Two U.N. agencies on Monday announced a cooperation agreement to help Sudan manage its natural resources in a way that is compatible with fighting hunger and improving livelihoods while simultaneously mitigating the effects of climate change. The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Food Program (WFP) formalized their collaboration on activities supporting the Khartoum government in assessing vulnerable communities in Sudan. "UNEP is confident that this agreement with WFP will assist us to mainstream improved environmental management with humanitarian and early recovery activities through the widespread professional presence of WFP in Sudan, ultimately helping recipient communities build resilience to climate change," UNEP representative Bradley Smith said of the agreement, signed earlier this month. The necessity of climate analysis and disaster risk reduction is rapidly becoming apparent in Sudan, as concerns grow that delayed and insufficient rainfall caused by this year's El Nino weather pattern, which brings devastating droughts or catastrophic flooding to different parts of the planet, has hurt crop development in key production areas of Sudan and increased the risk of below-average yields.
