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Edited News | OCHA , FAO
Bi-weekly Press Briefing Afghanistan Relief- OCHA - FAO 7 September 2021
Afghanistan: ‘urgent imperative’ to start winter planting to avoid acute food insecurity, says UN
The unfolding situation in Afghanistan is causing significant disruption and threatens Afghanistan’s critical winter wheat season, which is about to begin, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Tuesday, ahead of a major fundraising conference for the country, that is due to take place in Geneva on 13 September.
“One in three Afghans are acutely food insecure, a situation that is dramatic by any stretch of the imagination,” said FAO Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen, speaking from Islamabad.
Emphasizing the dire situation in the country, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, warned that “basic services in Afghanistan are collapsing and food and other lifesaving aid is about to run out”.
In a call for urgent action to be taken now, ahead of the “fast-approaching winter wheat season,” Mr. Paulsen noted that there will likely be a “25 per cent deficit on the national wheat crop this year”.
Half of the average Afghan’s daily calorific intake comes from wheat and most of the wheat grown in the country is sourced to the upcoming rainfed winter season, the FAO expert said, adding that there was “an urgent imperative towards the end of September”.
He added: “We need to make sure that that planting is starting. There's a very short window of time to be able to address that. The seeds can't wait. The farmers can't wait. We need to do everything we can to ensure that those vulnerable households are supported”.
In addition to food insecurity, Mr. Paulsen noted that 70 per cent of all Afghans live in rural areas and agriculture provides livelihoods benefits to 80 per cent of the population.
Threats to rural livelihoods have been a growing concern for FAO for months, he said. Without urgent support, farmers and pastoralists could lose their livelihoods and be forced to leave rural areas, adding further pressure to urban and peri-urban areas as internally displaced people.
As of August 2021, FAO has provided livelihood and cash assistance across 26 out of 34 provinces to over 1.5 million people.
In August alone, FAO has reached over 100,000 people. The Organization has also been able to continue operations in 26 out of the 31 provinces where it works. Afghanistan has 34 provinces. Mr. Paulsen emphasized that the FAO remains on the ground in Afghanistan and is
in the process of procuring and distributing 40 per cent of all the wheat seeds available in the country.
But he warned that more resources are required. “We have an urgent need for $15 million to support what we're doing with winter wheat, livestock and support,” he said. OCHA also appealed for support for the upcoming Flash Appeal for Afghanistan to address the immediate response gaps in Afghanistan. The appeal is a prioritization of unmet needs from the Annual Humanitarian Response Plan launched earlier this year, plus new emerging needs. OCHA is seeking “$606 million to assist nearly 11 million people during the four remaining months this year. This includes two million people not previously covered in the humanitarian response plan. $430 million of this request is already costed, but unfunded in the annual response plan. $193 million of the overall $606 million is for new and emerging needs and changes in operating costs”.
Donations will deliver “critical food and livelihood assistance to nearly 11 million people, essential health services to 3.4 million people, treatment for acute malnutrition for more than a million children and women,” said Mr. Laerke.
ends
STORY: Afghanistan Relief FAO - OCHA
TRT: 02:50”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 07 Sept 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English): Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Basic services in Afghanistan are collapsing and food and other life-saving aid is about to run out. As we heard, the Secretary-General has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. We urge international donors to support this appeal fast and generously”.
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English): Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “If properly and fully funded, the appeal will deliver the following: critical food and livelihood assistance to nearly 11 million people, essential health services to 3.4 million people, treatment for acute malnutrition for more than a million children and women, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions for two and a half million people, protection including for children and survivors of gender-based violence for one and a half million people. There are also projects addressing children’s emergency education as well as shelter and other non-food assistance”.
6. Medium shot, Speakers at the briefing
7. SOUNDBITE (English): Rein Paulsen, Director of Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “We are talking already, even before the events that have unfolded in recent weeks, during the month of August. We are talking about a situation where one in three Afghans are acutely food insecure, a situation that is dramatic by any stretch of the imagination”.
8. Medium shot: Speakers at the briefing and the Zoom meeting
9. SOUNDBITE (English): Rein Paulsen, Director of Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “FAO and other partners that work in the food security space are focused on a particular window of opportunity now related to the winter wheat planting season. This is a season through which we have an urgent imperative. Towards the end of September, we need to make sure that planting is starting. There is a very short window of time to be able to address that. The seeds can’t wait, the farmers can’t wait. We need to do everything we can to ensure that those vulnerable households are supported”.
10. Close of panellist writing
11. SOUNDBITE (English): Rein Andre Paulsen, Director of Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “We really do have an urgent need for 15 million dollars to support what we are doing with wheat and with livestock and support”.
12. Close of audience taking notes
13. SOUNDBITE (English): Rein Paulsen, Director of Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “We have a broad estimate that suggests that will be a 25 per cent deficit on the national wheat crop this year, but again, all of these things depend on the ability to implement. Just to say, FAO is in the process of procuring and distributing fully 40 per cent of all the wheat seed available in the country (just to give you a sense of the scale of what we have underway to mitigate as much as possible the deficit)”.
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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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