10 November 2009: In an official visit to Mali, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann Veneman discussed the impacts of climate change on child health, stressing that it could increase the numbers of undernourished people in the near future.
She stated that the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will need to recognize that climate change is already negatively affecting the lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. In her visit to the Sahel region of northern Mali, a region severely impacted by climate change, Veneman noted the potential for climate change mitigation through a food-for-work programme supported by the World Food Programme (WFP), which equips women to engage in reforestation activities and to grow vegetables and rice on reclaimed land. [UN Press Release][UNICEF Press Release]