This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Ukraine dam disaster: Lack of clean water, spread of disease, major risks

The magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine is becoming clearer as UN humanitarians redoubled efforts to reach affected civilians with aid on Wednesday.

Homes have been flooded, people are leaving and access to water, specifically clean water, is emerging as a major challenge.

Here’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Olivia Headon, speaking from Kyiv:

“The International Organization for Migration and other humanitarian partners have been rushing since yesterday to provide clean water supplies to areas that are receiving evacuated people and also trying to get them to areas in the critical zone, on the banks of the Dnipro River.”

About 17,000 people are in the immediate critical zone at risk of flooding, but only about 1,000 have evacuated far away from the dam, as according to IOM, most people wish to stay close to their homes.

Flooding and the lack of clean water are sparking fears of a surge in waterborne diseases, and humanitarians say that the health response will be “critical” in the coming days.

Sudan: close to two million displaced people

Conflict in Sudan is in its eighth week and over 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the start of the fighting, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).

The International Organization for Migration noted that more than 1.4 million are now displaced inside Sudan.

Two out of every three fled the capital Khartoum, which has been a hotspot of the conflict, while the rest left the Darfurs and North Kordofan. Some 78 per cent have sought refuge with friends and family, or within host communities.

More than 476,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, and the cross-border movements show no sign of abating. IOM, together with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and Government sources have indicated that as of 4 June, at least 205,000 arrived in Egypt.

More than 125,000 have sought safety in Chad and more than 90,000 crossed into South Sudan, with the remainder fleeing to Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya.

Ocean crucial to food security: FAO

There is not a single global problem today, be it climate change, food security or poverty, that can be solved without considering the ocean as part of the solution.

That’s the message from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ahead of World Oceans Day on Thursday.

The ocean is already the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world and offers many opportunities to help feed the growing global population.

Here’s Manuel Barange, FAO’s Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Resources, on the rapid development of aquaculture, which can be described as the farming of fish and aquatic plants:

“Aquaculture has been the fastest growing food production system for the last five decades, from virtually zero three or four decades ago, to now virtually the same production as capture fisheries. We expect aquaculture to grow by about 25 per cent between now and the end of this decade.”

FAO has spearheaded a “Blue Transformation Initiative” which promotes aquatic foods as part of the solution to hunger and malnutrition.

It aims to ensure that fisheries are managed effectively and sustainably, and that the value chain of aquatic foods is transparent to the consumer.

The agency says that about 600 million people depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods.

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.