About a million people are in mortal danger, threatened by a “catastrophic famine” because of the lack of humanitarian aid and, in particular, the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa, the UN warned.
This figure comes from a report published Wednesday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program on the occasion of the UN General Assembly in New York.
This balance reflects the situation of 19 countries that the UN considers to be the main problem areas of hunger in the world, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
In these six countries, 970,000 people must verify criteria related to the ‘disaster’ stage, the highest in the food insecurity classification, by January 2023.
It corresponds to situations where “hunger and death are a daily reality and where extreme levels of mortality and malnutrition can occur if immediate action is not taken”.
This estimate is ten times higher than that of six years ago, which is attributed “to the effect of conflict, climate change and economic instability exacerbated by the novel coronavirus pandemic and the effects of the crisis in Ukraine”.
It’s “time” to take the damage from climate change seriously
The UN Secretary-General said the time had come for “a serious discussion” about climate change and to take “significant action” against the damage already done, especially in developing countries.
António Guterres spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with several leaders from developed and developing countries, including the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the country that will host the UN climate conference COP27 in November.
“The time has come for serious discussion and meaningful action on this matter”Guterres insisted.
“My messages were clear. On the climate emergency: the 1.5°C target” [graus Celsius] is connected to the fan. And fail quickly”said the Portuguese.
Referring to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era, set out in the Paris Agreement in 2015, Guterres warned that the world is “on track” towards a warming of 3 °C.
The UN leader asked governments, until COP27, to directly address “four pressing issues”: set more ambitious emissions reduction targets, help the most vulnerable countries, adapt and seek financing for securities and deal with “the losses and damage”.
This last point, a crucial element in the climate negotiations, concerns the damage already caused by the multiplication of extreme weather events, for which developing countries are demanding compensation from richer states.
“I hope the COP27 in Egypt will address the issue,” the UN Secretary-General added, defending that it is a matter of “climate justice, international solidarity and confidence-building”.
At the previous United Nations climate conference, COP26 in Glasgow in late 2021, rich countries rejected developing countries’ demands for specific funding to offset the loss and damage already done.
This week, a group of developing countries, meeting in Dakar, made the same claim again, calling for the creation of a “financing mechanism” to address the damage caused by climate change.
Another target set in Paris in 205 was to reduce emissions of polluting gases by 45% by 2030.
At Wednesday’s meeting, António Guterres urged G20 leaders to end reliance on fossil fuels.
“The fossil fuel industry is destroying us and leaders are out of step with citizens”warned the UN leader, who asked: “eliminate existing coal and support the renewable energy revolution”.
Source: DN
