The United Nations’ Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG), led by Secretary-General António Guterres, yesterday released a report on food, energy, and finance systems.
Its been three months since the war on Ukraine began, and the world’s challenges have only intensified. While many countries were already struggling with problems related to the Covid-19 and climate change, now the cost of living crisis has exceeded its limit.
The report says that the most crucial areas where the world struggles are food, energy, and finance. More than 1.6 billion people in 94 countries suffer from at least one dimension of the crisis, while 1.2 billion people from countries with highly vulnerable situations are exposed to all three dimensions.
“For those on the ground, every day brings new bloodshed and suffering. And for people around the world, the war, together with the other crisis, is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake,” forewarned Guterres at the launch of the brief.
He insisted that although vulnerable regions will be most affected, no country will be unscathed. “Make no mistake, no country or community will be left untouched by this cost-of-living crisis.”
In the statement, the UN called for decisive action from the countries to bring the crisis under control. Strong political and economic will across the community is necessary to combat the situation.
No nation or community can solve the crisis’s dimensions in solitariness.
According to an estimation by the World Food Programme, the size of food-insecure people from pre-pandemic 135 million doubled to 276 million in two years. However, the effects of the Ukraine war seem set to increase this digit to 323 million in 2022.
“This year’s food crisis is about lack of access. Next year’s could be about lack of food,” said the UN Secretary-General.
“We need to bring stability to global food and energy markets to break the vicious cycle of rising prices and bring relief to developing countries. Ukraine’s food production, and the food and fertilizer produced by Russia, must be brought back into world markets – despite the war.”
Ending the release with his remarks, António Guterres said, “The message of today’s report is clear and insistent: we must act now to save lives and livelihoods over the next months and years. It will take global action to fix this global crisis.”
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