Essay by Eric Worrall
The question – why such a sprawling, wide-ranging speech?
September 19, 2022
Speech of the Secretary General at SDG Moment . event
Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Let me begin by expressing my profound sadness over the recent loss of Queen Elizabeth II, whose funeral took place today.
The world bids farewell to an extraordinary leader and her life of service.
It is service and action for humanity that has brought us together today.
Excellencies everybody,
We meet at a time of great danger to our world.
Climate conflict and disaster.
Trust and division.
Poverty, inequality and discrimination.
Increased food and energy costs.
Unemployment and reduced income.
Massive displacement and dislocation.
The continuing effects of a global pandemic.
And lack of access to finance for developing countries to recover – a crisis not seen in a generation.
Each is pushing the Sustainable Development Goals out of reach.
And in the face of such perils, it’s hard to put our long-term development priorities aside.
Leave them on a sunny day.
But development can’t wait.
Our children’s education cannot wait.
Decent jobs can’t wait.
Full equality for women and girls can not wait.
Comprehensive health care, meaningful climate action, biodiversity protection – these cannot be left for tomorrow.
Across all of these areas, youth – and future generations – are demanding action.
We cannot let them down.
This is a decisive moment.
All of you here today – and followers from all over the world – give me great hope that we can put our hands on the wheel of progress and navigate a new path.
That we can tackle the Sustainable Development Goals and get back on track to build a better world, leaving no one behind.
The world has a long “to do” list.
We need financing and investment from the public and private sectors.
We need a reformed financial architecture that benefits developing countries, provides critical financing and debt forgiveness. This is the only sustainable way to address the intractable inequalities that exist in every country, while ensuring that the world does not fall into recession.
Governments need to invest more than ever in the health, education and welfare of all – including refugees and migrants.
We need to expand universal social protection to protect people against economic shocks, while boosting job creation – especially in digital, caregiving and green economies.
The Global Accelerator of Employment and Social Protection for Transformations is just one of the key opportunities to achieve these goals.
We all must do more to empower women and girls in every walk of life.
And we need to save our planet, which is literally on fire.
This means solving the three-planet crisis of climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution.
It means supporting the Global Biodiversity Framework to transform the way we use and conserve our natural gifts for the future.
And it means getting rid of our suicidal dependence on fossil fuels and starting the renewable energy transition in every country – and supporting developing nations as they make the transition. change and adapt to the changes around them.
Above all, there can be no sustainable future without peace.
By embracing peace and tolerance – and more importantly, by living these values every day – we can be one step closer to a sustainable, equal and fair world in which everyone can live. deserved.
My friends,
The task ahead is enormous.
And young people are demanding action – not just for themselves, but for future generations.
The dangers we face cannot be compared with a unified world.
Let’s get to work together.
Let’s get our world back on track.
Thank you.
“The whole purpose of practical politics is to keep the populace alerted (and therefore favored to be led to safety) by threatening them with an endless array of hobgoblins, all of which are imagine.” – HL Mencken
Why such a sprawling, wide-ranging speech?
Market research I guess.
Climate scams are losing traction. Collapsed confidence over the over-hyped, UN-backed Covid pandemic has heightened distrust of authority, just as the UN hopes it can finally. tighten his encirclement.
In my opinion, there is an important personal aspect to this speech. UN Secretary General António Guterres nearing completion of the last term of office term. If he can’t figure out how to interest us all over the next few years, he won’t have a legacy. He will be forgotten, or at best remembered as a placeholder, an anonymous footnote, but a leader none other than of an organization whose leaders are rarely remembered.
All dreams of a greater role for the United Nations, and personal glory for Guterres, are dying out – so Guterres is desperately searching for a problem, any problem, that will make it all we all care again, causing us all to beg. for strong global leadership to lead us into the illusion of security.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to buy a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
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