UN: Early Weather Forecasts Key to Saving Lives in Drought.
With droughts set to become more frequent due to global warming, delivering timely, long-term weather forecasts to farmers in the developing world will be key to limiting damage and saving lives, the head of the U.N. food agency said on Monday.
Droughts have killed more than 11 million people worldwide since 1900 and now affect double the land area than in 1970, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Developing countries are the most exposed, with their agricultural sectors shouldering 80 percent of all damage caused by drought, FAO says.
Better access to reliable weather data and early warning systems could help farmers in rural areas get ready to endure long spells of no rain, said FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva.
"Most of the times poor rural communities in developing countries don’t even know that a drought is about to strike," he told a conference at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
"People die because they are not prepared to face the impacts of the drought – because their livelihoods are not resilient enough," he said.
In Rome, FAO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) signed an accord to increase cooperation in the face of climate change, improving agro-meteorological services to help small farmers prepare for droughts.
WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas said weather forecast accuracy had greatly increased in recent years thanks developments in satellite, computing and scientific research.
The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically occurs every few years, subsided in 2016 and was linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods.

Early weather forecasts key to saving lives in drought – U.N.. ROME, June 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With droughts set to become more frequent due to global warming, delivering timely, long-term weather forecasts to farmers in the developing world will be key to limiting damage and saving lives, the head of the U.N. food agency said on Monday.
Droughts have killed more than 11 million people worldwide since 1900 and now affect double the land area than in 1970, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Better access to reliable weather data and early warning systems could help farmers in rural areas get ready to endure long spells of no rain, said FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva.
"Most of the times poor rural communities in developing countries don’t even know that a drought is about to strike," he told a conference at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
Measures such as planting resistant crops and building water reservoirs can greatly reduce the impact of droughts, but international responses too often focus on emergency relief, said Graziano da Silva.
"People die because they are not prepared to face the impacts of the drought – because their livelihoods are not resilient enough," he said.
WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas said weather forecast accuracy had greatly increased in recent years thanks developments in satellite, computing and scientific research.
The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically occurs every few years, subsided in 2016 and was linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros Russell.
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9 June 2017 – Protracted fighting and unrest are swelling the ranks of displaced and hungry ins some parts of the world, even as large agricultural harvests in some regions are buoying global food supply conditions, according to a new report by the United Nations agriculture agency.
“Civil conflict continues to be a main driver of food insecurity, having triggered famine conditions in South Sudan and put populations in Yemen and northern Nigeria at high risk of localized famine,” said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on today’s release its Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.
Refugees from civil strife in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Central African Republic are putting additional pressure on local food supplies in host communities.
In Somalia, about 3.2 million people need food and agricultural emergency assistance, while in Yemen the figure is as high as 17 million.
According to FAO, 37 countries require external assistance for food, namely Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Southern Africa rebounds, East Africa is parched While worldwide cereal output is near record levels, production outcomes are mixed across the globe.
According to the report, South America is expected to post strong increases, led by Brazil and Argentina.
This should help to reduce food insecurity in countries, such as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
However, at the start of the 2017 season, East Africa has suffered insufficient rainfall, armyworm infestations and local conflicts, leaving in the sub-region a record 26.5 million people in need humanitarian assistance.
The report warns that the situation could be aggravated further as the lean season peaks, saying, “An estimated 7.8 million people are food insecure in Ethiopia, where drought has dented crop and pasture output in southern regions.” Moreover, cereal domestic prices reached exceptionally high levels in May, with the local cost of maize jumping by as much as 65 per cent this year in parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

