This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Ukraine war could create widespread food insecurity, warns FAO

Millions of Ukrainians may soon face serious food insecurity because of the ongoing conflict, the UN warned on Tuesday, amid reports that people are facing “life-and-death decisions” on whether to leave Mariupol and elsewhere, more than a month since the Russian invasion.

The alert from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) follows assessments in 19 of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts, or regions, which indicated that it was uncertain that Ukraine could harvest crops, plant new ones or sustain livestock production.

An immediate and worrying finding is that food shortages are expected immediately or in the next three months in over 40 per cent of the surveyed areas, said Rein Paulsen, FAO Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience:

“When it comes to the all-important production of vegetables, conflict is likely to severely disrupt production for tens of thousands of smallholder farmers, those who have decided to stay behind.”

To help support the wider relief effort, FAO has appealed for $50 million but it is only 10 per cent funded.

Nonetheless, it has been possible to support more than 14,600 farming families by providing them with more than 740 tonnes of urgently needed seed for planting.

UN’s atomic watchdog chief in Ukraine to support nuclear power plants

In a related development, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said on Tuesday that high-level discussions are underway in Ukraine to help avert the risk of a radioactive accident at one of the country’s nuclear power plants.

There have been “several close calls”, said IAEA Director-General Mario Grossi, who is leading meetings with senior Ukrainian government officials to facilitate “prompt safety and security support”.

“The military conflict is putting Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and other facilities with radioactive material in unprecedented danger,” Mr. Grossi warned.

He added that urgent action was needed “to make sure that (the plants) can continue to operate safely and securely and reduce the risk of a nuclear accident that could have a severe health and environmental impact both in Ukraine and beyond”.

Dire impact from floods in South Sudan as new wet season looms

An alert now from UN humanitarians who warned on Tuesday that flooding and displacement in South Sudan is expected to worsen when the wet season begins in around a month.

In a call for urgent action to protect already vulnerable populations from its worst impacts, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said that communities are using mud, sticks and plastic sheeting to build barriers around their villages to stop water from flooding in.

Here’s Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:

“Just to put it in perspective, you've got elderly women, you've got vulnerable populations who are basically grabbing mud and trying to build up the berms around their villages. And this is during summer. This is during the dry season. The wet season hasn't even started yet. So we have to expect that many of these very defences will be overcome by the upcoming rainy season.”

South Sudan is still struggling to overcome the deadly aftermath of civil war that followed independence in 2011. It also had its worst flooding on record in 2021 which impacted more than 835,000 people.

And amid more frequent and intense floods and droughts globally, UN humanitarians are worried that the displacement that results from natural disasters will worsen communal tensions.

Today, 33 of Sudan’s 79 counties are badly affected by flooding, which has not

significantly subsided since the last wet season.

The impact has been worst in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile states, where thousands have been displaced.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.