UN GATHERS EXPERTS TO HELP WEST AFRICAN FARMERS COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

A United Nations-backed workshop aimed at identifying ways for West African farmers to limit the damaging effect climate change has on their livelihoods kicked off in Burkina Faso today.

West Africa, home to 43 per cent of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa, is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world.

The region suffered a 20 to 40 per cent drop in rainfall from the mid to late 20th century, according to a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

In addition, IPCC projections indicate that Africa is very likely to warm during this century, decreasing the length of growing seasons for farmers and cutting the potential size of harvests in West Africa.

For some countries yields from rain-fed agriculture could fall by up to 50 per cent by 2020, threatening the survival of large West African populations dependent on semi-subsistence farming.

The four-day climate change adaptation workshop, held in Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou, will determine action that can be taken to alleviate the impact of global warming for farmers in the region.

Some 70 experts, brought together with the help of Spain by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), will discuss and recommend measures for the agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries sectors in West Africa to help them adjust to a changing environment.

"A principal WMO goal is to make farmers more self-reliant by better preparing them to cope with major issues influencing agricultural production," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. "It will increasingly be necessary to use science to identify integrated adaptation and mitigation strategies for a range of agro-ecosystems."

Noting that sustainable agriculture holds the key to mitigate climate change through carbon storage and better use of carbon in crops, Peter Holmgren, Director of FAO Environment, Climate Change and Bioenergy Division, said that "millions of farmers around the globe could become agents of change helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Mr. Holmgren stressed that farmers, particularly in poor countries, should be involved in carbon sequestration, a strategy to be discussed at the workshop, as well as more efficient use of water; changing crop variety; altering planting schedules; improving pest, disease and weed management practices; and making better use of seasonal climate forecasts to reduce production risks.
________________

LACK OF FUNDS FORCES UN TO GROUND WEST AFRICA HUMANITARIAN AIR SERVICE

LACK OF FUNDS FORCES UN TO GROUND WEST AFRICA HUMANITARIAN AIR SERVICE
New York, Mar 17 2009 4:00PM

The United Nations said it is shutting down its Humanitarian Air Service in West Africa due to a serious lack of funding, seriously impairing aid operations in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire.

The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) flies aid workers from the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as journalists and others, to some of the hardest-to-reach emergency operations around the world.

Run by the World Food Programme (WFP), UNHAS plays a vital role in areas in accessing remote locations and in cases where insecurity prevents travel by road.

WFP's Emilia Casella told reporters in Geneva that UNHAS will ground its West Africa coastal air service for good on 20 March. This follows the temporary suspension of its service in Niger on 28 February, also due to lack of funds.

About 30 NGOs working in the West African coastal area have pleaded with WFP not to close the Service, saying that they would be shut down or unable to perform their operations without this essential partner. However, it looked as if the Service will have to shut down this week.

Ms. Casella noted that UNHAS Chad is also significantly under-funded, with a shortfall of 92 per cent of its $11.4 million budget. This is particularly worrying the Service is expected to carry about 43,000 humanitarian workers over the course of 2009 in Chad.

For the Central African Republic, the shortfall is 83 per cent and there is no confirmed funding for that country beyond the end of this month. In addition, Ethiopia only has enough funding until the end of April.

This means that aid agencies will not be able to get to the people who need help, and that the UN will not be in a position to do urgent medical and security evacuations in a timely manner in some of these areas, noted Ms. Casella.

In 2008, UNHAS carried more than 360,000 humanitarian passengers and 15,000 metric tons of humanitarian cargo in 16 countries, on 58 chartered aircrafts.
________________

MASSIVE UN POLIO IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN WEST AFRICA

MASSIVE UN POLIO IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY IN WEST AFRICA
New York, Feb 27 2009 2:00PM

Some 53 million children under the age of five, including every girl and boy in Nigeria, have been targeted by a mass polio immunization campaign across West Africa, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced today.

The door-to-door polio eradication drive is planned to sweep through eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Nigeria, aiming to reach every child even in the remotest of areas.

The campaign, employing 162,000 trained immunizers, will attempt to stop last year's outbreak which hit northern Nigeria and spread to six countries in West Africa after the wild polio virus had already re-infected Niger in 2007, as well as Chad and Cameroon in Central Africa.

"The highest priority was to reach every child in Nigeria, which was one of the four endemic countries, and in the high-risk areas across the region," said Miranda Eeles, a spokesperson for UNICEF.

The total cost of the campaign is $29 million for the seven countries, with an additional $38 million for Nigeria, including the cost of the vaccine, operational costs, social mobilization and surveillance.

The campaign, which kicked off today and started earlier this month in Ghana, involves the health ministries of all the countries, as well as support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Rotary International, among others. It is being organized as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Contracted through contaminated food, water and faeces, polio is a highly infectious and incurable viral disease, which mainly affects children under five, attacking the nervous system. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs, and among those paralyzed, five to 10 per cent die when their respiratory muscles become immobilized.
________________