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	Global Food Crises – mid-year update: hunger and malnutrition levels remain alarmingly high by Global Network Against Food Crises (GRFC)   Preventing hunger and poverty from rising as a result of different shocks. 2024 Report on the way forward to greater resilience.   Publishers: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); World Food Programme (WFP); Task Force for a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.   An estimated 282 million people in 59 countries are facing acute levels of hunger, and many are on the brink of starvation. In addition, there are tens of millions more people living in hunger who are not counted because of lack of consensus on available information.   Globally, millions of children do not benefit from diets that support healthy growth and development. Half of infants under six months of age are not exclusively breastfed as recommended in the first six months of life, and two in three children aged 6–23 months are not fed the minimum diverse diet they need to grow and develop to their full potential. This translates to approximately 202 million children that are living in severe food poverty.   Stunting affected an estimated 148 million children under five years of age globally in 2022 while wasting threatened the lives of 45 million children under five years.   These figures are a stark indictment of the reversal in progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2—to end hunger and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all by 2030. Under current projections, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 report estimates that more than 600 million people worldwide will be facing hunger in 2030.   The concept of resilience bridges the humanitarian, development and peace nexus and highlights how the well-being of elements of a system can be affected by shocks.   The United Nations defines resilience as “the ability of individuals, households, communities, cities, institutions, systems and societies to prevent, resist, absorb, adapt, respond and recover positively, efficiently and effectively when faced with a wide range of risks, while maintaining an acceptable level of functioning without compromising long-term prospects for sustainable development, peace and security, human rights and well-being for all”.   Systems, institutions, and people, are considered resilient when they have at their disposal a set of distinct capacities and resources that are crucial to cope with, withstand, or bounce back from adverse events and shocks. Resilience, with its strong forward-looking element, provides an adaptive framework to address and navigate the complexities of shocks and uncertainties before, during and after crises.   http://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/report-way-forward-resilience-preventing-hunger-and-poverty-rising-result   Sep. 2023   Global Food Crises – mid-year update 2023: hunger and malnutrition levels remain alarmingly high.   The Global Report on Food Crises (GFRC) 2023, in its mid-year update confirms the disheartening reality of the world's food crisis. As conflicts, economic shocks, and extreme weather events continue to wreak havoc alongside persisting vulnerabilities, millions of people continue to suffer from hunger and malnutrition.   The updated report provides the latest data on acute food insecurity for 2023, building on the May 2023 edition, which laid down the data for 2022. The new report covers the period from January to August 2023 and provides new updates on the state of acute food insecurity.   The mid-year update of the GRFC presents some stark statistics:   Almost 238 million people across 48 food crisis countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity as of early August 2023, affecting nearly 1 in 5 individuals of the analysed population, a similar proportion as the one observed in 2022.   The 10 worst food crisis countries in this report are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Sudan and Somalia. Myanmar, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Ukraine, which were among the 10 hardest hit countries in 2022, have not been included in the mid-year update due to insufficient data on acute food insecurity in 2023.   East Africa remains the worst-hit food crisis region, with nearly 65 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity (an increase of 8 million people since 2022), primarily due to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, which has displaced 3.5 million people since April.   Some countries have shown improvements in acute food insecurity conditions between 2022 and August 2023. Sri Lanka and Niger recorded the most substantial reductions, with 2.4 and 1.1 million people respectively experiencing improved conditions.   In the 21 food crisis countries where data was available, approximately 27.2 million children under the age of five suffered from acute malnutrition by August 2023. Of these, 7.2 million were severely malnourished and in urgent need of treatment.   Drivers of acute food insecurity   The mid-year update report identifies three main types of shock that, when combined with a high proportion of vulnerable populations in food crisis countries, serve as the main drivers of acute food insecurity. These shocks are conflict / insecurity, economic related shocks and weather extremes.   Conflict and insecurity: remains the leading driver of food insecurity, impacting eight out of the 10 worst-hit food crisis countries. Additionally, Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative has raised uncertainty on global food market prices in the coming months. The recent coup d'etat in the Niger is expected to reverse the recent food security improvements at country level and further exacerbate acute food insecurity in the wider region.   