37th CFS Plenary Session, 17-22 October 2011, Rome
The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
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Rome, 30 September 2011 – One year after devastating floods washed away thousands of farmers’ fields, and on the heels of the most recent flooding in Pakistan, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has announced a US$40.2 million loan to the country to support rural areas.
The loan agreement for the Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project was signed today in Rome by Tasnim Aslam, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Italy, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.
ISLAMABAD (SANA): The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rapidly scaling up its life-saving food distributions in the flood-hit areas of southern Pakistan to reach 500,000 people this month with general food rations and highly fortified, locally-produced foods designed to tackle under nutrition in young children.
“Initial assessment data confirms what we feared: that more than half of those affected by the monsoon floods are critically short of food,” said WFP Acting Country Director, Dominique Frankefort.
23 February 2011 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has promised to continue supporting the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to rebuild infrastructure and restore the social services and livelihoods destroyed by last year’s massive floods.
9 February 2011 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is rushing essential supplies by helicopter to thousands of people in Pakistan who after surviving last year’s devastating floods are now at risk from plummeting winter temperatures.
25 January 2011 – An estimated 166,000 people in Pakistan remain displaced six months after last year’s devastating floods and in need of assistance, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
The floods, which struck northern Pakistan at the onset of the monsoons in July and spread southwards inundating villages along the Indus River, affected some 20 million people. At the height of the crisis in September and October, an estimated 3.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were accommodated in camps.
Press Release No. 10/417
November 5, 2010
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission, led by Adnan Mazarei, met with the Pakistani authorities in Islamabad to continue discussions on the fifth review under Pakistan’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). Mr. Mazarei made the following statement at the conclusion of the mission today:
5 November 2010 – One hundred days into Pakistan’s worst ever flooding crisis, United Nations humanitarian coordinators are drawing attention to the plight of the millions of Pakistanis who remain in urgent need of support, following the rains and floods which swept away entire communities.
27 October 2010 – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is distributing wheat seeds that will benefit over half a million farming families, or nearly five million people, whose seed supplies were destroyed during the recent flood disaster.
The floods, which began in late July and inundated one fifth of the country, claimed more than 1,800 lives and have affected more than 20 million others.
Agriculture is the mainstay for over 80 per cent of the victims of the disaster, which damaged over 2.4 million hectares of cultivable land and washed away millions of homes and livelihoods.
19 October 2010 – There has been a surge in the number of child polio cases reported in Pakistan this year, despite massive immunization campaigns that reached nearly 9 million children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today.
As of 14 October, 78 cases of polio had been reported, up 26 per cent from last year.
Pakistan is one of four countries, along with Afghanistan, India and Nigeria, where polio remains endemic.
As winter looms, UNICEF said it will provide families with clothing and hygiene supplies, and will also pre-position therapeutic feeding supplies and health kits, including obstetric materials.
15 October 2010 – The $2 billion appeal for aid for Pakistani flood victims, the largest-ever launched by the United Nations and its partners for a natural disaster, is just 34 per cent funded, and Secretary-General Ban Ki–moon today called for a generous and swift international response.
The appeal was launched a month ago, more than quadrupling the original $460 million sought in August as the full scope of the floods became clear.
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis