Our Role in Food Security and Humanitarian Response
cal and transportation-related issues which impair improved service to communities distributed across Pacific Island Communities.
So, for those in the general public not well-acquainted with the work of WFP, the UN agency has largely, and quietly, served as the primary agency in charge of food security, telecommunications, and logistics in the event of disasters taking place around the region (and globally). In any given cyclone season, the mobilisation of UN- coordinated efforts to provide systemic relief to communities facing the ramifications of floods, landslides, and tidal inundation, receives consideration and support from World Food Programme.
If resources mobilisation is properly understood as a matter of necessity, it is worth pointing out, while many flights have been grounded to prevent unnecessary transmission of disease in 2020, WFP found itself in a unique position where its actions, by necessity, put it in a position of operating, “the world’s largest airline.”
As WFP has spent much of 2020 in rapid response to the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 crisis, they have delivered immense support to alleviate what may otherwise have been outbreak-level events. The infectious disease Personal
Protective Equipment ( PPE) is only a fraction of what has made the difference between public health hazards leading to disaster or fullblown catastrophe.
“About 150 million people, threatened by acute hunger, currently need assistance. The WFP estimates that this number could increase to 270 million in 2021 because of COVID-19 and armed conflicts.” While most nations and territories of the Pacific enjoy the relative benefit of being neither war-torn, nor afflicted with domestic COVID-19 outbreaks, the economic stressors that exacerbate poverty and malnutrition are still widely applicable and require response.
Given the economies of scale and dependence of certain nations on tourism and foreign trade inputs, the COVID-19 pandemic has created socio- economic destabilising factors largely unique to Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Regional shipping
Encapsulating many of the rapid responses and changes within the regional shipping, however, WFP has been undertaking the task of consolidating the regulatory response by national Governments and actions taken by regional shipping companies within the bi-weekly series of Pacific Logistics Cluster releases.
International movements
There have been few regularly updated bulletins of greater value than those of the Pacific Logistics Cluster, given their consolidated summary of schedule amendments, service changes, and compliance requirements for quarantine, biosecurity, and human safety in undertaking maritime trade since the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted international movement early this year. At a broader level, WFP serves as the lead agency for the Global Logistics Cluster of UN agencies (such as World Health Organisation, UNICEF, and UNHCR).
Though their crucial role in movement of goods and provision of humanitarian relief is well understood within the inter-agency operations of the UN, they are not provided with much attention or specific mention in either the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 or the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific 20172030.
As Fiji and other Pacific Island countries face mounting socio- economic and environmental pressures as a result of travel restrictions and climate-related hazard events of increased intensity, looking toward WFP operations and strengthening coordination between national-level entities ( both public and private) will prove useful in meeting the logistical needs of the region and preventing loss in communities around the region.
Considering the recent Nobel Peace Prize announcement, and the work WFP has quietly been undertaking around the world for decades since its inception in 1961, for those unacquainted with their work until this point, I recommend visiting https:// logcluster. org/countries/ FJI to better understand both the scope of their efforts and the information on regional consolidated trade and movement as it pertains to Fiji and the maritime transport sector.
“About 150 million people, threatened by acute hunger, currently need assistance. The WFP estimates that this number could increase to 270 million in 2021 because of COVID-19 and armed conflict.”