After that sober assessment, António Guterres also spoke at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that he remains committed to alleviating the suffering of Ukrainians and vulnerable people in the wider world, who are still reeling from the “severe, devastating effects” of the conflict on the global economy.
“There will be an end…there is an end to everything, but I don’t see an end to the war in the near future,” said Mr. Guterres. “I don’t see any chance at the moment for a serious peace negotiation between the two sides.”
Tragic helicopter crash response
In a related development, the top UN humanitarian official in Ukraine expressed Her deep sadness over the helicopter crash near a kindergarten, on the outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday morning, which claimed the lives of at least 18 victims, including the country’s Interior Minister .
“I am Very sad at the tragic deaths of Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin and Foreign Minister Yurii Lubkovych,” said Denise Brown. The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine confirmed that other unnamed government officials and residents, including children, were killed and injured in the Brovary incident.
A man mourns his deceased best friend at a cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine.
different worlds
Recalling that Russia’s 24 February invasion violated international law and unchartedThe Secretary-General emphasized the difficulty of ending the violence, as the two sides continue to have “two different ideas about what is the Russian empire, what is the nationality“.
He added: “This makes it harder to find a solution, but that solution should be based on international law and should respect territorial integrity…I don’t see the conditions for that to happen in the near future.”
With Ukrainian and Russian warplanes entrenched in a war of attrition, Guterres asserts that the UN nonetheless helped secure the support of Kiev and Moscow to transport the scarce grain and fertilizer. essential for countries facing or trying to stem growing food insecurity.
To date, 17.8 million tons of goods have been transported by Black Sea Grains Initiativeto countries including Afghanistan, China, Israel, Kenya and Tunisia, with corn, wheat and sunflower meal or oil delivered in the largest quantities.
UN pledges to peace
The Secretary-General stressed that the United Nations continues to engage with representatives of Ukraine and Russia on several other hotspot areas in the interest of peace.
These include discussion exchange of prisoners of war with both parties, to support the work of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEAin his efforts to protect the affected Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and all other factories in the country. “We’re doing all we can… to limit the damage, to reduce suffering,” Mr. Guterres said.
Mr. Guterres said that with the world facing geopolitical divisions and distrust at its most severe “in generations”, leaders in Davos and elsewhere needed to bridge the gap. between divisions and restore cooperation to promote peace, sustainable development and human rights.
Mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, including the municipality of Mustang in Nepal above, have already felt the effects of biodiversity loss, increased ice melt, and less predictable water availability due to climate change. climate change.
Climate crisis reminder
In a wide-ranging speech to global leaders in Davos, he covered everything from the impending US-China clash to the growing disconnect between the Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere, United Nations Secretary-General has issued a new appeal to world leaders not to ignore the climate crisis.
“Every week brings a new climate horror story,” he said, in a call for nations to industrialize. “finally done” their $100 billion climate finance pledge to support developing countries. “Greenhouse gas emissions are at record levels and growing. Commitment to limit the earth’s temperature increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius almost melted into smoke. Without further action, we are headed for a 2.8 degree increase.”
Mr Guterres warned that “for many, that means a death sentence” unless tough political decisions are made to tackle the climate crisis.
He stressed that the private industry also needs to do more to help the climate, before calling on company leaders attending Davos to comply. The net-zero principle supported by the United Nationsnot “suspicious or shady” benchmarks.
“Without facilitating broad private sector participation, it will not be possible to move from the billions of dollars to the trillions of dollars needed to achieve Sustainable development goals (SDGs),”, the Secretary-General maintained.
On Civil Society and Energy Day at COP27, activists oppose oil and gas exploration in Africa.
The ‘big oil’ challenge
The UN chief also addressed the major fossil fuel producers, highlighting recently reported revelations that some “have fully aware in the 1970s that their core product was baking the planet.
“Some people at Big Oil sell big lies,” continued the head of the United Nations, “but we know Ecosystem meltdown is cold, hard, scientific truth“.
In his call for increased international cooperation and confidence-building to tackle so many interrelated issues, Guterres warned that a split between the United States and China risks splitting the two economies. the world’s largest.
Such a split – costing the global economy $1.4 trillion by International Monetary Fund – Will lead to “two different sets of trade rules, two dominant currencies, two internets, and two opposing strategies of artificial intelligence. This is the last thing we need,” said the Secretary-General.
And while the US-China relationship is arguably divergent on human rights and security issues, it is essential that both continue to engage meaningfully on climate, trade and technology. , “to avoid decoupling of economies or even the possibility of confrontation in the future“.
North and South division
The head of the United Nations also warned that North-South divide “deeper and deeper”because of “disappointment and anger over the general inequality in vaccine distribution in recent times (and) over tackling the pandemic,” which has seen support for “ concentrated mainly in wealthier countries that can print money.”
Mr. Guterres explained, trillions of dollars have been printed in the global North, while developing countries “cannot print money because their coins will run out“.
The Southern Hemisphere is also crippled by the climate crisis – despite contributing the least to global warming – and lacks the financial resources to meet the challenge, the UN chief continued.
Repeating his call for multilateral development banks to “change their business models”, the Secretary-General explained that emerging countries really need access to “huge private finance flows with high interest rates”. reasonable rate.
“International financial institutions are too small and the potential for increased Foreign Development Assistance is unlikely to be seen in the short term,” he said.