Economic shocks: Despite slightly lower global food prices in 2022, high food prices in domestic markets continue to affect populations. Particularly in low-income countries, high levels of public debt further limit governments’ ability to import food and mitigate the impact of high food prices on vulnerable populations. Economic shocks are now driving acute food insecurity across all regions.   Weather extremes: These have been a key driver of acute food insecurity in all regions except West Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa. The impending El Niño event sets the stage for increased global temperatures and more intense weather extremes over the next nine to 12 months.   This mid-year update of the Global Report on Food Crises 2023 underscores the urgent need for international cooperation and concerted efforts to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition. Collaboration amongst agencies is imperative to provide immediate relief to those in need while striving for long-term solutions to mitigate the impact of these crises.   http://www.fsinplatform.org/global-report-food-crises-2023-mid-year-update   May 2023   At least 258 million people in 58 countries were in Crisis or worse acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) in 2022. This is the highest on record since the Global Network Against Food Crises (GRFC) started reporting these data in 2017.   It marks the fourth consecutive year of rising numbers of people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above due to persistently high numbers in some countries, worsening situations in others, as well as increased analysis.   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres writes in the report’s foreword:   "More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and some are on the brink of starvation. That’s unconscionable.   This seventh edition of the Global Report on Food Crises is a stinging indictment of humanity’s failure to make progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger, and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all.   In fact, we are moving in the wrong direction. Conflicts and mass displacement continue to drive global hunger. Rising poverty, deepening inequalities, rampant underdevelopment, the climate crisis and natural disasters also contribute to food insecurity.   As always, it is the most vulnerable who bear the brunt of this failure, facing soaring food prices that were aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and, despite some declines, are still above 2019 levels due to the war in Ukraine. All this, while humanitarian funding to fight hunger and malnutrition pales in comparison to what is needed.   This crisis demands fundamental, systemic change. This report makes clear that progress is possible. We have the data and know-how to build a more resilient, inclusive, sustainable world where hunger has no home — including through stronger food systems, and massive investments in food security and improved nutrition for all people, no matter where they live.   With collective action and a commitment to change, we can ensure that every person, everywhere, has access to the most basic of human needs: food and nutrition".   Acute food insecurity is defined as when a person's inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger. It draws on internationally accepted measures of acute hunger, such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and the Cadre Harmonise (CH).   People in seven countries faced starvation conditions in 2022 - in Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.   At least 35 million people were in Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) in 39 countries/territories. Households in this extremely severe situation face large food gaps, which are either reflected in high acute malnutrition rates and excess mortality.   Around half of the total population identified in IPC/CH Phase 4 was found in four countries – Afghanistan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan. More than 40 percent of the population in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above resided in five countries/territories – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen.   Recurrent shocks are driving up acute food insecurity   The food crises outlined in the GRFC are the result of interconnected, mutually reinforcing drivers – conflict and insecurity, economic shocks and weather extremes.   In 2022, these key drivers were associated with lingering socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19, the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine and repeated droughts and other weather extremes.   Conflict/insecurity was the most significant driver in 19 countries/territories where 117.1 million people were in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent.   Six of the seven countries/territories with populations facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) – Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – have protracted conflicts, while the very severe levels of acute food insecurity in Haiti are attributable to escalating gang violence in the capital.   Economic shocks (including the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and the repercussions of the war in Ukraine) became the main driver in 27 countries with 83.9 million people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent – up from 30.2 million people in 21 countries in 2021.   