FRA 2020 key findings - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion hectares, which is about 31 percent of the total land area. Europe, including Russian Federation, accounts for 25 percent of the world's forest area, followed by South America (21 percent), North and Central America (19 percent), Africa (16 percent), Asia (15 percent) and Oceania (5 percent), NaijaAgroNet reports.

The global forest area continues to decrease, and the world has lost 178 million hectares of forest since 1990. However, the rate of net forest loss decreased substantially over the period 1990-2020 due to a reduction in deforestation in some countries, plus increases in forest area in others through afforestation and natural expansion of forests.

Africa has the largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010-2020, at 3.9 million hectares, followed by South America, at 2.6 million hectares. The highest net gain of forest area in 2010-2020 was found in Asia.

Since 1990 an estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation, conversion of forest to other land use such as agriculture. However, the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015-2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares, down from 12 million hectares in 2010-2015 and 16 million hectares in 1990-2000.

The area of forest in protected areas has increased by 191 million ha since 1990, and has now reached an estimated 726 million ha (18 percent of the total forest area of reporting countries). In addition, the area of forest under management plans is increasing in all regions - globally, it has increased by 233 million ha since 2000, reaching slightly over two billion hectares in 2020.

Top ten countries worldwide for average annual net losses of forest area between 2010 and 2020 are: Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Angola, United Republic of Tanzania, Paraguay, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Mozambique.
Top ten countries for average annual net gains in forest area in the same period are: China, Australia, India, Chile, Viet Nam, Turkey, United States of America, France, Italy, Romania.

Commenting on the FRA key findings, Senior Forestry Officer and FRA Coordinator Anssi Pekkarinen said: "While the rate of deforestation decreased substantially during the last decades, it still remains a source of great concern. At the current pace we risk not meeting the 2030 SDG targets related to sustainable forest management. We need to step up efforts to halt deforestation in order to unlock the full potential of forests in contributing to sustainable food production, poverty alleviation, food security, biodiversity conservation and climate change while sustaining the production of all the other goods and services they provide."

FRA provides essential information for understanding the extent of forest resources, their condition, management and uses. Since FRA 1990, assessments have been published every five years. It is a country-driven process, conducted by FAO at the request of its member states and in close collaboration with hundreds of national and international experts.

With support from the European Union, the Government of Norway, Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Global Environment Facility, and in collaboration with FAO member states, the FRA Advisory Group, Collaborative Forest Resources Questionnaire partners, and others, FRA will continue to evolve as a dynamic, transparent and continuous reporting process that provides easy access to official up-to-date, high-quality data.

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Global Forest Resources debuts - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

United Nations agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched the 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment report (FRA 2020) NaijaAgroNet reports.

FRA 2020, NaijaAgroNet gathered, offers detailed regional and global analyses in a new, digitally interactive way in an innovative and easy-to-use digital format.

 

Available for public viewing, the Global Forest Resources Assessment report (FRA 2020) and its first-ever online interactive dissemination platform contain detailed regional and global analyses for 236 countries and territories.

Users can now consult a comparable and consistent set of more than 60 forest indicators across countries and regions and download the requested data in a non-proprietary digital format. Monitoring of change over time is also possible in parameters such as forest area, management, ownership and use.

"The wealth of information on the world's forests is a valuable public good for the global community to help facilitate evidence-based policy formulation, decision-making and sound investments in the forest sector," said Deputy Director-General, Maria Helena Semedo, at the launch. "These newly released tools will enable us to better respond to deforestation and forest degradation, prevent biodiversity loss and improve sustainable forest management."

Millions of people around the world depend on forests for their food security and livelihoods. Protecting forests is also key to conserving natural resources, as they harbour most of the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity and help mitigate climate change impacts. According to the recently published the State of the World's Forests (SOFO) report, forests contain 60,000 different tree species, 80 percent of amphibian species, 75 percent of bird species, and 68 percent of the Earth's mammal species.

Therefore, it is crucial to turn the tide on deforestation and the loss of biodiversity which can be done by conserving and sustainably managing forests and trees within an integrated landscape approach - addressing forestry and food security challenges together. Reliable and comprehensive information on forests and other land-uses plays a vital role in this process, FAO said.

In addition, the FRA 2020 data are used by FAO to estimate carbon emissions and removals from forests, by country and at a global level. For instance, the new FRA-based estimates indicate that global emissions from forest loss decreased by about one-third since 1990. Figures on carbon emissions and removals, based on the FRA data, are made available through the FAO statistics database FAOSTAT.

