13 August 2010 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste is distributing relief supplies to communities in the southwest of the small South-East Asian country that have been hit by recent floods.

Rice, cooking utensils and mosquito nets are among the items being airlifted by helicopter to Covalima district, the region hardest hit, according to a press release issued today by the mission, known as UNMIT.

More than half a ton of rice has now been delivered to people in need in the past two weeks.

12 August 2010 – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today warned that Madagascar is at risk of a crop-eating locust plague, potentially jeopardizing the livelihoods of 460,000 rural families.

An unknown number of immature swarms of Malagasy Migratory Locust have moved out of the country’s south-western corner, where they are usually contained, and have spread to the east and north.

FAO said today that a major air and ground control campaign lasting months is needed ahead of Madagascar’s upcoming rainy season, which kicks off in mid-October, to stave off a potential plague.

The country is currently in its dry and cool season, which is unsuitable for locust breeding, but the wet and hot rainy season, which lasts until spring, favours rapid reproduction.

11 August 2010 – United Nations aid agencies and their partners today requested almost $460 million to help Pakistan assist millions of people affected by floods that have cut a swathe through the country, killing hundreds of people and destroying homes, farmland and major infrastructure.

“We have a huge task in front of us to deliver all that is required as soon as possible,” said John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the launch of the humanitarian response plan at UN Headquarters in New York.

11 August 2010 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun a major round of feeding for 670,000 children under the age of two and their families in drought-stricken Niger, where as many as eight million people need assistance.

People in the West African nation are experiencing severe food shortages as a result of a prolonged drought that has caused crop failure and livestock deaths.

“People in Niger have suffered intensely from this protracted drought. It is critical to provide for the needs of these malnourished children,” said WFP Regional Director Thomas Yanga.

10 August 2010 – The United Nations refugee agency’s staff on the ground in Pakistan are calling the devastating floods among the most difficult situations they have faced, stressing that the catastrophe is also testing the limits of the country’s emergency response capacity, as well as that of the world body and other agencies.

“Thousands of villages and towns in low-lying areas have not seen flooding on this scale in generations,” Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters today in Geneva.

Remarks for the AGOA Forum 2010

Creating a Favorable Environment for Export Diversification and Competitiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
World Bank Managing Director
Washington, DC
August 3, 2010

As prepared for delivery

Good morning.

It is a pleasure to be here with you to discuss a subject critical for all of us here today – trade and competitiveness in Africa. I would also like thank the United States Government, the Treasury, and Lael in particular for organizing this session and for inviting the World Bank to participate.

10 August 2010 – The United Nations and its aid partners today voiced concern that immediate humanitarian needs in Kyrgyzstan will go unmet since they have only received 30 per cent of the $96 million requested to provide life-saving assistance to civilians affected by recent violence.

Launched in June, the appeal would enable aid agencies to assist over a six-month period some 300,000 people who have been internally displaced by the conflict that erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan earlier that month, and another 765,000 people who have been affected by the crisis.

The clashes between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks led to a number of deaths and injuries, as well as widespread arson, sexual violence, looting of property and destruction of infrastructure.

10 August 2010 – An estimated 1.68 million Zimbabweans still require agricultural assistance and food aid despite an improvement in the country’s food production thanks to Government efforts and a $70 million international assistance programme for farmers in the Southern African nation, United Nations agencies said today.

According to a joint report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) based on assessments in June, the area planted with maize, Zimbabwe’s staple food, increased by 20 per cent this year, the highest level in 30 years, and production was up seven per cent compared to last year.

9 August, 2010 - Production of rice — the world's most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty — will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.

The research team found evidence that the net impact of projected temperature increases will be to slow the growth of rice production in Asia. Rising temperatures during the past 25 years have already cut the yield growth rate by 10-20% in several locations.

9 August 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the world to step up efforts to improve living conditions of the planet’s indigenous communities and to protect them, saying they continued to suffer discrimination and poverty despite a United Nations declaration that aims to promote their rights.

“Indigenous peoples still experience racism, poor health and disproportionate poverty,” Mr. Ban said in a message to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. “In many societies, their languages, religions and cultural traditions are stigmatized and shunned,” the Secretary-General added.