The economic resilience of poor countries has decreased, and they now face extended recovery periods and less ability to cope with future shocks.   Weather extremes were the primary driver of acute food insecurity in 12 countries where 56.8 million people were in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent, more than double the number of people (23.5 million) in eight countries in 2021. These extremes included sustained drought in the Horn of Africa, devastating flooding in Pakistan, and tropical storms, cyclones and drought in Southern Africa.   High levels of child wasting in food-crisis countries/ territories curbs development and wellbeing   Malnutrition is multidimensional, and child nutritional status is determined by multiple factors. The GRFC demonstrates that areas with high levels of acute food insecurity tend to have high levels of child wasting, which, when combined, stymie the development and wellbeing of populations in the short, medium and long term.   In 30 of the 42 major food crises analysed in the GRFC 2023 where data on malnutrition were available, over 35 million children under 5 years of age suffered from wasting, with 9.2 million of them severely wasted (the most lethal form of undernutrition and a major contributor to child mortality).   Out of the total estimated children with wasting in those countries, about 65 percent lived in nine out of the ten countries with the highest number of people in IPC/CH Phase 3.   The global food crisis worsened the undernutrition situation of adolescent girls and women whose livelihoods, income and access to nutritious food have been disproportionately affected by conflict, climate change, poverty and other economic shocks, including that of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Number of forcibly displaced people in food crisis countries/territories is the highest in GRFC history   Displacement is both a driver and a consequence of food insecurity. People forced to flee their homes lose access to their livelihoods (including safe access to food, water and other necessities) while also facing major barriers to income, humanitarian aid, healthcare, and other essential services, exacerbating their vulnerability to food insecurity and undernutrition.   By mid-2022, the number of displaced people globally, including refugees, asylum seekers, Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and other people in need of international protection, had reached 103 million.   In 2022, displacement was caused by major conflicts, severe economic crises and climate change and weather extremes. By the end of 2022, nearly 53.2 million people were internally displaced in 25 countries/territories identified as food crises in the GRFC 2023.   The countries/territories with the highest numbers of IDPs in 2022 nearly mirrored the list of the 10 food crises with the largest numbers of people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent. In 2022, about 19.7 million refugees and asylum seekers were hosted in 55 out of the 58 food-crisis countries/territories identified in this GRFC edition.   The impact of the war in Ukraine on food crises around the world   The war in Ukraine has had an outsized impact on global food systems due to the major contributions Ukraine and the Russian Federation make to the production and trade of fuel, fertilizers and essential food commodities like wheat, maize and sunflower oil.   The timing of the war also contributed to this impact as higher international commodity prices in the first half of 2022 compounded the macroeconomic challenges that countries continued to face after the COVID-19 pandemic. This was particularly true for GRFC countries/territories as they were more likely to be exposed to commodity market volatility given many of their positions as low-income net food-importing countries.   Although global food prices had fallen somewhat by the end of 2022, they remained well above pre-pandemic levels. Domestic food prices, by contrast, experienced an increase but have yet to decline. In fact, food prices increased in all GRFC countries/ territories in 2022, with food inflation being over 10 percent in 38 out of the 58 countries/territories with food crises by the end of the year.   Their governments’ abilities to mitigate risks and insulate citizens from food price inflation through policy measures, such as stimulus payments and subsidies, was limited given their over-extended public budgets after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all of the countries whose currencies lost value at an abnormally fast rate in 2022 were GRFC countries/territories.   Economic shocks are projected to be the main driver of acute food insecurity in 22 of these countries/territories as national economic resilience has been severely undermined by a slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. Persisting high food prices coupled with high debt levels in some countries amid high interest rates and currency depreciation are expected to further erode households’ food access and constrain the fiscal capacity of governments to deliver assistance.   As of March 2023, food prices were at exceptionally high levels in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Myanmar, Namibia, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.   Forecast to return in June 2023, the El Nino phenomenon is likely to result in dry weather conditions in key cropping areas of Central America, Southern Africa and Far East Asia, while excessive rainfall and possible flooding is foreseen in Near East Asia and East Africa.   