FAO statement at High-level UNGA77 side event – Responding to urgent humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa

High-Level Side Event: Responding to urgent humanitarian needs in the Horn of Africa

Statement by FAO delivered by

Mr Laurent Thomas, Deputy-Director General of FAO

 

Thank you for giving the chance to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and to share its perspective.

What I can say is that humanitarians, governments, local communities have been issuing warnings since mid-2021. We have gone largely unheard. It has been said, but it has to be repeated.

There were several mentions today of the famine of 2010 and 2011 in Somalia, and as my colleague Arif, from WFP, mentioned, what we face today is much worse. And I must recall that the 2010-2011 we counted for at least 250,000 dead. 

And we cannot say we do not know. Thanks to the data produced by the IPC and the FSNAU in Somalia, we know who are the hungry, where they are, and the level of severity of food insecurity. 

The facts are that drought is hitting hardest those who rely on agriculture or livestock for their survival. 

In Somalia, for example, it is rural communities who are most at risk of famine. Today, their survival depends first on the survival of their herds. Their children’s nutrition is inextricably linked to the health and productivity of their animals. Those animals have been dying at a shocking rate for the last year.

Agriculture must be at the core of the humanitarian response. Urgent, time-sensitive agricultural interventions, especially when combined with cash assistance, have enormous impacts on food availability, nutrition, and displacement, among others, significantly cutting other humanitarian costs. 

This is resilience building in action. This is disaster risk reduction in action. This is sound anticipatory action. This is at the heart of the concept of the [HDP] nexus.

My message to you today is – we are benefited from generous support from resource partners and we applaud the new contributions announced today, including through FAO. 

Let us work together to save livelihoods of the drought-affected rural populations in the Horn of Africa.

Unfortunately, the urgent need is to provide food assistance. But let us keep in mind that saving he livelihood of the farmer or the pastoralist means saving his family’s life today and tomorrow. 

Together with our UN, civil society, and our Red Cross Movement partners of the Humanitarian Food Security Cluster, we have the capacity on the ground to deliver at scale, and the capillary presence in rural areas in Somalia and other countries of the Horn of Africa. 

Come and invest in our teams on the ground, working hand in hand with the governments of the region to address this unprecedent challenge. 

Thank you very much.