Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture

Photo: Employees prepare bananas to be distributed in Mogadishu. Allan Atulinda/UN

Youth Movement Leads for Food Systems Transformation

By Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) – A wave of self-organised youth-led groups across the world has joined the growing momentum behind the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, which will peak in September.

The UN Food Systems Summit was announced by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on World Food Day last October as a part of the Decade of Action for delivery on the SDGs by 2030. The aim of the Summit is to deliver progress on all 17 of the SDGs through a food systems approach, leveraging the interconnectedness of food systems to global challenges such as hunger, climate change, poverty and inequality.

: Ronald Joshua; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 12 February 2021

Photo: Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust, Rio de Janeiro credit: UN Academic Impact

Taking Action to Repair Our World

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd first appeared in the #WhyWeCare, @ImpactUN on February 5.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) – “Nostalgia for the present“ is a phrase I once heard (or think I have), and it came to mind when reading a response received to last week’s (January 29) column and its looking back on CTAUN’s quarter-century of affirmation and affection. The question asked was straightforward; had CTAUN (Committee on Teaching) been able to “convene” over the past year? The answer, which I missed noting in my nostalgia for the past, is yes…three times actually.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 February 2021

Photo: Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, protesting against what they view as a dangerous repatriation to Myanmar. Credit: Jafor Islam-VOA. Created: 23 February 2018.

Rohingya Continue to Suffer Even After Escaping to Supposed Safe Land

By Bahauddin Foizee*

DHAKA (IDN) – The horrible scenes of hungry, tired and almost lifeless Rohingya refugees entering Bangladesh shocked the world in 2017. Even today, many Rohingyas are attempting to make the journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh, believing that a foreign land (Bangladesh) would be safer than their homes (Myanmar). Although they aren’t migrating in large numbers now unlike what they did in 2017, their journey today is as unsafe, horrifying and terrible as it was three years earlier.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 February 2021

Photo: FAO DG Qu Dongyu. Credit: WTO, CC BY-SA 2.0

Transformation of Agri-Food Systems Crucial for FAO in 2021

By Ronald Joshua

ROME (IDN) – Director-General QU Dongyu of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has declared 2021 a key year to move forward the transformation of agri-food systems, marked by big events, particularly the UN Food Systems Summit in New York, the Pre-Summit in Rome, and FAO’s Youth World Food Forum.

: Ronald Joshua; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 19 January 2021

Photo: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Flickr Photos, CC by 2.0

Intra-African Commerce Remains Abstract Hope

Viewpoint by Kudzai Chimhangwa*

HARARE (IDN) – Edwin Moyo takes a stroll through his maize field, smiling as the lush green leaves of his crop brush against each other in response to the breeze. Busy amid the serenity of his two-hectare farm in the west of Zimbabwe, his patient tending looks likely to pay off, as the rainy season did not disappoint. The thick maize cobs spread out across the field are now the envy of his neighbours.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 January 2021

Photo: Screenshot of UN Chief addressing the UN Open Summit on January 11. Source: France TV04 /YouTube

Humanity Needs to Take a Course That Does Not Conflict with Nature

By Kwame Buist

NEW YORK (IDN) – The process of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic offers the chance to change course and put humanity on a path which is not in conflict with nature, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said January 11, urging greater efforts by everyone to protect biodiversity and step up action to counter climate change.

Guterres was addressing world leaders at the virtual One Planet Summit hosted by France, which came in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 12 January 2021

Food Insecurity and Drought Threaten Ethiopia as Armed Forces Withdraw from Rural Areas in Tigray

Compiled by EEPA

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Clashes between Ethiopia and Sudan ended, after the Ethiopian army withdrew last week away from the border. Several sources say that the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) are retreating from rural areas in Tigray towards the capital Mekelle. This corroborates other sources.

Fighting continues to take place around Mekelle. Shelling has been observed near Hagere Selam, 50 kilometers from the regional capital. Civilians are afraid of ENDF soldiers as they are said to take revenge on civilians after losing a battle.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 04 January 2021

Photo: Millions of children in Ethiopia's Tigray out of reach. Credit: Anadolu Agency.

An Overview of the Situation in Tigray as 2021 Begins

By EEPA

BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than two million children in Tigray do not have access to food, water and safety and may have been displaced. While there is a severe humanitarian situation regarding 100.000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray; full humanitarian access has not been given.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 01 January 2021

Let Us Make 2021 a Year of Healing!

The following is the text of 2021 United Nations New Year's message delivered by Secretary-General António Guterres.

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 has been a year of trials, tragedies and tears.

COVID-19 upended our lives and plunged the world into suffering and grief.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 31 December 2020

Photo: The Tigray region faces some of the toughest development challenges in Ethiopia. (file photo). Credit: UNICEF/Zerihun Sewunet

UN Supplies Food for 25,000 Refugees in Tigray Region

Compiled by Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – For the first time since mid-October, some 25,000 Eritrean refugees, sheltering in two camps in the unsettled Tigray region of Ethiopia, have received desperately needed food aid, reports UN News.

"Families, women, men, children — even new-borns — have been cut off from supplies and essential services for many weeks, so this distribution was urgently needed," said Ann Encontre, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Ethiopia.