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	Towards Achieving Zero Hunger by FAO, WFP, IFAD   July 2015   An additional $160 per year for each person living in extreme poverty will help to end chronic hunger new UN estimates show.   Eradicating world hunger sustainably by 2030 will require an estimated additional $267 billion per year on average for investments in rural and urban areas and in social protection, so poor people have access to food and can improve their livelihoods, a new UN report says. This would average $160 annually for each person living in extreme poverty over the 15 year period.   Prepared by FAO, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), the report, which was presented in Rome today, comes ahead of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 13 - 16 July 2015.   The report notes that despite the progress made in recent decades, today nearly 800 million people, most of them in rural areas, still do not have enough food to eat.   Eliminating chronic undernourishment by 2030 is a key element of the proposed Sustainable Development Goal 2 of the new post-2015 agenda to be adopted by the international community later this year and is also at the heart of the Zero Hunger Challenge promoted by the UN Secretary-General.   The message of the report is clear: if we adopt a "business as usual" approach, by 2030, we would still have more than 650 million people suffering from hunger. This is why we are championing an approach that combines social protection with additional targeted investments in rural development, agriculture and urban areas that will chiefly benefit the poor," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.   "Our report estimates that this will require a total investment of some US$267 billion per year over the next 15 years. Given that this is more or less equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global GDP, I personally think it is a relatively small price to pay to end hunger," Graziano da Silva added.   "This report helps us to see the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us, but we believe that we won''t see gains in reducing poverty and hunger unless we seriously invest in rural people," said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze.   "Given the right kind of tools and resources, small-scale agricultural producers and rural entrepreneurs can transform struggling communities into thriving places," the IFAD President added.   "We need a dramatic shift in thinking to help the world''s poorest break the cycle of hunger and poverty by 2030. We cannot allow them to be left behind," said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin. "We must invest in the most vulnerable and ensure that they have the tools they need not only to overcome hunger, but to enhance their resources and capabilities."   The report noted how the international community needs to build on the successful experiences of some countries that have effectively used a combination of investment and social protection to combat hunger and poverty in rural and urban areas.   In an advocacy note accompanying the report, the FAO, IFAD and WFP chiefs also noted that the Addis Ababa conference seeks to ensure that all countries, especially developing countries, have the means to implement national policies and programmes to achieve their development objectives, including the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.   Lifting people from below the poverty line and making this sustainable   According to the report, a "business as usual" approach would still leave some 650 million people hungry in 2030.   It contrasts this with a combined social protection and investment scenario whereby public funded transfers will be used to lift people out of chronic hunger by ensuring that they reach a US$1.25/day income which corresponds to the World Bank-determined poverty line level.   This social protection measure would cost an additional $116 billion per year - $75 billion for rural areas and $41 billion for urban areas. Some $151 billion in additional pro-poor investments - $105 billion for rural development and agriculture and $46 billion for urban areas - would also be required to stimulate income generation to the advantage of those living in poverty. The combination of social protection and investments brings the total to $267 billion.   Most of the investment would normally come from the private sector, especially farmers. However, private investments need to be complemented by additional public sector investments in rural infrastructure, transport, health and education.   In rural areas, pro-poor public investments could target small-scale irrigation and other infrastructure benefitting small holders. They could include measures such as food processing to reduce post-harvest waste and losses, as well as stronger institutional arrangements for land and water tenure, credit facilities, labour legislation, and other areas, to make farm and off-farm activities and markets accessible to marginalized groups, including women and young people.   In urban areas, the additional investments should ensure that people living in extreme poverty will eventually be able to provide for themselves. The investments could, for example, target capacity building to impart entrepreneurial and other skills, including craftsmanship, and ensure fair labour contracts, provide credit facilities, housing as well as nutrition-related services.   From social protection to production   Social protection in the form of cash transfers will eliminate hunger immediately, and will improve nutrition by allowing the poor to afford more diverse and thus healthier diets and also fight "hidden hunger" - micronutrient deficiencies, including the inadequate intake of vitamins, iron and other minerals.   Given their meagre means and assets, people living in extreme poverty are initially not expected to be able to invest much in productive activities. However, as they become more productive through investments, they will earn more, and also save and invest more, and thus further increase their earnings.   * Access the report via the link below. Visit the related web page