How to Produce More Food with Less Damage to Soil, Water, Forests.
To achieve sustainable development we must transform current agriculture and food systems, including by supporting smallholders and family farmers, reducing pesticide and chemical use, and improving land conservation practices, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director-general on May 30 said in Brussels addressing European lawmakers.
José Graziano da Silva stressed that while high-input and resource intensive farming systems have substantially increased food production, this has come at a high cost to the environment.
“Today, it is fundamental not only to increase production, but to do it in a way that does not damage the environment.
Among the 15 trends described in the report, are the impacts of climate change, conflicts and migration.
The report also foresees 10 challenges for achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture worldwide.
Climate Change He underscored that no sector is more sensitive to climate change than agriculture – especially for smallholders and family farmers from developing countries – while at the same time, agriculture and food systems account for around 30 per cent of total greenhouse emissions.
There is no trade-off between the two,” the FAO chief said, while pointing to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time building the resilience and to promote the adaptation of farmers to the impacts of climate change.
To this end, FAO supports countries through different initiatives and approaches, including climate-smart agriculture, agro-ecology and agro-forestry.
“Today the world produces enough to feed the global population, but about one third of this food is either lost or wasted, while at the same time there is also a waste of natural resources such as land and water.” The UN agency currently supports about 50 countries in the area of food losses and waste, including through the SAVE FOOD initiative, a unique partnership –with more than 850 members from industry, associations, research institutes and non-governmental organizations– that addresses these issues “across the entire value chain from field to fork,” Graziano da Silva told the European parliamentarians.

Agencies Consolidate Partnerships for SDG Implementation.
10 May 2017: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Bank have signed a framework agreement to strengthen the fight against hunger and poverty, especially in situations of protracted crises and fragility.
The Near East and North Africa regional programmes of FAO and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) have agreed to extend their current partnership until 2020, further aligning their respective strategic programmes and priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Zero hunger is the focus of SDG 2, while SDG 6 addresses clean water and sanitation and SDG 15 covers life on land.
The last Goal, SDG 17, addresses partnerships for achievement of the Goals.
The framework agreement between the World Bank and the FAO, which was signed on 10 May 2017 in Rome, Italy, aims to consolidate the agencies’ longstanding partnership in the agriculture and rural development sector.
FAO’s support will include providing technical expertise to improve rural livelihoods, efficient food production and distribution, and the sustainable management of natural resources.
The FAO-ICARDA partnership, which focuses on the agencies’ programmes in the Near East and North Africa region, was announced during a joint technical meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in April 2017.
Over the past three years the partnership has promoted sustainable agricultural development and management of water and land resources to enhance food security and improve livelihoods in the region.
Joint activities have focused, inter alia, on: scaling up improved water management technologies and practices; strengthening implementation capacity; and addressing rural gender inequalities and accelerating women’s empowerment in rural communities in the region.

UN agency uses satellite data to aid farmers in Africa, Middle East boost water efficiency.
20 April 2017 – The United Nations agricultural agency created an online database that uses satellite data and Google Earth images to figure out how much water is being used to irrigate crops, focusing on parts of Africa and the Middle East that are facing water scarcity.
“Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change – with increasing droughts and extreme weather – is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture,” said Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Climate Change and Natural Resources.
“That puts a premium on making every drop count, underscoring the importance of meeting growing food production needs from efficiency gains.” Known as WaPOR, the open-access database measures evapotranspiration – how water evaporates and returns to the atmosphere, according to FAO.
“Evapotranspiration thus provides a direct measure of the water consumed by a crop during a growing season and, when related to the biomass and harvestable crop yield, allows for calculating the crop water productivity,” the UN agency said presenting WaPOR at a high-level meeting in Rome on “ “Coping with water scarcity in agriculture: a global framework for action in a changing climate”.
WaPOR sifts through data to produce maps that who much food is produced for every cubic meter of water consumed.
FAO, with support from the Government of the Netherlands, is currently focusing on African and the Middle East, with detailed data expected in October for pilot areas in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Mali.

