A Virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen

A Virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen

Monday 1 March 2021

Video Statement by Dr. QU Dongyu, Director-General of FAO

 

1. Today, over 16 million Yemenis are struggling to feed themselves.

2. Many of them farmers and livestock owners, fishers and poultry breeders.

3. Almost two-thirds of Yemen’s population live in rural areas that are often hardest to reach. 

4. Violence, disease, locust outbreaks, and lack of inputs have stripped away their livelihoods.

5. Last year, at two briefings to the UN Security Council, I stressed the urgency of the food-insecurity situation in Yemen.

6. Since then, FAO was able to help 1.2 million people to keep producing despite the challenges.

7. We provided cash, seeds and animal feed, and we restored critical water sources, among other activities.

8. When we provide families with emergency livelihoods assistance, we help them to produce and access a steady supply of nutritious food for a healthy diet – vegetables, livestock products, pulses and cereals.

9. This is critical but simply not enough.

10. Well established agri-food systems are crucial for durable peace, as has been proven by successful green revolutions in many parts of the world.

11. We need to continue delivering integrated humanitarian and development responses to address the multiple drivers of acute food insecurity. 

12. In 2021, FAO is asking for USD 90 million. With this we can assist 6.3 million people in need. 

13. Let’s act urgently and at scale, to save lives and livelihoods, while laying the foundations for recovery.