The United Nations World Food Program confirmed that the UAE is one of the largest supporters of the program, as it occupied advanced positions in the list of countries supporting the program’s goals globally, which focus on providing food to countries in need.
The representative of the World Food Program in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdul Majeed Yahya, told “Emirates Today”: “The UAE support has been going on for a long time, and this support is not limited to the percentages of financial contributions, but also includes hosting the main headquarters of the program for more than one year. 24 years, where the headquarters is located in the International City for Humanitarian Services, in addition to six large warehouses affiliated with the program located in the Emirates, which is the largest in the world.
This came on the sidelines of the celebration on the occasion of World Food Day, which was organized by the program in Dubai, yesterday.
The United Nations World Food Program has warned that the world risks entering another year of record hunger as the global food crisis continues to push more people into deteriorating levels of acute food insecurity. This came in his call to the world to take urgent measures to address the root causes of the crisis we are experiencing today, ahead of World Food Day on 16 October.
“We are facing an unprecedented global food crisis, and over the past three years, hunger rates have repeatedly reached new peaks,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme. “A large-scale and coordinated effort to address the root causes of this crisis. We cannot see another year of record levels of hunger.”
For her part, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, Maryam bint Mohammed Al Muhairi, said: “The crises and challenges facing our world today put the health and lives of millions of people at stake, without discriminating between developed or poor countries. In many regions, which directly affected food availability and the resilience and continuity of supply chains, all threatened to fall under the impact of food insecurity.”
She added: “This situation calls for all of us to join hands and cooperate and accelerate our efforts to ensure the enhancement of our food security and the availability of food through initiatives and programs that take into account at the same time the requirements of environmental and climate action.” In addition to its role in helping many countries to confront hunger and food insecurity, it launched the Agricultural Innovation Initiative for Climate in cooperation with the United States, which aims to stimulate investments worth eight billion dollars globally in the fields of agriculture and food based on modern technologies and sustainable systems.
Abdul Majeed Yahya said: “We work closely with our strategic partners in the GCC region, and thanks to their generous assistance, we have averted a hunger crisis in Yemen, and they continue to provide every possible life-saving assistance. We count on the continued support of these partners, especially during this year in which we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in the demand for aid, to alleviate the suffering of the millions of people who suffer from the devastating effects of political conflict and climate shocks around the world.”
Forward-looking action must be at the heart of the humanitarian response to protect the most vulnerable from these shocks – and is a key part of the agenda for the 27th session of the United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP27) next month in Egypt. As the threat of a global recession mounts, governments’ ability to respond will be constrained by their economic problems, such as currency depreciation, economic inflation, as well as debt buildup, resulting in an increase in the number of people who are unable to afford food and will therefore need humanitarian support to meet their basic needs.
#World #Food #UAE #largest #global #supporters #program