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FAO outlines uses of Hand-in-Hand initiative - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has outlined several uses of the Hand-in-Hand initiative, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Some of the uses, FAO said the platform provides vital information to monitor agricultural water productivity, including agricultural systems at risk due to human pressure on land and water; compare human population density to distribution of cattle or compare density between two livestock species around the world; ascertain aquatic species distribution; and analyse precipitation trends.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that this initiative avails analysis of information from national forest monitoring systems that show distribution of forest resources with other geospatial data such as the road network.

This, FAO said, allows the separation of undisturbed forest areas that have high conservation value from accessible areas that are more suitable for restoration or production.

"The geospatial platform will allow us to design more targeted agricultural interventions and investment plans through a territorial approach - an approach that fosters equality, inclusion and sustainable food and nutrition security," said FAO's Chief Economist Maximo Torero.

FAO will add new datasets and country- and domain-specific case studies to the platform to improve targeting and tailoring of policy interventions, innovation, finance and investment, and institutional reform in food and agriculture.

The platform is part of FAO's Hand-in-Hand initiative - an evidence-based, country-led and country-owned initiative aimed at accelerating agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development to eradicate poverty (SDG1) and end hunger and all forms of malnutrition (SDG2), including through the use of the most sophisticated tools available such as advanced geo-spatial modeling and analytics.

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FAO launches hand-in-hand geospatial data platform - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched the Hand-in-Hand geospatial platform with a large and rich set of data on food, agriculture, socioeconomics, and natural resources to help strengthen evidence-based decision-making in the food and agriculture sectors, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The platform, NaijaAgroNet gathered is a crucial tool for all efforts to build back better and create more resilient food systems post COVID-19.

It boosts over one million geospatial layers and thousands of statistics series with over 4,000 metadata records, bringing together geographic information and statistical data on over ten domains linked to food and agriculture - from food security, crops, soil, land, water, climate, fisheries, livestock to forestry. It also includes information on COVID-19's impact on food and agriculture.

The data has been sourced from FAO and other leading public data providers across the UN and NGOs, academia, private sector and space agencies. It also incorporates FAOSTAT data on food and agriculture for over 245 countries and territories from 1961 to the most recent year available.

"Geospatial technologies and agricultural data represent an opportunity to find new ways of reducing hunger and poverty through more accessible and integrated data-driven solutions," said FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu.

"The Geospatial Platform serves as a digital public good to create interactive data maps, analyze trends and identify real-time gaps and opportunities," said the FAO chief.

The platform can be used by anyone and its application will in turn help data-driven and evidence-based decision-making in food and agriculture.

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UNICEF, WFP warns: 15.4m children to suffer acute malnutrition - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have jointly warned that an estimated 15.4 million cases of acute malnutrition in children under five years old are expected by December 2020 in West and Central Africa, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This figure, NaijaAgroNet reported that one third of them from its most severe form if adequate measures are not put in place now, warned 

This represents a 20 per cent increase from earlier estimates, in January 2020, according to an analysis of the combined impact of food insecurity and COVID-19 on acute malnutrition in 19 countries of the region.

Conflict and armed violence have led to massive population displacements and drastically limited access to basic social services, leading child malnutrition to increase to unprecedented levels. The coronavirus disease is exacerbating fragile contexts in West and Central Africa, such as in the Sahel region across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, which were already stricken with food insecurity and malnutrition. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 4.5 million cases were anticipated to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2020, in these 6 countries. Today, with growing insecurity and COVID-19, that number has jumped to almost 5.4 million.

“Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are at higher risk of COVID-19-related complications. Whereas, good nutrition for children, starting from their early days, protects them against illnesses and infections, and supports their recovery when they become ill,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “Ensuring the continuity of preventive and lifesaving health and nutrition services, building shock-responsive social protection systems, protecting livelihoods and supporting families’ access to water, hygiene and healthy food are critical for child survival and long-term development.”

Several factors threaten the nutritional status of children under five in West and Central Africa. These include household food insecurity, poor maternal nutrition and infant feeding practices, conflicts and armed violence, population displacement, high levels of childhood illnesses and water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, fragile health systems, poor access to clean water and sanitation, and chronic poverty.

