The Church of Ireland announced on Friday that its Bishops' Appeal has approved an emergency grant of €20,000 for relief work in Darfur.

The region of Darfur in Western Sudan has been suffering over four years of conflict leading to the displacement of over two million people. The latest research published in September 2006 in the journal Science puts the numbers of deaths at "no fewer than 200,000".

The Chairman of Bishops' Appeal, the Rt Rev Michael Mayes, said: "The emergency grant we have approved will go towards agencies currently working on the ground in Darfur. The situation there is critical and any further donations would be very welcome and will go directly to assist those in need."

Christian relief and development agency Tearfund recently warned that levels of malnutrition were "alarmingly high" among children living in parts of Darfur and Chad currently plagued by food shortages.

According to a recent nutrition survey by Tearfund at El Neem camp in Ed Daien, South Darfur, 30 per cent of babies are malnourished - double the level considered to be an emergency.

The situation has been described as "deeply serious" by Tearfund, who say the problem has been made worse because at least 30,000 new arrivals have poured into the camps in the last few months.

Now experts fear that the war and refugee crisis are exacerbating environmental damage in Sudan.

"The consciousness of the world on the issue of climate change has to change fast," said Muawia Shaddad of the Sudan Environment Conservation Society. "Darfur is just an early warning."