	Food rations for vulnerable people cut due to lack of funding support by MSF, WFP, Unicef, agencies   July 2015   WFP forced to make deeper cuts to Food Assistance for Syrian Refugees due to lack of Funding.   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is being forced to implement deeper cuts in food assistance for vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan because of a severe lack of funding.   “Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, we are forced yet again to make yet more cuts,” said Muhannad Hadi, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. “Refugees were already struggling to cope with what little we could provide.”   In July, WFP will halve the value of food vouchers, or “e-cards,” in Lebanon, providing only US$13.50 per person per month. In Jordan, WFP fears that if it does not receive immediate funding by August, it will have to suspend all assistance to Syrian refugees living outside camps, leaving some 440,000 people with no food.   WFP is funded entirely by contributions from governments, companies and private individuals. But its regional refugee operation is currently 81 percent underfunded and immediately requires US$139 million to continue helping desperate refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq through September.   Since the beginning of the year, WFP has made concerted efforts to prioritize available funds to ensure continued assistance to families most in need. Limited resources, however, forced WFP already to reduce the assistance to 1.6 million Syrian refugees in the five countries.   “We are extremely concerned about the impact these cuts will have on refugees and the countries that host them,” Hadi added.   “Families are taking extreme measures to cope such as pulling their children out of school, skipping meals and getting into debt to survive. The long-term effects of this could be devastating.”   Since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011, WFP succeeded, despite fighting and problems of access, in meeting the food needs of millions of displaced people inside Syria and close to 2 million refugees in the neighbouring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.   In 2014, WFP globally received US$5.38 billion in contributions. This was in response to an unprecedented number of emergencies in places such as Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the West African countries affected by Ebola. However humanitarian needs are continuing to rise worldwide, outpacing the available funding.   * See UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs global overview: http://www.unocha.org/stateofaid/#mosaic-area http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/wfp-forced-make-deeper-cuts-food-assistance-syrian-refugees-due-lack-funding   Small Hands, Heavy Burden: Conflict driving Children into labor - UN Children''s Fund, Save the Children   The conflict and humanitarian crisis in Syria are pushing an ever increasing number of children into exploitation in the labour market, and much more needs to be done to reverse the trend, according to a new report released by Save the Children and UNICEF.   The report shows that inside Syria, children are now contributing to the family income in more than three quarters of surveyed households, In Jordan, close to half of all Syrian refugee children are now the joint or sole family breadwinners in surveyed households, while in some parts of Lebanon, children as young as six years old are reportedly working.   The most vulnerable of all working children are those involved in armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities including organised begging and child trafficking.   “The Syria crisis has dramatically reduced family livelihood opportunities and impoverished millions of households in the region, resulting in child labour reaching critical levels,” says Dr Roger Hearn, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East and Eurasia.   “As families become increasingly desperate, children are working primarily for their survival. Whether in Syria or neighbouring countries, they are becoming main economic players.”   The report finds that a spiralling number of children are employed in harmful working conditions, risking serious damage to their health and wellbeing.   “Child labour hinders children’s growth and development as they toil for long hours with little pay, often in extremely hazardous and unhealthy environments,” says Dr Peter Salama, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.   “Carrying heavy loads, being exposed to pesticides and toxic chemicals, and working long hours – these are just some of the hazards working children face every day around the region.”   Three out of four working children surveyed in Jordan’s vast Za’atari refugee camp have reported health problems at work, according to the report. A further 22 per cent of children casually employed in the agricultural sector in Mafraq and the Jordan Valley have also been injured while working.   