Ensuring food security during disasters essential: Chairman NDMA

Chairman NDMA Lt. General Omar Mahmood Hayat has said that ensuring Food Security during disasters is essential for sustaining life.

He stated this while addressing the audience at the launching ceremony of ‘Integrated Context Analysis (ICA) Report’ on “Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and Natural Hazards” here on Tuesday.

Chairman NDMA stated that food is basic human need and essential for sustaining life under all circumstances. While ensuring appropriate nourishment remains a challenge in itself, it gets extremely demanding during natural disasters, he continued. ‘Integrated Context Analysis’ (ICA) is a globally adopted and proven programmatic tool of immense value to the decision makers to support strategic planning of safety net, disaster risk reduction, early warning and preparedness, the Chairman said. The Chairman assured that NDMA is poised for endeavoring to foster resilience in identified areas in cooperation with all stakeholders and implementation partners”.

He further added, “DRR and ICA is a living process. It can be repeated with fresh data and more relevant inputs in future. “I am sure, NDMA and WFP as long term partners in humanitarian efforts will continue to cooperate towards ICA+ in near future” the chairman concluded.

Integrated Context Analysis (ICA) Report on Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and Natural Hazards was formally launched in a ceremony held in Islamabad on Tuesday. The report was jointly prepared by NDMA and World Food Program (WFP). To oversee the whole process Steering Committee as well as Technical Committees were formed having representatives from Planning Commission of Pakistan, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Ministry of Climate Change, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, SUPARCO and other agencies.

The report identifies and ranks all 156 districts of four provinces and three regions of Pakistan by the level of recurrence of two main natural hazards (flood, drought) and additional contextual information (population density, land cover). Districts are categorized in 5 main categories indicating different levels of vulnerability.

Based on Technical Findings, Programmatic Part of the ICA Report was also developed through a consultative process and seeking input from provincial line departments. This report provides a solid foundation for effective planning, targeting and decision making for medium and long term programmatic strategies aimed at reducing food vulnerability. It also helps guide subsequent Seasonal Livelihood Programming at the district level and Community-based Participatory Planning at the community level.

Neil Buhne, UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Finbarr Curran, Country Director World Food Program and Member Operations NDMA Brigadier Mukhtar Ahmed also highlighted different aspects of the ICA Report.