This is the News in Brief from the United Nations

Latin America and the Caribbean: Far-reaching climate repercussions

From the Amazon to the Andes and the snowy depths of Patagonia, extreme weather and climate change are causing mega-drought, dangerous rainfall, deforestation and glacier melts across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, according to a UN report published on Friday.

In its State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021, the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, highlights the far-reaching repercussions for ecosystems, food and water security, human health and poverty. 

The report shows that rainfall related hazards have displaced people, taken hundreds of lives, and severely damaged crop production and infrastructure.

According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, worsening climate change is not only impacting biodiversity, but also stalling decades of progress against poverty, food insecurity and the reduction of inequality in the region.

Hunger rising across East Africa

Over 50 million people in Eastern Africa will face acute food insecurity this year, according to a new study backed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Issued by the region’s Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the IGAD Regional Focus on Food Crises report sounded the alarm over escalating food insecurity and malnutrition in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Four failed consecutive rainy seasons and a climatic event not seen since the beginning of the satellite era, has caused the “dire” situation, said the FAO’s Chimimba David Phiri.

And a combination of climate extremes, conflict, and macroeconomic challenges make it nearly impossible to cope with the multiple shocks.

WFP Regional Director for Eastern Africa Michael Dunford warned of “a very real risk of famine”.

He stressed the need to start preparing and responding to the “increasingly inevitable” disruptions that climate change will cause in the future. 

At least 14 children killed and injured during attack in Syria

At least five children were reportedly killed and nine injured in northwest Syria early on Friday morning during an attack in the last rebel-held area of the country.

UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr, said it was “a devastating reminder” that the war on children is not over.

Children in the region and across the country “keep paying the heaviest price of the ongoing violence”, she added.

Last year, 70 per cent of grave violations recorded against children in Syria occurred in the northwest.

UNICEF repeated to all parties involved in the brutal civil war that “children must never be targeted”.

“They should be protected at all times, wherever they are,” Ms. Khodr spelled out.

Liz Scaffidi, UN News.