http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/small-hands-heavy-burden-how-syria-conflict-driving-more-children   Millions of Children in War-Torn Yemen at Risk of Disease and Malnutrition: UNICEF   The ongoing conflict in Yemen is having a devastating impact on the country’s health system, and exposing millions of children to the threat of preventable diseases, says UNICEF. “Children are not being vaccinated – either because health centres do not have electricity or the fuel they need to keep vaccines cold and distribute them, or because parents are too frightened by the fighting to take their children to receive vaccinations,” said Dr Peter Salama, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “The tragic result is that children are going to die of diseases like measles and pneumonia that would normally be preventable.”   According to UNICEF, the interruption in vaccination services is putting an estimated 2.6 million children aged under 15 at risk of contracting measles – a potentially fatal disease that spreads rapidly in times of conflict and population displacement.   The number of children exposed to Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) is likely to reach 1.3 million since the escalation of the conflict in March many hospitals and health centres are not functioning properly, making timely treatment increasingly difficult for parents to access.   Meanwhile, over 2.5 million children are at risk of diarrhea due to the unavailability of safe water, poor sanitary conditions and lack of access to Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) -- compared to 1.5 million prior to the conflict.   Malnutrition is also posing a growing threat: UNICEF estimates that more than half a million children under five are at risk of developing severe and acute malnutrition over the next 12 months if the situation continues to deteriorate (as compared to 160,000 before the crisis). 1.2 million children under five are at risk of moderate acute malnutrition – a near two-fold increase from before the crisis.   In spite of the extremely challenging environment, UNICEF and partners continue to vaccinate children and deliver care to those who are ill or acutely malnourished. Preventive and nutrition surveillance programmes -- including mobile health and nutrition teams and localized vaccination campaigns -- are in place in the most affected areas to monitor any increase in the numbers of children suffering from a particular communicable illness or malnutrition and to respond accordingly.   These interventions, reinforced with UNICEF and partners’ support to regular distribution and provision of safe water, hygiene and improved sanitation, are critical for preventing a public health crisis. At least 279 children have been killed and 402 injured as a direct result of the conflict which escalated in late March.   UNICEF reiterates the UN Secretary General’s call on the parties to the conflict for a ceasefire to facilitate the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance to those most in need.   As part of a UN appeal issued on 19 June 2015, UNICEF is asking for $182.6 million to address the immediate needs of the population affected by the conflict.   http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/millions-children-war-torn-yemen-risk-disease-and-malnutrition-unicef-enar   July 2015   Mauritania: Malian refugees at risk of increased malnutrition following cancelled food distributions. (MSF)   The cancellation of monthly food rations in July for 49,500 Malian refugees in Mbera Camp is likely to cause a rise in global acute malnutrition levels, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which provides medical care and malnutrition support in the camp. MSF calls on the international donor community to ensure that refugees in Mbera camp have reliable sources of food.   The World Food Programme (WFP), faced with financial shortfalls, has been unable to secure financing for the general food distribution in July. Also UNHCR, which is responsible for the management of the refugee camp, insist they lack the funds to propose an alternative solution to the inevitable consequence of increased malnutrition.   This follows an already precarious situation where rice rations were cut from 12 kg per person to 5.4 kg in June, and the general food distribution was cancelled entirely in March, which then caused a surge in admissions of sick children to MSF therapeutic feeding programs from 30 in the month before the cancellation to 79 in the month following it.   “Global acute malnutrition in the camp was around twenty percent in 2012 when we first started its activities here,” said Dr. Mahama Gbané, MSF Medical Coordinator in Mauritania. “We’ve worked together with agencies like WFP to bring this down to an estimated nine percent. It would be tragic if we allowed the health of the most vulnerable to slip back to catastrophic levels.”   These refugees fled to Mauritania in 2012 when conflict engulfed northern Mali. Despite recent peace agreements signed by some armed opposition groups in Mali, people still do not feel safe to return home. Since 2012, their survival in the desert, where temperatures reach 50°C and sandstorms are common, has largely depended on humanitarian assistance. A number of the refugees have managed to keep livestock, but successive droughts have drastically depleted the residual pasture for grazing animals across the Sahel. Recent attacks and pillaging of towns and villages in northern Mali has increased fears that it will be a long time before refugees will feel safe enough to return to their homeland.   “People have tried to grow food in community gardens, but the scorching heat, blowing sand, and insects have destroyed most of the crops” said Maya Walet Mohamed, leader of the women’s committee in the camp.   Three years into their exile, most refugees have sold what little they had left to trade for alternative sources of food.   http://www.msf.org/article/mauritania-malian-refugees-risk-increased-malnutrition-following-cancelled-food Visit the related web page
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