UN News April 28

UN GARDENING SCHEME PROVIDES FRESH START FOR AFGHAN WOMEN, EX-COMBATANTS

A United Nations gardening and literacy project for Afghan women and ex-combatants seeks to pave the way to peace and prosperity in the war-torn nation.

Aimed at reversing environmental damage wrought by decades of conflict, uncontrolled grazing and illegal logging, the Green Afghanistan Initiative (GAIN) – run by six UN agencies, led by the World Food Programme (WFP) – will give participants the chance to make a fresh start through literacy classes and setting up their own nurseries to generate an income.

“These nurseries are making a huge difference to the lives of ordinary Afghan people and also to our environment,” said Obaidulla Ghafouri, the programme’s coordinator, at the GAIN's Heart centre, noting that rural communities and farmers’ livelihoods have been impacted by deforestation.

He noted that the nurseries provide regular jobs for ex-combatants and also for women, who can support their families with income earned while attending literacy classes.

More than 500 GAIN nurseries have been set up throughout Afghanistan since 2005, and by the end of this year, more than 5 million plant saplings will have been grown and over 1 million trees planted.

The country is prone to desertification, and this has been exacerbated by limited rainfall, mismanagement, abuse of natural resources, droughts, floods and population growth.

GAIN-backed provincial re-forestation centres – seeking to boost public awareness on the issue – will be established, serving as both agricultural knowledge centres and high-yield nurseries.

UN TO ASSIST AFRICAN FARMERS THREATENED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Some 10,000 farmers in five African countries, where crops are expected to be badly affected by climate change, are to receive help from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the form of low-cost rain gauge equipment and roving seminars provided by agricultural experts.

With the help of Spain, WMO will distribute the rain gauges to volunteer farmers in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, and train them in using rainfall data to plan sowing, fertilizer application and harvesting. The goal of the roving seminars is to support farmers’ self-reliance by supplying them with information on weather and climate risk management.

In West Africa, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of the growing season, and crop yields, especially along the margins of arid and semi-arid areas, are all expected to decrease, according to projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In some African countries, yield from rain-fed farming could be reduced by up to 50 per cent by 2020.

The assistance plan was announced on Friday after a meeting in Niamey, Niger, which was organized by WMO and the State Meteorological Agency of Spain.

BIOFUEL PRODUCTION IS ‘CRIMINAL PATH’ LEADING TO GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS – UN EXPERT

The United States and the European Union have taken a “criminal path” by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices through using food crops to produce biofuels, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

Speaking at a press conference today in Geneva, Jean Ziegler said that fuel policies pursued by the US and the EU were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis. Mr. Ziegler said that last year the US used a third of its corn crop to create biofuels, while the European Union is planning to have 10 per cent of its petrol supplied by biofuels. The Special Rapporteur has called for a five-year moratorium on the production of biofuels.

Mr. Ziegler also said that speculation on international markets was behind 30 per cent of the increase in food prices. He said that companies such as Cargill, which controls a quarter of all cereal production, have enormous power over the market. He added that hedge funds are also making huge profits from raw materials markets, and called for new financial regulations to prevent such speculation.

The Special Rapporteur warned of worsening food riots and a “horrifying” increase in deaths by starvation before reforms could take effect. Mr. Ziegler was speaking before a meeting today in Bern, Switzerland, between Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of key UN agencies.

Meanwhile, speaking in Rome today, a nutritionist with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said that “global price rises mean that food is literally being taken out of the mouths of hungry children whose parents can no longer afford to feed them.”

Andrew Thorne-Lyman said that even temporarily depriving children of the nutrients they need to grow and thrive can leave permanent scars in terms of stunting their physical growth and intellectual potential. He said that families in the developing world are “finding their buying power has been slashed by food price rises, meaning that they can buy less food or food which isn’t as nutritious.”

ASIA-PACIFIC MUST ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE, EFFICIENT ENERGY USE – BAN KI-MOON

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Asia-Pacific countries to promote the sustainable and efficient use of energy, given the backdrop of surging oil prices and the health problems caused by traditional fuels.

“The Asia-Pacific is lagging behind in providing access to energy services,” Mr. Ban said in a message to the ministerial segment of the 64th session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), delivered by its Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer.

He pointed out that 1.7 billion people in the region rely on traditional biomass fuels – the largest number of victims from indoor air pollution caused by burning these fuels is in the Asia-Pacific – and 1 billion lacking access to electricity.

The Secretary-General stressed that while climbing energy prices have dominated the news, their impact on people is often forgotten.

“The victims are very poor people who have no access to affordable and reliable energy supply to meet their daily subsistence requirements,” he observed. “They pay a much higher price – in terms of failing health; lost opportunities for education or employment, especially for girls and women; and degraded environment.”

With per capita energy consumption more than doubling between 1990 and 2004 in the Asia-Pacific region – outpacing the rest of the world – Mr. Ban appealed to attendees to encourage more efficient use of energy, better management, cleaner production and consumption.

During the session, some 350 government officials, business leaders and civil society representatives are meeting today as part of the annual Asia-Pacific Business Forum with the theme, “Energy Security: Opportunities through Regional Energy Cooperation and Public-Private Partnerships.”

Discussions at this one-day meeting are expected to culminate in policy recommendations which will be conveyed to a Ministerial Round Table on energy security and sustainable development on 28 April.

In a study prepared for the Commission session entitled “Energy Security and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific,” ESCAP stressed how energy deprivation in the region’s developing countries impacts poverty reduction efforts and impedes the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets.

The report warned that the Asia-Pacific cannot rely on continuing increases in its energy supply to spur its economic growth. If the region’s energy needs continue growing at the current rate, it will account for half of the world’s energy demand by 2030, 80 per cent of which will be for oil, coal and other fossil fuels, which will result in massive carbon emissions.