Adding to these malnutrition aggravating factors, COVID-19 pandemic containment measures have led to disruptions in food production and distribution, in health and humanitarian supply chains, as well as a slow-down of economic activities. The pandemic has had indirect negative impacts on food systems, households’ income and food security, and the provision of treatment against malnutrition. This makes it more difficult for populations to maintain healthy diets, optimal infant and young child feeding practices, and hinders their access to essential nutrition services.

“Thousands of families will be unable to provide their children with the nutritious food needed for their proper growth and development,” said Chris Nikoi, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “We must work together to improve access to nutritious foods and ensure that there are strong preventive actions that protect children from falling into the vicious trap of malnutrition and sickness.” 

WFP and UNICEF are working with governments and partners to ensure the continuation of essential services. Together, they deliver an integrated package of care focused on the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition and empower communities for the provision of basic services.

In northern Mali, for example, WFP and UNICEF are joining their efforts and resources to treat and prevent maternal and child malnutrition and reinforce good feeding practices. This includes screening of children for malnutrition. 

The screening is part of an initiative that promotes early detection of malnutrition in children by mothers and families, using a Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) screening tape. In addition, it allows for the referral of moderate and severe acute malnutrition cases to health facilities, supported by both agencies. 

Prevention activities include sensitization sessions on infant and young child feeding practices, supported by UNICEF and complemented by the provision of vouchers to women to exchange for nutritious foods available in the market, facilitated by WFP.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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7 key priority response areas by FAO - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

United Nations agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has outlined some seven key priority responses for urgent attention in navigating the post COVID-19, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Disclosing this, FAO in a launch of its comprehensive COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, said these key areas would assist to minimise COVID-19's damaging effects on food security and nutrition while transforming global food systems to make them more resilient, sustainable and equitable.

FAO also called for immediate action in seven key priority areas, namely

• Reinforce a Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19
• Improve Data for Decision-making
• Ensure Economic Inclusion and Social Protection to Reduce Poverty
• Bolster Trade and Food Safety Standards
• Boost Smallholder Resilience for Recovery
• Prevent the Next Zoonotic Pandemic through a strengthened One Health Approach
• Trigger Food Systems Transformation

NaijaAgroNet reports that in response to the current emergency, FAO is working on convening governments and multiple stakeholders in a call to action, gathering and analyzing data to better understand emerging trends and pinpoint any deterioration, and providing prompt technical advice and capacity development across a wide range of disciplines.

In addition, the Organization is offering investment support to leverage all forms of partnerships and finance.

The new programme is also supported by the COVID -19 Food Coalition, launched by the Government of Italy and led by FAO mobilizing political, financial and technical assistance in support of countries affected by the current crisis.

"The efforts needed to importantly address these seven priority response areas will be immense. The Food Coalition is an exemplary approach to leveraging high-level capital and political will to avoid an escalation of the pandemic from a health crisis to a food crisis", said Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General.

Today's event also saw the participation of Carla Montesi, Director for Planet and Prosperity, Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO), European Commission; Joachim von Braun, Director of Center for Development Research of University of Bonn (ZEF) and Chair of the Scientific Group for the UN Secretary-General's Food Systems Summit; Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission; Kip Tom, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome; Vincenza Lomonaco, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Italy to FAO; Peter Bakker, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Najat Mokhtar, Deputy Director-General, Head of Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, among others.

The participants in today's dialogue discussed the priority response areas, ways to galvanize joint action and modalities for partnering with FAO in the COVID-19 response for the agricultural sector.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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US$1.05bn withdrawal: NLNG says allegation is baseless - ITREALMS

NaijaAgroNet:

The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has described as baseless, the allegation of illegal withdrawal of US$1.05billion from NNPC’s (NLNG) dividend account and linked to its Managing Director/CEO Tony Attah and the GMD, NNPC, Mele Kyari who are signatories to the account.

NLNG also denied allegation of moving and "squandering" monies belonging to the company without approval.

A press statement from NLNG available to NaijaAgroNet pointed out that for the purpose of clarity, NLNG wished to state that the company, as a private limited liability company, duly pays dividends to its shareholders and continues to conduct its business in full compliance with regulations and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

NLNG strictly follows extant protocols in the payment of dividends as value generated from the business and ensures that the process concerning payment of dividends to its shareholders is transparent and in full compliance with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Expectedly, NLNG’s involvement in the process ends with the payment of such dividend.

The governance and controls around the company's finances also makes the allegations against the Managing Director and the GMD an impossible scenario and therefore members of the public are advised to disregard the allegations as it is totally baseless and simply untrue.