U.N. tool uses satellite data to help farmers save water.
ROME, April 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A new Google-powered online tool that uses satellite data to map water consumption in Africa and the Middle East aims to help farmers produce more crops with less water, the United Nations said on Thursday.
WaPOR, an open-access database developed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) enables countries to easily monitor how efficiently farms use water, allowing for improvements in irrigation and food production, the agency said.
As agriculture is responsible for 70 percent of all water used on the planet, it will be critical to increase "crop per drop", experts say.
"Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change – with increasing droughts and extreme weather – is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture," said FAO’s deputy director-general Maria Helena Semedo.
The tool allows users like governments or farmers to spot areas where water is used inefficiently and take action by changing the irrigation system or switching to a more water-efficient crop, FAO said.
"You can compare with your neighbour and say: ‘Look he is planting his wheat field one month ahead of me or using this kind of irrigation system or fertilizer and he is doing much better’," FAO technical officer Livia Peiser, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Two thirds of the world’s population live in areas experiencing water scarcity at least one month a year, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Katie Nguyen.
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Somaliland: UN Staff Donates 7000$ to National Drought Response Committee.
Several UN representatives have donated a total of 7000 dollars to the National Drought Response Committee, showing the personal commitment of the UN staff in the assistance of victims affected by the severe drought in Somaliland.
This article was published by SomalilandPress.com: Representatives of UNICEF, WFP, UNCHR, UNDP, FAO, UN-Habitat, and the Resident Coordinator’s Office today [19 April 2017] delivered a donation to the National Drought Response Committee totaling USD $ 7000.
The donation represents a personal contribution from the salaries of international and national UN staff based in Hargeisa, a lot of whom have also separately donated to the drought response.
Speaking at the handover event, Gavin Roy of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office noted that “this contribution is a symbol of the personal commitment of UN staff in Somaliland to do our utmost to help persons affected by the drought in Somaliland, and comes above and beyond the long hours and dedicated work that all UN staff are doing to prevent famine”.
H.E.
Sheikh Khalif Abdillahi Ahmed, Minister of Religious Affairs thanked the UN for passing on the personal contribution to the Drought Committee and for the overall increased assistance that is being given to assist people affected by the drought.
He noted that this donation was in addition to the USD $1700 that staff UNDP, UNFPA, UNDSS, OCHA, and RCO recently gave to the Drought Committee.
In addition to this personal contribution, representatives of the UN agencies briefed the Drought Committee members on their work to respond to the drought, noting that the UN is working hard to both mobilise funds and scale up response, in particular in relation to the provision of clean water, nutrition, cash assistance, emergency health and shelter, protection services, and distribution of agriculture packages to farmers.

Meeting the World’s Food, Water, and Energy Needs: A Reason for Optimism.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that we will need to increase world food production by 60-70% to feed 9 billion people.
To keep up with population-driven food needs there will need to be an over 19% increase in water consumed just for agriculture.
Recent growth in non-renewable consumption has been particularly noticeable in the developing world, with China – – getting most of its energy from non-renewable sources.
Breakthroughs for water have come in three main areas: access, quality, and conservation.
Beyond health concerns around consumption, a lot of water worry centers around industrial production processes and “”—or goods that require a lot of water to be produced.
Food companies who rely on agriculture in their supply chain, such as , have moved production to less water scarce growing regions.
These companies have also invested time and effort in thinking about how to improve public policy around water management.
plans to grow to its reuse of sewage from 25% to 80% in the next 10 years.
Though the – China, the U.S., and India –still rely on and will rely on non-renewable sources to provide power for their economies for many decades into the future but the renewables are going to be an important part of the energy mix of the future.

11 percent of disappearing groundwater used to grow internationally traded food.
To produce these crops many countries rely on irrigated agriculture that accounts for about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, according to the United Nations Water program.
A new study by researchers at the University College London and NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York City shows that 11 percent of the global non-renewable groundwater drawn up for irrigation goes to produce crops that are then traded on the international market.
Additionally, two-thirds of the exported crops that depend on non-renewable groundwater are produced in Pakistan (29 percent), the United States (27 percent), and India (12 percent).
Their analysis is the first to determine which specific crops come from groundwater reservoirs that won’t renew on human time-scales and where they are consumed.
"It’s important from Japan’s perspective to know whether that corn is being produced with a sustainable source of water, because you can imagine in the long term if groundwater declines too much, the United States will have difficulty producing that crop."
Countries that export and import these crops may be at risk in the future of losing the crops, and their profits, produced with non-renewable groundwater.
Aquifers form when water accumulates in the ground over time, sometimes over hundreds or thousands of years.
Non-renewable aquifers are those that do not accumulate rainfall fast enough to replace what is drawn out to the surface, either naturally to lakes and rivers or in this case by people via pumping.
"What’s innovative about this study is it connects groundwater depletion estimates with country level data," said hydrologist Matt Rodell at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who was not involved in the study.