DEVELOPMENT NEEDED TO COUNTER FOOD INSECURITY

DEVELOPMENT NEEDED TO COUNTER FOOD INSECURITY

DAKAR/GENEVA/ NEW YORK, 18 November (OCHA) -- The United Nations and its development partners who gathered in Dakar, Senegal, from 15 to 16 November for a regional consultation on the Sahel have reached agreement on the need for a coordinated and multisectoral, subregional approach to the subregion’s recurrent food security crises.

“Recognizing that humanitarian action is nothing but a temporary palliative, inappropriate and costly in this type of situation, we decided that the time had come to engage in a real dialogue among governmental, international and local partners to work towards a better future for the Sahel”, said Margareta Wahlström, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator.  “The fight against poverty and for development is the only sustainable solution to fight these chronic crises.”

Nearly 100 United Nations, governmental and non-governmental participants undertook a dialogue among humanitarian and developmental actors, reaching agreement on several recommendations, including the establishment of a follow-up committee.  These recommendations reflect the need for short- and long-term measures to deal jointly with emergency humanitarian and developmental needs.  This is the first time that all actors have agreed on the need to couple emergency humanitarian and development activities.

Of a population of more than 68 million in the countries of the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal), some 32 million -- nearly half the total population, and particularly children -- suffer from malnutrition.  Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, there is an average of 24 food crises per year.

Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Senegal, and Ahmédou Ould Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, opened the session.  Representing the co-organizers, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were Ms. Wahlström and Kathleen Cravero, Director of the UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

Representatives from the concerned countries -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- participated, as did representatives from major donors, including the European Union, France, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Japan and the United States.  Representatives of the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), the Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et Producteurs Agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA), and the Sahel Club also participated, as did a variety of international non-governmental organizations and other United Nations agencies.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, tel: +1 917 367 5126, mobile: +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, tel: +1 917 367 9262; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel: +41 22 917 2653, mobile: +41 79 473 4570.

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For information media • not an official record