NLNG also wishes to emphasize that it continues to bring value to both its shareholders and the country, utilising best practices in the industry to monetise gas resources and contribute to the socio-economic well-being of the country in line with its vision of helping to build a better Nigeria.

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COVID-19: Nigeria in top 5 African countries making 644,205 cases - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

A total of 644,205 cases of coronavirus also known as COVID-19 have befell Africa with 14,044 deaths, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as Nigeria is among top-five African countries with 73 per cent of all cases.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) made this disclosure to NaijaAgroNet on Thursday during a weekly press briefing on COVID-19.

Dr John Nkengasong, Director, Africa CDC made this known in his remarks to the media briefing said that in Africa, 54 Member States have reported 644,205 cases and 14,044 deaths.

This, he said, gives “a case fatality rate of 2.2 per cent,”

In addition, he said, that there have been 334,547 recoveries.

In the past week, he also said, there was a 23 per cent increase in cases, with 119,546 new cases reported, an average of 17,078 new cases reported per day.

“Average daily new cases for previous week was 14,975,” Nkengasong said.

The top five countries accounting for 73 per cent of all cases in Africa includes South Africa: 311,049 (48 per cent), Egypt: 83,930 (13 per cent), Nigeria: 34,259 (5 per cent), Ghana 25,430 (4 per cent) and Algeria: 20,216 (3 per cent).




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Post-COVID-19: FAO estimates 135m to suffer acute food insecure - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:
Following the recent release of the Global Report on Food Crises 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that some 135 million people would suffer acute food insecure, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the report, this figure were acutely food-insecure in need of urgent humanitarian food and nutrition assistance.

Addressing COVID-19 impacts on food systems during the launch of its comprehensive COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, FAO said its aimed at preventing a global food emergency during and after the COVID-19 pandemic while working on medium to long-term development response for food security and nutrition.

Besides being a major public concern, the COVID-19 pandemic can also be a serious threat to global food security. According to the World Bank's estimates, the pandemic's economic impact could push about 49 million people into extreme poverty. Soaring unemployment rates, income losses and rising food costs are jeopardizing food access in developed and developing countries alike and will have long-term effects on food security.

The latest edition of FAO's report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, revealed that even before the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global food systems and livelihoods of millions of people at the start of the year, 10 million more people were in a condition of undernourishment with respect to 2018 and 60 million more with respect to 2014.

Furthermore, the pandemic may plunge national economies into recession, and countries ought to take urgent measures to mitigate the longer-term impacts on food systems and food security.

Equally urgent is the compounding threat of the pandemic on existing crises - such as conflict, natural disasters, climate change, pests and plagues - that are already stressing our food systems and triggering food insecurity around the globe.

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How AfDB enhances food security for 9m people - NaijaAgroNet

Report@NaijaAgroNet:

The Water Mobilisation Project to Enhance Food Security in Maradi, Tahoua and Zinder Regions (PMERSA-MTZ), implemented between 2011 and 2018 in Niger, has sustainably increased agricultural production and productivity and increased food security for nearly nine million residents of this Sahelian country, according to a report by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org).

Financed through a loan of $11 million from the African Development Fund and a grant of $28.7 million from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, the project directly involved 218,000 people in the three regions of south-central Niger, with another nearly 476000 indirectly affected. These three regions are home to approximately 56 percent, or 8.9 million people, of the country’s population.

“The project’s expected effects, as far as food security, increased production and jobs, were achieved overall,” according to the PMERSA-MTZ final report. The team was led by Moustapha Cheick Abdallahi Cheibany, senior agricultural economist for the Bank.

“Grain production goals were 94 percent achieved and those for vegetable production were exceeded (123%). A very clear improvement in the availability of agricultural and livestock products has been demonstrated, and income for the population has been increased due to higher yields, commercialised agricultural production and the revitalization of production areas,” notes the report team.

The average expected level of grain production (15,000 tonnes/year) was achieved and surpassed in 2017 and 2018 to reach 16 000 and 21 156 tonnes, respectively. With 16 000 tonnes annually, vegetable production surpassed its goals in 2017 (122%) and 2018 (179%).

The project entailed establishment of various types of infrastructure (irrigation projects, including 47 sills (small dams) and 11 mini-dams, water and soil conservation techniques on 3 700 ha, and the construction of 74 wells and 273 km of rural tracks) with the goal of developing and securing agricultural production (on 18 800 ha irrigated and decreasing). It also supported product commercialisation and, more broadly, improving living conditions of the rural residents involved.

*Editor
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