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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 06 November 2020
FAO-WFP early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots
Luca Russo, for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), informed that the joint FAO-WFP report referred to a “risk of famine”. Once famine was declared, it was already too late. This report thus provided an early warning for a number of contexts. “Famine” was clearly defined: it happened when 20 percent of the population were facing severe food shortages, and the level of malnutrition stood at above 30 percent. Three criteria were used in the report: 1) a high level of vulnerability among the population; 2) poor or no humanitarian access; 3) additional shocks, such as floods and other disasters.
Claudia Ah Poe, for the World Food Programme (WFP), stated that the main objective of the report was to inform action that needs to be taken now to avoid a major emergency, or series of emergencies in three to six months-time. The findings of the report were based on a joint analysis conducted by a team comprised of food security and agriculture experts, as well as conflict and early warning analysts of the FAO and the WFP.
Twenty countries and areas had been identified as hotspots. Those countries had already had significant levels of acute food insecurity in early 2020 and were now facing the risk of a further rapid deterioration over the next months. The authors of the report were particularly concerned about four countries that were facing an elevated risk of famine, if the situation were to further deteriorate over the coming months: Burkina Faso, north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen. Once the famine was declared, that meant that many lives had already been lost. Such a scenario should be prevented, which was why the FAO and the WFP were urging early action.
The full early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots can be accessed here and here.
Responding to questions, Ms. Ah Poe said that in Yemen, for example, WFP’s shortfall stood at 42 percent. Mr. Russo said that conflict was the main driver of the current crises, and more than two thirds of the affected people lived in the conflict-affected areas. Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), added that Yemen was facing one crisis after another. Humanitarians needed both support and access to people in need. Air drops were continuing only in South Sudan, said Mr. Phiri, as the WFP preferred to use other methods, such as rivers and roads. Air deliveries cost at least eight times more than other modes of transport, he explained.
Typhoon Goni in the Philippines
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that WFP was offering the Government of Philippines logistics support for the dire situation caused by typhoon Goni, and had transported 14,600 family food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Metro Manilla to the provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur in the Bicol Region; each pack could feed a family of five for two to three days. People needed food, clean water, sanitation. Many people living in the resettlement areas who had been there for five years said that this was the first time that they had experienced such a strong typhoon that destroyed their houses.
More on the WFP’s response to the typhoon Goni is available here.
Paul Dillon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that the COVID-19 had exacerbated challenges for the emergency response. There were roughly 52,000 people in evacuation centers across the affected areas. It was difficult for people to keep physical distancing under such circumstances. IOM’s priority was timely delivery of Personal Protection Equipment, including face shield and sanitizers, and continuation of need assessments of the affected population, with partners on the ground. Good news was that a similar storm which had been tracked in recent days would not make a landfall. Responding to a question, Mr. Dillon said that the Government had identified some 1.2 million affected people.
Hurricane Eta in Central America
Tomson Phiri, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that, while degraded to a tropical depression, storm Eta was still posing threat to Nicaragua and Honduras, with reports of floods and uprooted trees. In both countries, the governments were leading assessments, and the WFP was in touch with both governments in order to provide complementary assistance. Early preparedness was playing a key role here; those in need would receive assistance as soon as possible.
Jens Laerke, for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that this crisis was still very much developing, and it was far from over. Eta continued to cause rains throughout Central America and raising rivers in many of the countries in the region. In Guatemala, for example, there were reports of deaths from floods and mudslides. El Salvador had also seen at least one deadly landslide. In Costa Rica, several regions had been put on red or orange alerts. The UN was very much present, monitoring developments and standing ready to help. As of the previous night, there had been no official requests for international assistance from those governments.
Geneva announcements
Alessandra Vellucci, on behalf of the Human Rights Council, informed that the Universal Periodic Review continued today with the review of Bulgaria. On 9 November, the UPR Working Group would review the human rights situation in the Marshall Islands in the morning from 9 a.m., and the human rights situation in the United States in the afternoon, starting at 2:30 p.m.
Catherine Huissoud, for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said that UNCTAD would publish on 12 November its 2020 Review of Maritime Transport. Global maritime trade would decline in 2020 due to the unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19. The recovery was expected to be positive in 2021 if the announced economic recovery is confirmed. How had operators adapted? What should we remember for the future? Steps towards transformation of the sector would be unavoidable. All those issues were addressed by the report. A virtual press conference would be held on 11 November at 2:30 p.m., with embargo until 12 November at 7 a.m. Geneva time.
Jovana Miočinović, for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), announced that the ITU would hold a press conference on 12 November at 10:30 a.m. to announce a new partnership with Norway, which would scale up and strengthen digital skills training for underserved communities in Ghana, in collaboration with Cisco and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications. The initiative would provide around 14,000 citizens with job-ready digital skills, in particular women entrepreneurs, pupils, teachers and marginalized groups, through 200 centres across the country. The press conference would be moderated by Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, while remarks would be delivered by Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General; Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development of Norway; Wendy Mars, President of Cisco's Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia region; and Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications of Ghana. A media advisory had been sent out.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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