VZCZCXRO3957
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHRN #0086/01 3571128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231128Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION UN ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1237
INFO RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 0018
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0077
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0134
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA PRIORITY 0012
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 0280
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0337
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0438
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0023
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 1314

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UN ROME 000086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO 
USAID FOR DCHA, OFDA, GH, FFP AND AFRICA BUREAU; USDA FAS FOR PHILBROOK AND SHEIKH; TREASURY FOR MORRIS AND GANDHI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: FAO AORC EAID PREF EAGR UN WFP
SUBJECT: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION BRIEFING ON 2010 
HUMANITARIAN CONSOLIDATED APPEALS PROCESS (CAP) 
 
UN ROME 00000086  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
--------------- 
Summary 
--------------- 
 
¶1.   On December 10, the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) briefed 
donors on FAO's component of the 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated 
Appeals Process (CAP).    At $7.1 billion, the 2010 CAP 
addresses 12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million 
people in 25 countries, for which FAO's component is $222.76 
million for agricultural inputs, veterinary medicines, and 
training in Afghanistan, CAR, Chad, Kenya, OPT, Somalia, Sudan, 
Uganda, West Africa, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.   Presently in 2009, 
the U.S. is the third largest donor to the TCE, having 
contributed over $18 million.   In its briefing, TCE cited 
Zimbabwe as the 2009 success story, where humanitarian 
organizations joined under the FAO/WFP food security cluster to 
distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to over 700,000 
families who saw their food production double as a result.  This 
cluster was also attributed as helping WFP in part to reduce its 
food aid projections for Zimbabwe from $278 million in 2009 to 
$58 million in 2010.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
FAO Component of 2010 Humanitarian Consolidated Appeals Process 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶2.   On December 10, Assistant Director General (ADG) Jose Maria 
Sumpsi and TCE Director Laurent Thomas briefed donors on FAO's 
component of the 2010 Humanitarian CAP, which was formally 
launched by OCHA in Geneva on November 30, and displayed the 
8-minute OCHA film depicting three African families affected by 
poverty, hunger and malnutrition.  The CAP represents 400 
humanitarian organizations jointly planning, coordinating, 
implementing and monitoring responses to natural/manmade 
disasters and complex emergencies, and appealing for funds in a 
cohesive manner.   For 2010, the $7.1 billion appeal addresses 
12 major crises, covering the needs of 48 million people in 25 
countries.  FAO's component is estimated at $222.76 million for 
11 of these crises:  Afghanistan ($20), CAR ($2), Chad ($7.8), 
Kenya ($13.75), OPT ($10.62), Somalia ($21), Sudan ($59.8), 
Uganda ($10.2), West Africa ($35.9), Yemen ($11.8), and Zimbabwe 
($29.2).   The majority of FAO's projects address protracted 
crises, providing needed agricultural inputs such as seeds and 
tools to boost the food security of IDPs and other vulnerable 
farming communities, veterinary medicines, and training.  For 
country-by-country details, please consult: 
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/appeals/cap201 0.  (Note: FAO 
reported that Nepal decided to withdraw its CAP appeal due to 
"negative image" concerns, but may launch a traditional appeal 
at a later date.  Likewise, an ongoing mission in North Korea to 
review agricultural production levels may result in an 
additional appeal. End Note) 
 
---------------- 
Funding Concerns 
---------------- 
 
¶3.  ADG Sumpsi noted that FAO, with its agriculture, food 
security and livelihoods partners - particularly WFP - had 
analyzed needs, identified gaps, and planned and prioritized the 
most urgent response for the donor community to consider.   He 
highlighted the overall progress in the funding of humanitarian 
appeals, noting that the gap between the lowest and highest 
funded appeal had been reduced, but stressed this was not the 
case for the agriculture sector. 
 
¶4.  TCE Director Laurent Thomas acknowledged that humanitarian 
crises have to be addressed using a twin track approach 
combining safety nets and food assistance with interventions to 
boost food production and address the root causes of the 
problems.  He stressed that the international community needs to 
give greater importance to disaster risk management, including 
early warning and vulnerability assessments, in order to enable 
affected populations to respond timely to food security threats 
 
UN ROME 00000086  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
and emergencies.   Thomas reported that funding for FAO's 
component of the CAP and the agriculture sector in particular 
remains low -- slightly under 50 percent (while funding for 
"flash appeals," which agencies launch in response to sudden 
onset crises, hovers around 20 percent).  He promised to provide 
analysis early in 2010 on funding issues. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
CAP Funding Examples:  Zimbabwe and Central African Republic 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶5.  The significance of the CAP was illustrated through two 
examples from 2009, Zimbabwe and CAR: 
 
A) Zimbabwe was cited as 2009's success story.   Due to 
political interventions by Kofi Annan, Chair of the Alliance for 
the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), with the Government of 
Zimbabwe, 63 national and international humanitarian 
organizations were able to join under the FAO/WFP food security 
cluster to distribute seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to 
over 700,000 families who saw their food production double as a 
result.  This project was also attributed as helping WFP in part 
to reduce its food aid requirements for Zimbabwe from $278 
million in 2009 to $58 million in 2010.  Thomas stressed the 
need for strengthening food security coordination capacities, 
particularly at the country and local levels, in order to ensure 
improved needs-based and prioritized responses and increase 
humanitarian impact. The cluster example in Zimbabwe, he opined, 
contributed to both the rapid availability of food and the 
timely restoration of agricultural livelihoods. 
 
B) Since 2003, CAR has been part of the CAP.  Although donors 
responded generously to food assistance needs, very little 
funding was provided to sustain food production.  Noting that 
1.2 million people (or one-third of the population) are food 
insecure, Thomas made a plea for donors to support agriculture 
needs of IDPs and returnees. 
 
¶6.  The briefing was well attended and well received.  Donors 
focused questions on the political dialogue TCE has with 
beneficiary countries which have the primary responsibility for 
their own food security (TCE appeals, Thomas responded, are 
designed in support of government strategies based on FAO 
Strategic Objective I -- building capacities of countries to 
prepare for and respond to emergencies, including during the 
transition from relief to development).  A question on internal 
capacities during a process of reform revealed that progress has 
been made in streamlining procurement and administrative budget 
procedures, but the level is far from satisfactory, according to 
Thomas.  The U.S., echoed by Canada, remarked that the Zimbabwe 
example should be advertised due to the five-fold savings in 
food aid that would stretch the humanitarian dollar (Thomas 
responded that TCE will embark on an improved communications 
strategy in 2010). 
 
----------------- 
Comment 
----------------- 
 
¶7.   During the past five years, FAO's agriculture relief and 
rehabilitation portfolio has grown from $260 million in 65 
countries in 2004 to $824 million covering 117 countries in 
2008, in part due to increased donor confidence in FAO's 
steadily improving response capacity.   The emergency work done 
by FAO's TCE now represents roughly 40-50 percent of FAO's field 
program at any given time, drawing from the expertise of FAO's 
technical divisions.  One example is TCE's work to prevent 
national and trans-boundary animal and plant disease outbreaks 
-- expertise no other UN agency contains.  Mission sees value in 
continued support for this work. 
GLOVER