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COP15: WFP experts available for interviews on desertification, rising global hunger and large-scale solutions

ABIDJAN – With today’s start of the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the World Food Programme is making available to the media, experts on resilience and food systems who can comment on the linkages between desertification and hunger, as well as on large scale solutions and greening the Sahel.

Desertification – both a consequence and a major contributor to climate change – is one of the most insidious and unnoticed threats to food security, nutrition and sustainable food systems. Once a tipping point is reached, it undermines the resilience of ecosystems and populations, plunges the world’s poorest and most vulnerable into destitution, and exacerbates their daily struggle for survival.

According to the new Global Report on Food Crises, 2021 saw a 25% jump in the number of people facing food crises in just 12 months. Conflict, economic crises and climate change were the primary drivers of hunger in 2021 with extreme climatic events driving more than 23 million people into food crises.

The alarming number of people facing hunger makes it more urgent than ever to tackle the root causes of food crises.

That is why WFP is implementing programmes like the Sahel Resilience Scale-up. In just three years, WFP supported communities across the G5-Sahel in rehabilitating around 110,000 hectares of barren land, benefiting over 2.5 million beneficiaries in more than 2,000 villages.

 

The following WFP experts are available for interviews in English and/or French at COP15 and remotely (for interview requests, please reach out to katharina.dirr@wfp.org):

  • Volli Carucci – Director, Resilience and Food Systems Service, WFP HQ
  • Martin Frick – Director, WFP Global Office in Berlin
  • Delphine Dechaux – Chief of Resilience and Livelihood Unit, WFP HQ
  • Adamou Ounteni Issaka – Senior Regional Policy and Programme Advisor, WFP Regional Bureau, Dakar
  • Rama Leclerc – Resilience Advisor, WFP Regional Bureau, Dakar

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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Topics

Droughts Climate Food Security

Contact

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Djaounsede Madjiangar, WFP/Dakar,

Mob. +221 77 639 42 71



Katharina Dirr, WFP/Dakar,

Mob/Wapp +49 17662511069



Martin Rentsch, WFP/Berlin,

Mob +49 160 99 26 17 30



Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York,

Mob. + 1 929 289 9867

Steve Taravella, WFP/ Washington,

Mob.  +1 202 770 5993

Anne Poulson, WFP/Copenhagen,

Mob. +45 45 33 53 51

Julie Marshall, WFP/Canada,

Mob. +1 905 818 2664

Eunjeong Lee, WFP/South Korea,

Mob. +82 2 722 7395

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