Conflicts, national and global economic shocks and weather extremes continue to be increasingly intertwined, feeding into one another and creating spiralling negative effects on acute food insecurity and nutrition. And there is no indication that these drivers will ease in 2023: climate change is expected to drive further weather extremes, the global and national economies face a grim outlook, while conflicts and insecurity are likely to persist.   The magnitude of people facing IPC/CH Phase 3 or above is daunting, but it is that very scale that drives urgency. Earlier intervention can reduce food gaps and protect assets and livelihoods at a lower cost than late humanitarian response.   Yet too often the international community waits for a Famine (IPC/CH Phase 5) classification before mobilizing additional funding. By this stage, lives and futures have already been lost, livelihoods have collapsed, and social networks disrupted with deleterious impacts on the lives of an unborn generation.   Populations in IPC/CH Phase 3 are already unable to meet their minimum food needs or are compelled to protect food consumption by engaging in coping strategies that will harm their future ability to access food and sustain their livelihoods. In IPC/CH Phase 4, households face large food gaps, which are either reflected in high acute malnutrition levels and excess mortality. Urgent action is needed for households in IPC/CH Phase 3 and 4 to ensure immediate wellbeing, to support their ability to sustain themselves.   * The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) provides a common scale for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and acute malnutrition. The classification is based on a convergence of available data and evidence, including indicators related to food consumption, livelihoods, malnutrition, and mortality. It is the internationally recognised standard measurement.   http://www.fsinplatform.org/global-report-food-crises-2023 http://www.fsinplatform.org/report/global-report-food-crises-2023/ http://bit.ly/3Ny02P6 http://www.wfp.org/news/global-report-food-crises-number-people-facing-acute-food-insecurity-rose-258-million-58 Visit the related web page
	The global housing crisis is a human rights crisis by OHCHR, IIED, SDI, Habitat for Humanity, agencies   UN expert urges action to end global affordable housing crisis. (OHCHR)   A UN expert has warned of a severe affordable housing crisis, despite housing being a fundamental human right long recognised under international law.   “The world is grappling with a situation where more and more people are unable to afford their housing costs. Millions lack the financial means to access safe, secure and habitable housing,” said Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.   In his report to the UN General Assembly, the expert stressed that thousands of people are evicted every day simply because they cannot pay their housing costs, contributing to rising homelessness.   He noted that a staggering 1.6 billion people around the world lack adequate housing and basic services, with projections that this could rise to 3 billion by 2030. It is estimated that 100 million people worldwide are homeless.   “States, intergovernmental organisations and institutions should make more concerted efforts to address the underlying causes of housing unaffordability,” Rajagopal said. He pointed to several causes, including housing financialisaton, lack of local government authority, and weak tax policies.   In his report, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the ripple effects that occur when people are unable to afford housing, putting their well-being and physical and mental health at risk. “When their rights to security of tenure, livelihoods and access to energy, safe water and sanitation are weakened, it ultimately violates the right to a life in dignity,” Rajagopal said.   The expert outlined concrete steps that States can take to achieve the goal of affordable housing for all. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to ensuring affordable housing for all, and States should choose options that best suit their specific needs and circumstances,” he said.   “Inclusive participation can tailor responses to different needs,” Rajagopal said. He stressed the importance of pursuing policy and institutional options that hold the promise of better outcomes, including co-housing, land banks, and rent regulation.   The Special Rapporteur warned that the affordable housing crisis does not affect everyone equally, but falls disproportionately on vulnerable groups who already face discrimination.   He urged States to recognise affordability as an integral part of the right to adequate housing in their national or constitutional law, which is lacking in most cases.   “As a global call to action to counteract and prevent the negative effects of the escalating trend towards unaffordable housing, this report should serve as a major catalyst for achieving affordable housing for all,” the expert said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-urges-action-end-global-affordable-housing-crisis http://docs.un.org/en/A/78/192   July 2023   World Leaders need to prioritize the more than 1 Billion People living in Informal Settlements, by Jonathan Reckford - CEO of Habitat for Humanity International and Joseph Muturi - Chair of Slum Dwellers International.   When representatives from dozens of countries gathered recently at the UN High Level Political Forum in New York to share progress on their efforts to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this disturbing reality was clear: the world is not even close to meeting the goals by 2030 as intended.   