Food

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

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.

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.

In Mozambique, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns it will be forced to suspend life-saving assistance, particularly in Cabo Delgado province, to 1 million people — at the peak of the hunger season in February — unless it urgently receives $51 million more in funding.

In Afghanistan, the United Nations Resident Coordinator there called for urgent collective action to halt the devastating impact of climate change in the country. He warned that Afghanistan is one of the countries least prepared to face climate shocks.

Alice Nderitu, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, expressed her concern today at reports of a resurgence of ethnic clashes in the Blue Nile region of Sudan fuelled by hate speech. She called on all those in positions of authority to institute conflict prevention mechanisms and hold all perpetrators accountable.