Without coordinated action, this year\u2019s \u201ccrisis of affordability\u201d threatens to become a dire global food shortage in 2023, the UN chief told the G20 Summit in Indonesia on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The world is on its way to \u201ca raging food catastrophe\u201d, Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned leaders gathered in Bali, alerting them that \u201cpeople in five separate places are facing famine\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimultaneously, we are witnessing a crunch in the global fertilizer market\u201d, he continued, highlighting once again the Black Sea Grain Initiative to export vital food supplies from Ukraine, and fertilizers from Russia.<\/p>\n
Food and energy session<\/em><\/p>\n Speaking at the special session on the food and energy crisis, Mr. Guterres credited the European Union, United States, United Kingdom and others, for cooperating successfully with the UN to remove many of the obstacles preventing the free flow of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets.<\/p>\n He informed the participants that the first shipment of Russian fertilizers \u2013 donated by Uralkem and managed by the World Food Programme (WFP) \u2013 will be loaded up in the Netherlands on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cFood and fertilizers are not subject to sanctions, but suffer indirect impacts\u201d, explained the UN chief. We are working nonstop to resolve all remaining issues, chiefly around payments, and to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI count on all of your to support these efforts\u201d.<\/p>\n Step up financing<\/em><\/p>\n Many governments in the Global South, battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, unequal resources for recovery, and the climate crisis, lack the fiscal space to help their people deal with rising food and fertilizer prices accelerated by the war, the top UN official said.<\/p>\n He reminded that his call for a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Stimulus aimed to provide those countries with adequate liquidity by reallocating supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets called Special Drawing Rights; concessional financing to Middle Income Countries in distress; and effective mechanisms of debt relief and restructuring.<\/p>\n \u201cTransformational investments in agriculture, particularly in Africa, are essential to prevent future crises\u201d, he asserted. \u201cBut they need the resources, to be implemented\u201d.<\/p>\n Environmental woes<\/em><\/p>\n The climate crisis is another factor pushing people into hunger, according to the UN chief.<\/p>\n \u201cChanging weather patterns, droughts and storms are disrupting crop cycles and fisheries\u201d, he told the G20, pointing out that \u201c80 per cent of global emissions are sitting around this table\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr. Guterres argued that a Climate Solidarity Pact between developed countries and large emerging economies is the only way to defeat climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cDeveloped countries must take the lead in reducing emissions\u201d, he instructed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey must also mobilize, together with international financial institutions and technology companies, to provide financial and technical support so that large emerging economies can accelerate their transition to renewables\u201d.<\/p>\n Just energy transition partnerships are an important first step to this end.<\/p>\n Prevent \u2018energy scramble\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n As many developing countries cannot afford soaring energy prices, the top UN official warned against \u201can energy scramble\u201d in which developing countries \u201ccome off worst\u201d \u2013 as they did in the competition for COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n Moreover, doubling down on fossil fuels is no solution.<\/p>\n \u201cIf, in the last two decades, the world had massively invested in renewable energy, rather than its addiction to fossil fuels, we would not be facing the present crisis\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n Working as one for the good of all<\/em><\/p>\n In closing, the Secretary-General advocated for \u201cunity, solidarity and multilateral solutions\u201d to address the food and energy crises, and to \u201celiminate the trust deficit\u201d that is undermining global action across the board.<\/p>\n \u201cMultilateral solutions can only be built on fairness and justice\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI urge G20 countries to consider these fundamentals in your decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n SOURCE<\/strong>: UN News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Without coordinated action, this year\u2019s \u201ccrisis of affordability\u201d threatens to become a dire global food shortage in 2023, the UN chief told the G20 Summit in Indonesia on Tuesday. The world is on its way to \u201ca raging food catastrophe\u201d, Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned leaders gathered in Bali, alerting them that \u201cpeople in five separate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":148369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"UN Chief Warns Of Global Food Shortage Threat In 2023","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[37,12,23],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n