According to the report released at the meeting, progress on more than half of the SDG targets is weak and insufficient, with 30% of targets stalled or in reverse. In particular, progress towards SDG 11, which centers on making “cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” is stagnating, signaling regression for the third year in a row.   Unless governments take urgent action to address the plight of more than 1 billion people struggling daily to survive in slums and other poorly constructed informal settlements, we will not achieve the SDGs.   Access to affordable, safe housing is a fundamental human right, and intrinsically linked to building sustainable and resilient communities. It’s time world leaders turned their attention to improving housing conditions in informal settlements as a critical first step in helping to solve the most pressing development challenges of our time, from health and education to jobs and climate resilience.   Consider Milka Achieng, 31, who lives among the more than 250,000 residents of Kibera, a bustling hub of mud-walled homes and small businesses that make up one of the world’s largest informal settlements on the south side of Nairobi, Kenya.   Every day, Milka heads out for work and walks past the kiosk where she pumps water that isn’t clean enough to drink without boiling. She passes neighbors who live with the constant fear of eviction and the threat of deadly fires sparked by jerry-rigged electrical lines.   Yet despite these conditions, Milka remains upbeat. She works for a Kenya-based startup that, from its production facility in the heart of Kibera, cranks out firesafe housing blocks designed to make homes in informal settlements safer and more resilient. These are the kinds of innovative, scalable solutions that not only hold promise for the future of Kibera, but also for the millions of families struggling to keep their loved ones healthy and safe in informal communities around the globe.   By 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas, making the proliferation of informal settlements inevitable – unless world governments take bold, collective action.   A new report reveals the incredible, transformational benefits – in terms of health, education, and income – if world leaders invest in upgrading housing in informal settlements.   The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) modeling from 102 low- and middle-income countries shows that if people living in informal settlements gained access to adequate housing, the average life span would jump 2.4 years on average globally, saving 730,000 lives each year.   This translates to more deaths prevented than if malaria were to be eliminated. The report also found that as many as 41.6 million additional children would be enrolled in school worldwide.   Economic growth, meanwhile, would jump by as much as 10.5% in some countries, whether measured as GDP or gross national income per capita. The resulting increase in living standards would exceed the projected cost of improving informal settlements in many countries.   These findings provide a long-overdue wake-up call to governments and municipal authorities that prioritizing safe and secure housing would have far-reaching implications for advancing not just community wellbeing, but national and global economic prosperity.   World leaders who don’t prioritize improving informal settlements are making a grave mistake. Their goals related to education, health, and other areas of human wellbeing hinge on how well the world responds to trends such as growing inequities, rapid urbanization, and a worsening global housing crisis.   As the heads of an international housing organization and a global network of slum dwellers, respectively, we believe governments have an urgent responsibility to invest in comprehensive solutions to our global housing crisis.   This includes supporting start-ups, such as Milka’s factory, which are pioneering innovative, low-cost, and community-driven solutions to strengthen the foundation of unsafe housing settlements worldwide.   Simultaneously, officials at the global, national and municipals levels must ensure that residents have land tenure security, climate-resilient homes, and basic services such as clean water and sanitation.   Importantly, IIED researchers also concluded that, while they couldn’t put a precise number on it, the rehabilitation of informal settlements would have a clear and positive “spillover effect” by strengthening environmental, political and health care systems for all. This, in turn, would improve overall societal wellbeing for generations to come.   Upgrading the world’s supply of adequate housing is a lever for equitable human development and a cornerstone for sustainable urban development. Global, national and community stakeholders must join forces with the more than 1 billion voices clamoring for greater access to safe and secure homes.   When residents of informal settlements do better, everyone does better. Strikingly, it’s that simple.   * IIED Home Equal report: http://tinyurl.com/2fvn7hp2   http://www.habitat.org/ap/home-equals-ap http://www.iied.org/better-for-everyone-exposing-hidden-value-equitable-housing-informal-settlements http://www.iied.org/tag/informal-settlements-slums http://www.iied.org/collection/housing-justice http://sdinet.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/01/states-obligated-safeguard-equitable-access-and-use-land-un-committee http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/annual-thematic-reports   June 2023   Slum populations are set to surge to over 3 billion people by 2050, by Nita Bhalla. