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Hunger in the news

A daily selection of news reports from the world's media dealing with hunger and responses to it.
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Hunger in the news
12 December 2012

Isolated Philippine typhoon victims running out of food

Isolated communities in the Philippines including hill tribes are facing hunger a week after a typhoon struck, and with roads blocked, supplies will have to be dropped by air, authorities said on Tuesday. (..) Stephen Anderson, country director for the World Food Programme in the Philippines, said help had to be delivered fast to communities that had lost everything -- homes, crops and all "productive assets". "These people are extremely vulnerable ... it's a race against time," Anderson told Reuters.
Chicago Tribune
Hunger in the news
11 December 2012

Mozambique's 'growth corridor' hopes to tackle poverty and turn a profit

"If we do not invest in our smallholder farmers, then poverty will always be around us. I believe you can have a vibrant small farming sector underpinned by the commercial sector," said Emerson Zhou, the executive director of the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor (BAGC), the body tasked with building a relationship between smallholder farmers and big food purchasers, like the World Food Programme (WFP). (..) He believes that the Beira corridor experiment he heads, if successful, will spawn the growth of a commercial farming services sector that will ultimately do away with the need for government to distribute inputs – such as seed and fertiliser – to smallholders.
The Guardian
Climate Change
11 December 2012

How severe weather impacts global food supply

Extreme weather across the world in 2012 has led to low food yields and a hike in prices. (..) Rising food prices have been blamed on a number of factors -- for example, rising energy costs, changing land use for biofuel production, local conflicts, and an increasing demand for meat and dairy products.
CNN
Hunger in the news
11 December 2012

Hundreds still missing after deadly Philippines typhoon

Hundreds of people were still missing Monday after Typhoon Bopha struck the southern stretches of the Philippines last week, claiming more than 600 lives and displacing more than 5 million people. (..) The typhoon devastated whole villages swamped with sudden floods, triggering deadly landslides and wiping out crops. The U.N. launched an appeal Monday for $65 million to help the Philippines recover by providing food, water and emergency shelter to the worst-hit areas.
Los Angeles Times
Hunger in the news
11 December 2012

In Brief: Gaza operation over, but emergency remains

Despite the end of an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation there remains dire, says the representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the occupied Palestinian territory. “There is a misconception that because there is a period of calm, we can start thinking about a development process, which is very difficult to do when they are under occupation,” Pablo Recalde said at a press conference.
IRIN
Hunger in the news
10 December 2012

At meeting in Rome, UN officials stress link between food security and peace in Sahel

Addressing a meeting at the FAO headquarters in Rome – attended by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on the Sahel, Romano Prodi, and other senior UN officials and mediators dealing directly with the Sahel crisis – FAO’s Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, noted that the relation between food insecurity, hunger and the dispute over natural resources and conflicts was particularly evident in the Sahel.
UN News Centre
Hunger in the news
10 December 2012

Typhoon-hit Philippines appeals for help

The Philippine government and the United Nations are launching a global appeal to help the victims of Typhoon Bopha, as the toll continues to climb, while hundreds of people are still missing after the storm devastated the south of the country. At least 650 people are killed, while millions are left homeless and in desperate need of food aid and other basic goods, the country's disaster chief in Manila told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera
Hunger in the news
10 December 2012

WFP lauds UAE humanitarian effort

World Food Programme (WFP) officials on Sunday heaped praise on UAE efforts to help victims, while expressing worry about the humanitarian situation in Syria, Yemen and occupied Palestinian territories at a special media briefing held in Dubai. The briefing follows a Global Management Meeting held by the WFP that brought together senior managers from 90 offices worldwide to Dubai this week. It is the first time in the Middle East that such a meeting has been held.
The Gulf Today
Hunger in the news
10 December 2012

Somalia's journey from disaster to resilience a test case for development

Somalia remains fragile with about 3.8 million people in need of life-saving assistance, out of a population of 9.5 million, and 1.4 million people internally displaced. Given the country's precarious condition, the UN this week launched a $1.3bn (£807m) appeal for Somalia for the next three years. (..) The $1.3bn appeal will be for 369 humanitarian projects. The FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN children's agency (Unicef) will lead this programme, which will involve 177 national and international NGOs and other UN agencies operating in Somalia.
The Guardian
Climate Change
7 December 2012

UN Envoys in Final Push for Climate Deal as Deadline Looms

Envoys from more than 190 nations worked through the night at United Nations global-warming talks in Doha to settle differences on fossil-fuel emissions and climate aid, paving the way to a new treaty by 2015. (..) With the talks due to conclude today, industrial and developing nations remained divided about $100 billion in financial aid, an insurance fund for climate disasters and the principle of which countries should shoulder the burden of shifting the world away from oil, coal and natural gas.
Bloomberg Businessweek