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Call for action to avert famine in 2021










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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Addressing the impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in food crises (April–December 2020)
    FAO’s component of the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 (July update)
    2020
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    The world is standing on the precipice of the greatest food crisis in generations. Worldwide, people and their communities are reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which extend far beyond the direct health impacts. Food systems have been disrupted, informal employment all but stopped for millions, markets have closed and remittances have dried up and the most vulnerable have found themselves struggling to access sufficient food. Increasingly, as smallholders are unable to access the critical inputs they need to continue producing, food availability is emerging as a major concern. Conflict, weather extremes and pre-existing economic turbulence continue to push more people into acute hunger, exacerbated by the reverberations of the pandemic. The worst-case scenario of famine is inching closer to reality for millions of girls, boys, women and men, especially for the 27 million people that were already experiencing emergency levels of acute hunger before the pandemic. Responding to these challenges requires urgent action at scale. Critical agricultural seasons, livestock movements for pasture and water, food harvesting, processing and storage – these are not activities that can be put on hold as we tackle the health impacts of the pandemic. Without support, increasing numbers of people will be forced to abandon their livelihoods and rely on much more costly food assistance to survive. Anticipatory action now is not just more cost effective than waiting to rebuild livelihoods and communities later, it is more humane and respectful of the dignity of the billions of people relying on some form of agriculture for their livelihoods. This is at the heart of FAO’s response to the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. FAO’s programme focuses on four key components to save lives and livelihoods threatened by the pandemic, as follows: (i) rolling out data collection and analysis; (ii) ensuring availability of and stabilizing access to food for the most acutely food-insecure populations; (iii) ensuring continuity of the critical food supply chain for the most vulnerable populations; and (iv) ensuring food supply chain actors are not at risk of virus transmission.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Somalia Famine Prevention Plan: May–December 2022
    Part of FAO’s Regional Plan for mitigating a major humanitarian catastrophe in the Horn of Africa
    2022
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    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) urgently requires funding to increase immediate access to food and basic needs in rural areas, safeguard livelihoods and support food production where it is still possible, as well as to provide supporting evidence and coordination to ensure relevant and prioritized response actions. FAO’s Famine Prevention Plan seeks to reach extremely vulnerable rural communities in areas at risk of famine to avert further catastrophe. If emergency cash and livelihood assistance is not provided in a timely manner, many more Somalis will face worse outcomes; 213 000 people are already facing famine conditions across the country. This number is likely to rise exponentially in coming months if humanitarian assistance is not scaled up and sustained.
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    Booklet
    Drought in the Horn of Africa: Revised rapid response and mitigation plan to avert a humanitarian catastrophe
    January–December 2022
    2022
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    The Horn of Africa is facing the third severe La Niña‑induced drought episode in a decade, and the region is on the verge of a catastrophe if humanitarian assistance is not urgently scaled up and sustained. Drought is exacerbating the humanitarian situation in a region already facing high levels of exisiting food insecurity. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, 18.4 million people are projected to be in Crisis (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [IPC] Phase 3) or worse levels of high acute food insecurity due solely to the drought. An unprecedented fourth, below-average rainy season has just occurred in these countries, while Djibouti also experienced erratic rainfall in 2021. Drought is among the most devastating of natural hazards – crippling food production, depleting pastures, disrupting markets, and, at its most extreme, causing widespread human and animal deaths. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) revised rapid response and mitigation plan for the Horn of Africa aggregates FAO's components of recent humanitarian appeals. It provides further details on what urgently needs to happen to scale from January to December 2022 in order to save the livelihoods and therefore the lives of 4.98 million rural people across the four countries and the risks associated with an insufficient or untimely response. The timeframe for the plan has been extended from June to December 2022. FAO is urgently requesting USD 172 million to provide critical assistance to rural populations, prevent the further worsening of hunger and malnutrition, safeguard livelihoods, as well as prevent displacement and further increases in humanitarian needs in 2022.

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