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)   Beatrice Oriyo laughed out loud when asked if there was a playground where her three children could play near her home in Kibera, Nairobi’s biggest informal settlement.   “There’s nothing like that here,” the 34-year-old Oriyo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the one-roomed corrugated iron home that she rents for 6,000 Kenyan Shillings ($43.18) a month.   “We don’t even have our own toilet - we have to pay each time to use the public toilets. We bathe in the same room that is our kitchen, living room and bedroom. The idea of a playground here is like a joke,” she said.   More than one billion people globally reside in overcrowded urban slums such as Kibera, where they live a precarious existence, struggling to access basic amenities such as adequate housing, water, sanitation, power and waste collection, said the United Nations’ agency for urban development, UN-Habitat.   This figure is projected to reach three billion people by 2050 - as populations grow and more people migrate to cities in search of better opportunities - presenting a major challenge for many governments across the world.   UN-Habitat forecasts that 50% of this growth in slum populations will be concentrated in eight countries: Nigeria, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Tanzania, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Pakistan.   “Our future is urban,” UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif told reporters at the UN-Habitat Assembly, a conference bringing together ministers, senior officials and civil society groups to strengthen commitments to develop more sustainable cities.   “More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and towns. That population is going to increase to 70% by 2050. So, tackling urban poverty and inequality is more urgent than ever before,” she said.   More than half of Kenya’s urban population lives in unplanned overcrowded settlements like Kibera. The warren of narrow dirt-paved alleys is home to at least 250,000 people - most living cheek-by-jowl in windowless one-room shacks.   Most residents are migrants from rural areas and earn less than $2 a day in low-income jobs as motorbike taxi drivers, security guards, domestic workers or casual labourers. They are unable to afford decent housing in Nairobi.   Toilets are shared pit latrines which often overflow during the rainy season, there is little piped water so residents rely on expensive and irregular private water tankers to fill their buckets and containers daily.   Poor drainage and garbage collection mean floods are common - not only destroying homes and possessions, but also contaminating drinking water and even causing deaths through building collapses, electrocution and drowning.   Residents in informal settlements are also at risk of forced evictions by authorities, and instances of bulldozers moving in to demolish people’s homes are common.   “It’s not easy to live here,” Mercy Achieng, a 41-year-old single mother, who earns 500 shillings weekly washing laundry, said by phone from Kibera, only a 30-minute drive from the scenic 140-acre grounds of the UN conference in the upmarket part of the capital.   “It is a good community and we all know and help one another, but there is no privacy, no safety and no security. The landlord can kick us out, or the bulldozers can come.”   UN-Habitat officials said that while lack of housing was previously seen as a problem faced by developing countries, it had become a global crisis with many rich countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany all facing shortages.   “The global housing crisis is present in all world regions today,” said Edlam Yemeru, head of the Knowledge and Innovation Branch of UN-Habitat   “Although the manifestations differ, almost all countries are grappling with the urgency to ensure that their citizens have access to adequate housing.”   Data from the the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development shows that costs of housing have risen faster than earnings and inflation in many member states in recent years.   Joseph Muturi, chair of Slum Dwellers International - a network of the urban poor from more than 18 countries - said governments needed to focus on upgrading slums, rather than relocating slum dwellers to housing projects outside cities.   Previous examples of moving families from slums to poorly serviced new housing schemes on the fringes of cities had left them isolated with few job options and forcing them to eventually move back to the slums, he said.   “You can’t relocate slum dwellers far from the cities. They have the right to participate as citizens of these cities just like everyone else,” said Muturi.   “When you relocate people, you are also killing the social fabric that these communities have woven over decades - the best solution is in-situ upgrading of slums. You have to engage with slum dwellers, provide secure tenure and the amenities they need.”   http://concernusa.org/news/why-do-people-live-in-slums/ http://www.habitat.org/ap/stories/concrete-steps-toward-adequate-housing http://sdinet.org/2023/10/homeless-peoples-federation-philippines-addressing-issues-of-the-urban-poor-in-the-philippines/ http://www.citiesalliance.org/newsroom/news/urban-news/global-action-plan-transform-slums-and-help-children-thrive-was-approved http://www.citiesalliance.org/newsroom/news/spotlight/how-hot-cities-are-fueling-inequalities http://www.habitat.org/sites/default/files/documents/ClimateMigration_IssueBrief.pdf http://wid.world/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CBV2023-ClimateInequalityReport-2.pdf
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