Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg Statement on situation in the Sahel

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to brief you today on the emerging food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel, after my trip to Dakar, Senegal, last week, in which I tried to get a sense of ongoing preparedness efforts in the region.

Across the Sahel region of West Africa, we are extremely concerned that millions of people will be affected by a combination of drought, poverty, and high grain prices, which, coupled with environmental degradation and chronic underdevelopment is expected to result in a new food and nutrition crisis.

People in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Chad, as well as northern Cameroon and northern Nigeria are all likely to be affected over the coming months. For many, the crisis has already begun. We already know that an estimated ten million people or more are struggling to get enough to eat, including 5.4 million in Niger alone. In the region, more than a million children under the age of five risk severe acute malnutrition - that is up from 300,000 last year.

Since September last year, we have been sounding the alarm that the situation in the Sahel was likely to become a major humanitarian situation by Spring of this year, if nothing was done to reverse the trend.

Malnutrition figures were difficult to ascertain in 2011, but the early warning signs were clear. The poorest households, who had barely recovered from the previous crisis of 2010, were dealing with a poor and uneven rainy season last year, increasingly high food prices, falling cereal production, and the loss of remittances due to the return of some 420,000 migrants from Libya and Cote d’Ivoire. Since then, armed conflict in northern Mali has caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people in Mali and in neighbouring Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso. These people now need urgent assistance too.

Governments and partners around the region undertook assessments during the fall of 2011, to build a clearer picture of the emerging needs. As I have mentioned, we now estimate that at least ten million people in the region are struggling to get enough to eat. As well as the 5.4 million people in Niger, this includes three million in Mali; 1.7 million in Burkina Faso; and 700,000 people in Mauritania. We are expecting detailed figures on the situation in Chad, northern Cameroon, northern Nigeria and northern Senegal soon. Together the total estimated figures could easily exceed 12 million. Forecasts point to a poor and early lean season which could start as early as March or April, instead of May, in previous years.

The Governments of Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad have all declared an emergency situation, called for international assistance and most have put forward plans to deal with the crisis and to build people’s resilience to such shocks. Essential activities include selling cereal and pasture at subsidized prices, distributing seeds and providing livestock support, as well as income-generating activities and the replenishment of national food security stocks.

The regional body monitoring drought control in the Sahel - called CILSS - provided early warning data on crops and harvest. In December, the United Nations and partners developed a strategy to tackle the emerging food crisis, which focused on regional preparedness and cross-border issues. In December we also launched two consolidated appeals in Niger and Chad, to raise awareness of the situation and enable donors to start contributing to urgent preparedness and response programming, while the CERF released $13.4 million in funds to emergency programmes in Niger, Chad, and Mauritania with another $8 million under consideration.

We learned from experience in the Horn of Africa that early warning must be followed by early action. Today, we know what is coming, and we know what to do to save lives.

Against this background, I visited Dakar on 7 February to review our preparedness and early response efforts, as presented in the revised Sahel Regional Strategy. I also discussed how this strategy will be implemented with key partners and supporters.

Our key objectives are to strengthen regional preparedness and response activities and to support regional analysis and coordination. We must do more to raise awareness of national Governments, humanitarian agencies and donors on the scope and the cross-border nature of the crisis, which presents additional challenges. Of course we must also support resource mobilization efforts so that we can make sure there is a timely response.

Early action means pre-positioning emergency food assistance, supporting blanket feeding for malnourished children, and making available life-saving treatment for acutely malnourished children.

Early funding will be necessary to secure the resources required, and we need donors to be decisive and generous now.

This revised Sahel Strategy will require $724 million dollars for immediate intervention in 2012 – and it takes into account the existing Government national plans and the humanitarian appeals for Niger and Chad. It includes $480 million for food security, to help affected households through direct food assistance and cash transfers, and to strengthen livelihoods through agricultural and pastoralist support. Indeed, the importance of saving livelihoods cannot be overlooked, as it means we can save more lives tomorrow.

To reduce mortality related to acute malnutrition, the Strategy also includes $243 million to implement integrated work in nutrition, health, water and sanitation. Humanitarian agencies, including WFP, UNICEF and FAO, have each also developed detailed response plans, in their respective areas, which are closely linked to the Sahel Regional Strategy.

UN agencies and NGOs are implementing cash-for-work and food-for-work programmes in the most affected areas. General food distribution targeting the most vulnerable is planned for the lean season, which will begin in March or April and last through August. The nutritional status of children is also being monitored closely, so that those who require therapeutic feeding can be referred to centres as soon as they become malnourished.

We thank donors who have already provided some US$136 million, which has permitted international humanitarian partners to begin relief activities across the region - but much more is needed. All stakeholders, including donors and Governments in the affected countries, must act now.

Not long ago, we were calling for early action to contain the food crisis in the Horn of Africa. We now have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have learned our lessons from that crisis: that both early action and efforts to re-build resilience are critical to the Sahel.

It is very clear that humanitarian response is, and can only be, part of a longer-term comprehensive strategy, involving local communities, governments, regional organizations, development actors and many other players.

Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Helen Clark, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and Chair of the United Nations Development Group, have prioritized collaboration between humanitarian and development partners to address the looming crisis in the Sahel and develop medium to long term resilience-building strategies and deal with the underlying causes of these recurring crises.

Valerie Amos and Helen Clark will travel together to Niger later this week, from 16-18 February - the first time that the ERC and the Administrator will undertake such a joint visit. As well as seeing for themselves how people are being affected by the situation they will also see the concrete efforts that are being made now to reduce suffering and help communities cope better with this and future shocks.

In Rome today, at the invitation of the World Food Programme, Ms. Amos and Ms. Clark are also meeting with a number of heads of major agencies and donors to ensure that our collective efforts receive the right strategic steer.

On her return, I am sure that Ms. Amos will be pleased to brief you as well.