“I’m more optimistic than before regarding the goal of ending hunger in Latin America”
2/4/2024: There are about 43 million people suffering from hunger, and more than 130 million have difficulty putting food on the table, in Latin America and the Caribbean. The regional representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is optimistic that the 2030 goal of ending hunger can be achieved as more countries in the region are rethinking their plans in a forceful and clear manner.
Source: Inter Press Service
Malawi shifts perspective on land reforms in a bid to retain investors
1/4/2024: Land laws introduced in 2022 were meant to solve challenges faced by thousands of landless subsistence farmers and make it impossible for foreigners to own land in Malawi. Now the government appears inclined to create a land policy that restores incentives for large farmers. Restructuring land laws has proven to be tricky for many African countries.
Source: Devex
ICJ orders Israel to take action to address famine in Gaza
28/3/2024: Judges at the International Court of Justice have unanimously ordered Israel to ensure that basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza. In its legally binding order, the Court observed that worsening conditions of life and famine and starvation are spreading.
Source: Al Jazeera
Ethiopia’s social safety net programme faces a funding gap
28/3/2024: Ethiopia’s flagship social protection programme has cut food and cash transfers to the country’s poorest households, due to rising prices and cutbacks from some international donors. The Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) was launched in 2005 as a resilience-building social safety net, now recognised as one of the most ambitious social protection programmes in Africa.
Source: The New Humanitarian
High risk, high reward: Gavi’s investment in Africa vaccine production
28/3/2024: Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, is a global consortium that provides affordable vaccines to lower-income countries through pooled procurement. The organisation is months away from launching a new $1 billion financial instrument to boost Africa’s nascent vaccine manufacturing sector.
Source: Devex
Expectations mount as loss and damage fund staggers to its feet
25/3/2024: Progress on getting a new UN loss and damage fund up and running is slow. Its board faces an unenviable task: figuring out how to fairly divide very little money among too many people in desperate need of it, as climate impacts accelerate. The fund isn’t expected to hand out any money until 2025 at the earliest.
Source: Climate Home News
UN Security Council passes Gaza cease-fire resolution
25/3/2024: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an "immediate" cease-fire during Ramadan in Gaza. It also calls for the immediate release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The US abstained. Four similar resolutions had failed, three of them vetoed by the US and another last week by Russia and China.
Source: DW
Water for peace? First, stop it becoming a weapon of war
22/3/2024: As conflicts continue to rage in Ukraine and parts of the Middle East and Africa, water infrastructure has become fair game. The highest number of attacks on water supplies ever reported was in 2022. Paralysis of the international multilateral system has contributed to this trend.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Global water shortages are looming; what can be done?
22/3/2024: World Water Day will shine a spotlight on the global water crisis, which is being driven by a combination of factors, from climate change to leaky pipes. Here are seven things countries and individuals can do to stem water shortfalls.
Source: UN Environment Programme
States submit arguments to world’s highest court on climate obligations
22/3/2024: The deadline has closed for State written submissions to the International Court of Justice which will deliver an advisory opinion on the international legal obligations countries bear in safeguarding people from the impacts of climate change. All Pacific Island nations have made strong submissions to the Court in a strong show of unity.
Source: Greenpeace