myGREENnews.com

With some 2.5 million people in Niger living on less than one meal a day due to a food crisis brought on by last year's drought and locust plague, the United Nations has raised its emergency appeal from $16 million to $30 million, but so far, only $10 million has been pledged by donors.

The upward revision came after the UN World Food Programme (WFP) almost tripled the number of people it plans to feed through its emergency operation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Two months ago, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland called Niger "the number one forgotten and neglected emergency in the world."

Most immediately at risk are young children. Feeding centres run by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) are reporting admission rates nearly three times those during the same period last year.

"Children are dying and adults are going hungry," WFP Country Director Gian Carlo Cirri said last week. "We have said this before and we are saying it again - Niger needs help today, not tomorrow. The international community cannot allow Niger to live as if cursed by poverty - we have the means to make a change and we need to mobilize them urgently."