UN agencies, NGOs need USD 3.4 bn more to tackle global crises

New York, July 17 (PTI) The U.N. agencies and various
NGOs are facing major shortfall in resources to respond to
growing global food shortages and environmental disasters.
According to an estimate, the United Nations, the
International Organisation for Migration and 239
non-governmental organisations need an extra USD 3.4 billion
to respond to the world's most severe crises for the rest of
the year.
However, with the major donors facing downturn in their
own economies, analysts were not very optimistic of the target
being reached.
"Rapid action by donors is more essential this year than
ever," John Holmes, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs, said.
"Higher food and fuel costs, an increasing number of
food-insecure people, and the impact of climate change have
already forced the upwards revision of several appeals or the
issuance of new flash appeals," he stressed.
Overall humanitarian funding requirements for 2008 for
the 34 countries covered by this year's appeals have risen
from USD 5.4 billion at the start of the year to USD 6.5
billion now.
Funding for the world's food needs was re-budgeted to USD
2.6 billion from USD 1.9 billion after the U.N. World Food
Programme (WFP) increased its appeal for this year's
operations.
So far donors have given USD 2.6 billion towards
humanitarian appeals, or equal to 46 percent of funding
requirements, which represents an improvement over mid-year
levels in the past two years.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) says this is because of better response by
donors and also to support from the U.N. Central Emergency
Response Fund (CERF).
So far this year, CERF has allocated some USD 285 million
to a series of flash appeals and chronically under-funded
crises, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.),
Myanmar, West Africa, Sudan and Afghanistan receiving the
largest amounts.
"What we are actually talking about is people in real
life who are suffering in extreme circumstances -- starvation,
the effects of conflict -- these are people who are in
desperate need of help," Holmes said.
"That's what we're talking about -- not just billions of
dollars for the sake of it, but the most needy, the most
vulnerable people in the world who these funds are designed to
help," Holmes, who is also the U.N.'s Emergency Relief
Coordinator, told reporters in New York.
OCHA says that several major humanitarian crises have
deteriorated significantly in the first half of 2008 and will
require renewed efforts and resources. Instability has
worsened in Chad, while in the occupied Palestinian
territories Gaza has suffered a virtual quarantine that has
cut off vital services.
Somalis have also suffered fresh displacement as fighting
continues, while drought has put swathes of the Horn of Africa
at risk of famine. In Zimbabwe the harvest forecast is 51
percent lower than last season's because of adverse rains and
lack of farming inputs.
So far, only 32 percent of Somalia's funding needs
have been met this year, according to U.N. officials.
In addition to the appeals for ongoing crises, there
have been six emergency appeals for funding so far this year
for Bolivia, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Southern Africa and
Tajikistan.