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422,000 Besieged Syrians Didn't Get Food Aid In July, It's World's 'Largest Humanitarian Crisis:' UN

      

BARAA AL-HALABI via Getty Images

There were challenges due to conflict, insecurity and deliberate obstructions.

huffingtonpost.com - AP - by Edith M. Lederer - August 26, 2015

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused all parties in the Syrian conflict of "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks" on civilians and said the U.N. and its partners couldn't deliver food to 422,000 people in besieged areas in July.

Ban said in his monthly report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Tuesday that access to the 4.6 million Syrians in hard-to-reach areas - most controlled by Islamic State extremists - remains a critical concern with extremely limited humanitarian access.

He said U.N. agencies and their partners reached only 29 of the 127 hard-to-reach locations last month, and in the besieged areas, the only aid that arrived was a trickle of health assistance to 1.8 percent of the population.

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Food Security in West Africa

From WFP and FAO . . .

FAO – July 2015 – Food and nutrition situation at the beginning of the hunger gap period and agricultural outlook in the Sahel and West Africa (see number 5)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/296696/

FAO – Sierra Leone – Food Security and Safety
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=SLE&paia=2

FAO in Emergencies – Sierra Leone (see list of reports at the bottom)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/161501/

FAO – Liberia – Food Security and Safety
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=LBR&paia=2

FAO in Emergencies – Liberia (see list of reports at the bottom)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/161431/

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Study calls humans unsustainable “super predators”

A hunter in camoflauge, sitting next to another hunger, takes aim with a firearm.

Image: A hunter in camoflauge, sitting next to another hunger, takes aim with a firearm.

slashgear.com - August 21st, 2015 - Chris Burns

A ten-year study is published on "the unique ecology of human predators", showing mankind to be an unsustainable threat to all wildlife on our planet. This paper, authored by C. Darimont, C. Fox, H. Bryan, and T. Reimchen, compares the predatory patterns of humans to all other predators on the planet. They show that humans kill adult prey at a median rate up to 14 times higher than other predators, with "particularly intense exploitation" of terrestrial carnivores and fish.

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Laws Prohibiting Bush Meat Are Actually A Boon For The Bush Meat Biz

The dik-dik is a small antelope that is hunted as bush meat. This picture was taken in Voi, a town in southern Kenya. Courtesy of Marcus Bleasdale

Image: The dik-dik is a small antelope that is hunted as bush meat. This picture was taken in Voi, a town in southern Kenya. Courtesy of Marcus Bleasdale

npr.org - August 14th, 2015 - Emily Sohn

Note: This post contains a photo of a monkey carcass, on sale at a bush meat market, that may be disturbing to some readers.

What's for dinner?

Porcupines, giant squirrels, dwarf crocodiles and a variety of primates, including golden-bellied crowned monkeys and Bioko black colobus monkeys.

Those are some of the bush meat offerings at the outdoor covered market in Malabo on Bioko Island, part of Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa.

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Upscaling the "Farms of the Future"

             

The most promising soil and water management practices will be scaled up. Photo: N. Palmer (CIAT)

ccafs.cgiar.org - by Mathieu Ouedraogo, Sibiri Jean Ouedraogo, Sekou Toure, Maimouna Fane - August 11, 2015

A collaboration among regional research institutes and National Agricultural Research Systems establishes strong partnership for upscaling the “farms of the future” approach.

In West Africa, climate change brings new challenges to agriculture. Among other things, it is straining the livelihoods of the rural population, given their high dependence on the climate.

Because these challenges cannot be addressed by one research institution alone, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) tackles the problem through an intervention approach based on a worldwide strategic collaboration between CGIAR and Future Earth.

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We Are Literally Farming Ourselves Out of Food

                

NICOLAS ASFOURI via Getty Images

huffingtonpost.com - by Joel K. Bourne, Jr. - July 29, 2015

. . . an article in London's Independent newspaper headlined, "Society will collapse by 2040 due to catastrophic food shortages, says study." The study, based on a model created at Anglia Ruskin University's Global Sustainability Institute, forecasts that if global emissions continue unabated, plausible climate trends will lead to catastrophic crop failures and food riots around the globe. "In this scenario, global society essentially collapses as food production falls permanently short of consumption," Aled Jones, director of the Institute, told reporters. The study echoes a similar, peer-reviewed report from Lloyds of London, which found the probability of a major food crisis "significantly higher" than the insurance industry's benchmark return period of 1:200 years.

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FAO - Manual on Livestock Disease Surveillance and Information Systems

fao.org

Introduction

The FAO has always been concerned with agricultural development and food security. Recent disease epidemics, in both developing and industrialised countries, have once again focussed attention on livestock disease and their potential to harm development. In the context of developing countries, disease epidemics do four things:

They reduce herds and flocks dramatically, which, in the case of pastoral peoples, is a major blow to food security and the ability to survive;

They cause trading partners to - quite understandably - put trade barriers in place in order to protect their own countries from infection. Where livestock or meat exporting countries are affected by epidemics, their "pariah" status can cost millions of dollars in terms of foreign exchange losses, and drive farmers and the local meat industry to the wall.

They are a deterrent to sustained livestock production.

They add significantly to the cost of livestock production through the necessity for the application of costly disease control measures.

(CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW - FAO - Manual on Livestock Disease Surveillance and Information Systems)

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South Sudan Food Crisis Deepens Amid Tanking Economy

             

Almost 700,000 South Sudanese now live as refugees in neighbouring countries. The vast majority fled their homes since civil war broke out in December 2013.  Photo: UNHCR

irinnews.org - by Andrew Green - June 1, 2015

Through 17 months of conflict, tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan and two million more displaced. Schools, health centres and markets have been looted and destroyed. It took a $1.8 billion humanitarian response last year for the country to avoid a famine.

And it’s about to get even worse.

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CLICK HERE - Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) - The Republic of South Sudan
(5 page .PDF report)

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - reliefweb - South Sudan

 

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Bush Meat Trade Roaring Again Despite Ebola Ban

           

Despite a ban on bush meat, due to the threat of Ebola, Liberians are once again selling it in markets and along the sides of roads.  Photo: Issa Davies/IRIN

irinnews.org - by Prince Collins - June 24, 2015

. . . the trade in bush meat, a known source of the Ebola virus, has picked up once again. . . .

. . . Monkeys, antelope, raccoons, rodents, bats, and a variety of other animals native to the forests of Liberia, are once again filling market stalls around the country. . . . 

. . . As the official US government advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “human infections have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing of meat of infected animals.”

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Rural women’s groups in peacebuilding activities

Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

Image: Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

fao.org - June 25th, 2015

FAO’s integrated approach of reaching Ebola-hit farmers in Liberia’s Lofa County is bearing increased results not only in crop production, VSLA (village savings and loan associations) revitalization and education in Ebola prevention but the help is also uniting women in peacebuilding, palaver management as well as visiting sick members.

The women associations have transcended the normal call of duty to VSLA and business activities among members to also get involved in other “worthy communal undertakings.” They have expanded shared group engagements to include sympathizing with bereaved members and palaver resolution among aggrieved women.

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