"LOCUSTS"

The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva raised the 2022 Spring Meetings curtain today (Thursday, April 14) in an event hosted by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she stated that the world is facing a crisis on top of a crisis: First, the pandemic, and second, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. IMF

With the Horn of Africa experiencing one of its worst droughts in recent history and 12 to 14 million people severely food insecure in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs held on Wednesday a briefing to scale up support for the region. UNIFEED

Rein Paulsen, Director of Emergencies and Resilience at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said the drought situation in the Horn of Africa is “now sitting on the brink of catastrophe,” and stressed that there was a “narrow window” for urgent action to prevent a “worst-case scenario.” UNIFEED

Top officials from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) have just completed a visit to Kenya to raise awareness on the drought and see FAO’s vital response in action, including in Isiolo and Marsabit counties in the north. FAO

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that the number of people teetering on the edge of famine (IPC4/Emergency or worse) in 43 countries has risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world. This number has risen from 42 million earlier in the year and 27 million in 2019. WFP

As climate talks get underway in Glasgow, families in Southern Madagascar, where climate is driving famine-like conditions, brace themselves for yet another harsh year ahead as the ongoing drought shows no signs of abating, signaling deteriorating hunger. WFP

Marking this year’s United Nations Day, the world body’s top officials in Somalia today flagged some of the support being provided to and challenges faced in assisting Somalis on their path to peace and stability, while also re-affirming their commitment in line with the organization’s founding principles. UNSOM

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the FAO Goodwill Ambassador, European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, made a joint call to support the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems to ensure enough affordable, nutritious, safe and sustainably produced food for all on the planet. FAO

In 2019 Kenya saw the worst Desert Locust invasion of the last 70 years. Crops and pastures were hit by the ravenous pest putting at risk food security and nutrition of thousands of people in the country. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) quickly intervened to support the Government of Kenya’s response on survey and control measures. FAO

According to the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, after 11 months of conflict and three months of de-facto blockade, the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region "is spiraling out of control.” UNIFEED