UN News Service (New York)

15 November 2007
Posted to the web 16 November 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711160005.html 

Dakar

Africa's rural poor are facing a "perfect storm" of rising food prices, climate change and population growth, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today, urging the international community to take more concerted action to help the continent's most vulnerable people. Wrapping up a four-day visit to Senegal and Mali, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran told reporters in Dakar that time was running out to build resilience among the millions of rural Africans who often have to go hungry.

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

16 November 2007
Posted to the web 16 November 2007

http://allafrica.com/stories/200711160876.html  

Johannesburg

Lack of information is the main obstacle to paying African farmers as an incentive to protect the environment, according to a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation official.

Payment for environmental services (PES) has been applied in parts of the world since the 1980s, and could help to address growing concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss and water supply, suggested The State of Food and Agriculture, a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) report released on 15 November.