Food

​​​​​​​United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Reena Ghelani of Australia as United Nations Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is in West Java, Indonesia, following the earthquake that struck Monday, and has distributed 350 customized kits to women, adolescents and people living with HIV. Deployed midwives to West Java have also established a reproductive health centre, where three babies have been born so far.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The World Food Programme’s Executive Director went to Venezuela, where he met with President Nicolas Maduro and visited the Araya peninsula in Sucre state, where the Programme has been providing school meals since July and where over 430,000 children and their families receive food rations delivered to schools in eight states.

The Secretary-General, welcoming the agreement by all parties to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative to facilitate grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers export from Ukraine, said the United Nations is also fully committed to removing the remaining obstacles to exporting food and fertilizers from the Russian Federation.

The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:

Today is International Day for Tolerance. The resolution proclaiming the Day was adopted by the General Assembly in 1996, and among other things, the Day aims to foster mutual understanding among cultures and peoples.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Group of 20 (G20) session on the food and energy crises, in Bali today:

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic facilitated a school’s reopening in the Haute-Kotto Prefecture. Deployed there to deter armed groups and help restore socioeconomic activities, peacekeepers also provided school supplies and have launched a community violence reduction project.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) today released a report showing that economic losses from drought, floods and landslides have rocketed in Asia. According to WMO, in 2021 alone, weather and water-related hazards caused total damage of $35.6 billion, affecting nearly 50 million people.