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, 14 September 2010 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is supporting a grant in Eritrea with the goal of raising production and productivity in the fisheries sector, while conserving fish stocks and the marine ecosystem.
This grant agreement for the Fisheries Development Project of US$12.6 million was signed today at IFAD headquarters in Rome by Zemede Tekle Woldetatios, Ambassador of Eritrea and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.
Eritrea’s coastal area, once home to a strong fisheries sector, has been destroyed by decades of war. The country has some of the few remaining underexploited fish stocks in the world, however, little support has been provided to the country’s fishing communities to take advantage of these rich resources.
18 January 2010 – The United Nations today allocated some $100 million to boost the humanitarian response in 14 ongoing but underfunded emergencies, ranging from Afghanistan to Yemen, where people are suffering the effects of hunger, malnutrition, disease and conflict.
UN agencies and their partners in Ethiopia received the single largest allocation of some $17 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) coming in second with approximately $16 million.
19 November 2009 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received a boost today for its emergency relief efforts feeding millions of hungry people in the Horn of Africa, with the announcement of a $112 million donation from Spain.
“This extraordinary contribution brings hope and help to the 20 million most vulnerable people that we are committed to assisting in the Horn of Africa,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
WFP has scaled up aid efforts to people living in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia who have been struck hard by prolonged drought, recurring conflict, stubborn high food prices and the global financial crisis.
14 October 2009 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sounded the alarm on the worsening humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa today, noting that nearly five million children under the age of five in the region are now hungry.
This marks an increase of 1 million since May, while the number of people in need of emergency assistance in the region has also risen, climbing from 20 million earlier this year to 24 million, the agency said.
During 2009, some 500,000 under-five children will suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.
The food insecurity has been in large part triggered by prolonged drought resulting in less than half the normal rainfall, which has lead to enormous losses in livestock and surging food prices.
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
