Secretary General António Guterres began his press interview at United Nations Headquarters in New York, with the announcement that the agreement to free vital foodstuffs from Ukraine had reached “a new milestone” with 10 million tons have now been shipped through the Black Sea humanitarian corridor, in just three months.
‘The ray of hope still shines’
“Despite all the obstacles we have seen, the beacon of hope in the Black Sea is still lit and the initiative is working“, I said.
Mr. Guterres said he has two priorities going forward with Russia returning from three Ukrainian ports – with most of the goods serving human needs.
Firstly, “innovate and fully implement“Of the agreement, followed by the removal of remaining obstacles to the export of necessary food and fertilizers, from Russia.
He said he and the UN were fully committed to both goals, emphasizing the need to urgently address “the downturn in the global fertilizer market”.
“We cannot allow problems of global access to fertilizers, turning into global food shortages. “
Decisive diplomacy
Both the grain deal and the signing of a binding agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan rebels to end the fighting and allow aid to return to the war-torn Tigray region, not only show pluralism. method in the workplace, but also” the value of sporadic – but steadfast – diplomacy”, he added.
Turning his attention to the key UN climate conference that begins in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, later this week, he says it must be time to “rebuild trust and reset the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff. “
Emissions will of course rise to 2.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century – far from the necessary and agreed levels of 1.5 degrees, or less.
Historical Pact
“And that means our planet is on its way to reaching tipping points that will make irreversible climate chaos, and forever baked in, catastrophic temperature rise. “
He called for a “historic pact” between the developing and developed world, in which the wealthier economies are depending on their promises to achieve the 1.5-degree target, which outlined in Paris Agreement.
“COP27 must be the place to close the gap of ambition, gap of confidence and gap of solidarity“, said the head of the United Nations.
Those who deny ‘loss and damage’ from climate change in developing countries, need only look at the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, he added: “Get concrete results in terms of loss and damage is the knee-test of governments’ commitment to help close all these gaps,” he told journalists.
