Water-hungry Indian villagers find new reservoirs of solidarity

Here in Rajasthan (India) as in parts of Ethiopia, lack of water is the big problem. (..) In common with approaches tried by donors such as the World Food Programme in Ethiopia, Eficor asked the villagers what their priorities were. Water – or lack of it – was, unsurprisingly, a key concern. Farmers in Rajasthan have land, but often leave areas uncultivated because of the lack of water.

Swollen With Syrian Refugees, Lebanon Feels Its Stitching Fray

Quietly but inexorably, a human tide has crept into Lebanon, Syria’s smallest and most vulnerable neighbor. (..) The United Nations counts more than 305,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, but local officials and aid workers say the actual number is about 400,000, saturating this country of four million. The Lebanese government — by design — has largely left them to fend for themselves. Deeply divided over Syria, haunted by memories of an explosive refugee crisis a generation ago, it has mostly ignored the problem, dumping it on overwhelmed communities like Qaa. (..) Lebanon’s refugee crisis does not match the familiar image of vast, centralized tent camps and armies of foreign aid organizations. It is nowhere, and everywhere.

Egyptian farmers fearful as locust threat looms

Scattered pockets of locusts in southern Egypt and northern Sudan are a threat to agricultural land, warns the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Countries along the Red Sea should remain on “high alert and make every effort to find and treat all infestations”, it says. (..) Egypt is Africa's biggest wheat grower, with expected output of 8.5 million tons in 2012-2013, according to the International Grains Council. With around 3.6 million hectares of agricultural land in Egypt, there is a lot at stake in the case of a major locust invasion.

UNHCR calls for plan to build emergency camps for Syrians

A growing exodus to Jordan is leading to overcrowding in refugee facilities, a UN official warned on Thursday, calling for an “ambitious” plan to establish several emergency camps. “We are averaging 2,500 to 3,000 persons per night and we have to find accommodation for them,” said Andrew Harper, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) representative in Jordan. (..) Plans to open the country’s second camp and a third 50,000-capacity camp some 20 kilometres west of Azraq, have been undermined by an ongoing funding gap, with the UN reportedly receiving less than 20 per cent of a record $1.5 billion pledged by the international community last month.