Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Protecting forests, changing diets, and altering farming methods could contribute around a quarter of the greenhouse gas cuts needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations’ climate panel. But the changes are unlikely to happen unless governments act to spur them along, the report from the Intergovernmental […] Read more
Food, farming, forestry must be transformed to curb global warming, UN says
Earlier draft of panel report called for reduced intake of meat
U.N. to roll out global early-warning systems for extreme weather
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters –– With climate change fueling dangerous weather worldwide, the United Nations is pledging that early-warning weather monitoring will cover everyone on the planet in five years. “Half of humanity is already in the danger zone,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this week. And yet, “one-third of the world’s people, mainly in […] Read more
Ukraine war already impacting food security, U.N. agency warns
Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — The war in Ukraine is already resulting in rising food prices and a shortage of staple crops in parts of central Asia, the Middle East and north Africa, the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Thursday. The Russian invasion of Ukraine last month has severely curtailed shipments […] Read more
Afghanistan ‘marching towards starvation,’ UN food chief says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Doha | Reuters — Millions of Afghans could soon face starvation due to a combination of conflict, drought and the coronavirus pandemic, the executive director of the World Food Programme said on Tuesday, calling on political leaders to act fast. “There’s a perfect storm coming because of several years of drought, conflict, economic deterioration, compounded […] Read more
Once-in-50-year heat waves now happening every decade: U.N. climate report
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters – Extreme heat waves that previously only struck once every 50 years are now expected to happen once per decade because of global warming, while downpours and droughts have also become more frequent, a U.N. climate science report said on Monday. The report www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1 found that we are already experiencing those effects of climate […] Read more
World Food Programme starts distributing food in Venezuela
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday it had begun distributing school meals to children in Venezuela, where some seven million people require humanitarian assistance after years of economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. The WFP’s first take-home rations were distributed for children under six years old at some 277 schools […] Read more
U.N. counts cost of ‘man-made’ famines
US$400 for a plate of rice and beans?
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Nearly 30 years ago a malnourished two-year-old girl died in front of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield at a refugee camp in northern Uganda. Two days ago U.N. food chief David Beasley met a starving five-month-old girl at a hospital in Yemen — she died on Thursday. […] Read more
Advisory council named to steer national Food Policy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Development of Canada’s Food Policy is taking a major step forward with the naming Friday of a new advisory council featuring industry, academic and government members tasked with guiding the policy. Public consultations on a “Food Policy for Canada” started in 2017, leading to the release of a 2018 report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: World Pulses Day celebrated
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The United Nations celebrated the annual World Pulses Day on Feb. 10, highlighting the contribution of pulse crops to world agriculture and nutrition. “Pulses are more than just nutritious seeds – they also contribute to achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development,” the UN said in a release. “They play […] Read more
North Korea faces food crisis after poor harvest, UN says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Geneva | Reuters — Four in 10 North Koreans are chronically short of food and further cuts to already minimal rations are expected after the worst harvest in a decade, the United Nations said on Friday. Official rations are down to 300 grams (10.6 ounces) per person per day, the lowest ever for this time […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
