WFP Appeal

by | Mar 24, 2008


According to today’s FT:

The World Food Programme has launched an “extraordinary emergency appeal” to governments to donate at least $500m in the next four weeks to avoid rationing food aid in response to the spiralling cost of food. The WFP, the United Nations agency responsible for relieving hunger, said in a letter to donor countries that if fresh money did not arrive by May 1, it might cut “the rations for those who rely on the world to stand by them during times of abject need”.

Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director asked donors: “We urge your government to be as generous as possible in helping us to close this gap – which stood at $500m on February 25 and has been growing daily.”

The WFP’s funding gap is now about $600m-$700m, officials said, after a 20 per cent jump in food costs in the past three weeks, the rise in the oil price to about $100 a barrel, and a surge in shipping costs. The US is the largest WFP contributor, having donated about $1.1bn last year, mostly in food shipments. The European Union, with $250m, and Canada, with $160m, are the second- and third-largest donors.

Author

  • Charlie Edwards

    Charlie Edwards is Director of National Security and Resilience Studies at the Royal United Services Institute. Prior to RUSI he was a Research Leader at the RAND Corporation focusing on Defence and Security where he conducted research and analysis on a broad range of subject areas including: the evaluation and implementation of counter-violent extremism programmes in Europe and Africa, UK cyber strategy, European emergency management, and the role of the internet in the process of radicalisation. He has undertaken fieldwork in Iraq, Somalia, and the wider Horn of Africa region.

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