefits from subsidies of $11m every minute, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund.   The IMF found the production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9 trillion dollars in 2020, with not a single country pricing all its fuels sufficiently to reflect their full supply and environmental costs.   Experts said the subsidies were “adding fuel to the fire” of the climate crisis, at a time when rapid reductions in carbon emissions were urgently needed.   Explicit subsidies that cut fuel prices accounted for 8% of the total and tax breaks another 6%. The biggest factors were failing to make polluters pay for the deaths and poor health caused by air pollution (42%) and for the heatwaves and other impacts of global heating (29%).   Setting fossil fuel prices that reflect their true cost would cut global CO2 emissions by over a third, the IMF analysts said. This would be a big step towards meeting the internationally agreed 1.5C target. Keeping this target within reach is a key goal of the UN Cop26 climate summit.   “Fossil fuel price reform could not be timelier,” the IMF researchers said. The ending of fossil fuel subsidies would also prevent nearly a million deaths a year from dirty air and raise trillions of dollars for governments, they said.   “There would be enormous benefits from reform, so there’s an enormous amount at stake,” said Ian Parry, the lead author of the IMF report.   “Some countries are reluctant to raise energy prices because they think it will harm the poor. But holding down fossil fuel prices is a highly inefficient way to help the poor, because most of the benefits accrue to wealthier households. It would be better to target resources towards helping poor and vulnerable people directly.”   The G20 agreed in 2009 to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies and in 2016, the G7 set a deadline of 2025, but little progress has been made. In July, a report showed that the G20 countries had subsidised fossil fuels by trillions of dollars since 2015, the year the Paris climate deal was reached.   “To stabilise global temperatures we must urgently move away from fossil fuels instead of adding fuel to the fire,” said Mike Coffin, senior analyst at the thinktank Carbon Tracker. “It’s critical that governments stop propping up an industry that is in decline, and look to accelerate the low-carbon energy transition, and our future, instead.   The IMF report found that prices were at least 50% below their true costs for 99% of coal, 52% of diesel and 47% of natural gas in 2020. Five countries were responsible for two-thirds of the subsidies: China, the US, Russia, India and Japan. Without action, subsidies will rise to $6.4tn in 2025, the IMF said.   Proper pricing for fossil fuels would cut emissions by, for example, encouraging electricity generators to switch from coal to renewable energy and making electric cars an even cheaper option for motorists. International cooperation is important, Parry said, to allay fears that countries could lose competitiveness if their fossil fuel prices were higher.   “The IMF report is a sobering reading, pointing to one of the major defects of the global economy,” said Maria Pastukhova, at the thinktank e3g. “Fossil fuel subsidies have been a major stumbling block in the G20 process for years,” she said.   Ipek Gencsu, at the Overseas Development Institute, said: “Subsidy reform requires support for vulnerable consumers who will be impacted by rising costs, as well for workers in industries which simply have to shut down. It also requires information campaigns, showing how the savings will be redistributed to society in the form of healthcare, education and other social services. Many people oppose subsidy reform because they see it solely as governments taking something away, and not giving back.”   The G20 countries emit almost 80% of global greenhouse gases.   * Fossil fuel producing countries are lobbying IPCC against climate action.   Some of the world’s biggest coal, oil, beef and animal feed-producing nations are attempting to strip a landmark UN climate report of findings that threaten their domestic economic interests, a major leak of documents seen by Unearthed has revealed.   The revelations – which show how this small group of nations is attempting to undermine the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) major upcoming assessment of the world’s options for limiting global warming – come just days before the start of crucial international climate negotiations in Glasgow.   They come from a leak of tens of thousands of comments by governments, corporations, academics and others on the draft report of the IPCC’s ‘Working Group III’ – an international team of experts that is assessing humanity’s remaining options for curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.   The documents passed to Unearthed show how fossil fuel producers including Australia, Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), are lobbying the IPCC – the world’s leading authority on climate change – to remove or weaken a key conclusion that the world needs to rapidly phase out fossil fuels.   http://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2021/10/21/leaked-climate-lobbying-ipcc-glasgow/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct2yqj http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/06/fossil-fuel-industry-subsidies-of-11m-dollars-a-minute-imf-finds http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02444-3 http://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210518-no-new-fossil-fuel-projects-if-world-to-reach-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-warns-iea http://www.divestinvest.org/   http://www.france24.com/en/business/20211020-french-oil-giant-total-downplayed-climate-threat-for-decades-study-says http://e360.yale.edu/features/updates-from-the-glasgow-climate-conference
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