MEDIA ADVISORY

LAUNCH OF 2023 GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN OVERVIEW

Theme: “Climate change and global food insecurity - key drivers of humanitarian needs”

 INVITATION TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA

What: On 1 December 2022, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Partnership with the African Union, will host an event in Addis Ababa to launch the 2023 Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO). The GHO event in Addis Ababa will focus on Climate change and global food insecurity - key drivers of humanitarian needs. The event aims to provide an overview of humanitarian needs and funding requirements in 2023, call for generous funding towards next year’s humanitarian appeals, and amplify the voices of affected people, particularly women and girls. This year’s launch is against a background of a rapidly changing humanitarian landscape in the global south. It is convened following an African Union Extraordinary Humanitarian Summit, and the Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism and Unconstitutional Changes in Africa, both held back-to-back in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 27 and 28 May 2022.

When: 1 December 2022, from 16:30 – 18:00 PM (EAT).

Where: Medium Conference Hall, African Union HQ, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• The Global GHO Launch website, including a link to the Addis Ababa launch can be found here
• The online registration link for the Addis Ababa launch can be found here

Who: The Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS) of the African Union Commission (AUC), in cooperation with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Why: Over the past decade, 1.7 billion people around the globe have been affected by extreme weather and or climate-related disasters, with people in Africa among the most affected. The Horn of Africa, for example, has a history of consecutive and prolonged drought. More than 36 million are in need of assistance, and not less than 21 million people are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity in the region this year. The drought in the region is disproportionately driving alarming levels of malnutrition in children and women. People in West and Central Africa have not been spared either. In the second half of 2022, above average rainfall and devastating floods across the region have affected five million people in 19 countries, claiming hundreds of lives, disrupting livelihoods, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and decimating swaths of croplands. The short-term metrological forecasts indicate above average seasonal rainfall across most of West Africa, threatening 43 million people with emergency levels of food insecurity. Southern Africa has had its fair share of climatic shocks too. In January 2021, cyclone Eloise made landfall in Beira, Mozambique, affecting more than 440,000 people. Eloise hit the same area affected by cyclone Idai less than two years earlier. Idai impacted more than 3 million people, including over 1.7 million Mozambicans displaced and nearly 1,600 killed. Recurrent climatic disasters in the region completely submerged the homes of some of the affected populations twice. The relationship between climate change and food insecurity is indisputable. The spectre of climate change and other global environmental changes, such as extreme temperatures, excessive floods, powerful cyclones, and prolonged droughts, have and continue to raise concerns about achieving food security, especially in fragile contexts. Many climate scientists have called it a threat multiplier for hunger.

Food security is diminished when food systems are stressed. That has become evident throughout 2022 because of increased armed conflicts and supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. However, it is exacerbated when those factors combine with climate shocks. According to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change has direct implications for food security. The Panel has warned that without transformational adaptation measures, climate change will continue to result in the loss of livelihoods and income in rural, marine, terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, and grave food insecurity as well as a breakdown of food systems. This event interrogates the relationship between climate change and global food insecurity as key drivers of humanitarian needs and examines how best to respond to their imminent associated threats.

Objectives:

This event aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Promote the GHO (the most credible, current analysis of global humanitarian requirements, explaining trends and drivers).
• Call for generous funding towards 2023 HRPs and other humanitarian appeals.
• Amplify the voices of affected people, particularly women and girls.
• Acknowledge the generosity of donors, strengthen commitment and support and promote effective and innovative tools of humanitarian financing.

Journalists are invited to cover the Launch of 2023 Global Humanitarian Overview

For media inquiries, please contact:

1. Mr. Gamal Eldin Ahmed A. Karrar | Senior Communication Officer | Information and Communication Directorate I African Union Commission | E-mail: GamalK@africa-union.org I Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2. Mr. Molalet Tsedeke | Media Center Coordinator | Information and Communication Directorate I African Union Commission |  Mobile: +251911630631 | E-mail: molalett@africa-union.org

Information and Communication Directorate I African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org

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