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Munich/New York, February 18 – Issues of climate change, the pandemic and famine were raised at the annual Munich Security Conference which held an in-person meeting amid war threats in Ukraine for the first time since Covid-19 struck three years ago.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the meeting that non-traditional security issues like climate crisis and Covid-19, which are the world’s current biggest issues, may exacerbate global security and he demanded that world leaders take action.

On Ukraine, Guterres said, “I am deeply concerned about heightened tensions and increased speculation about a military conflict in Europe. I still think it will not happen. But if it did, it would be catastrophic.”

Guterres said the world has become more complex and dangerous under the pandemic. He cited security threats in Syria where Da’esh, Al-Qaida and its affiliates are regaining grounds, the risks of terrorist spill over out of Afghanistan as well as the alarming spread of terrorism in some African countries that show “how adept terrorists are at exploiting power vacuums and subverting fragile states.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inadequacy and moral bankruptcy of the global financial system, which has increased the systemic inequality between north and south.

Many countries in the Global South have suffered devastating economic losses during the pandemic.

Governments face debt default and financial ruin, while their people face poverty, unemployment, hunger and despair.

“I urge all countries to step up support for global solutions to these non-traditional security threats, including the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change; the World Health Organization global vaccination strategy; and urgent reforms to the global financial system to enable developing countries to access the resources needed to support their people,” Guterres said.

WHO: Pandemic will end “when we choose to end it.”

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus boldly told the conference that the answer to the question of when the pandemic will end: “It will end when we choose to end it. Because ultimately, it’s not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice.”

Tedros said the world now has the tools and know-how to end the pandemic this year.

“In particular, we are calling on all countries to fill the urgent financing gap of US$ 16 billion for the ACT Accelerator, to make vaccines, tests, treatments and PPE available everywhere,” he said.

Compared with the costs of another year of economic turmoil, $16 billion is frankly peanuts. And some finance ministers called it a rounding error to the money they are losing due to the pandemic.”

One of the programs to fight the pandemic is to allow and strengthen capacities for local production of vaccines and other health products in low- and middle-income countries. Tedros said WHO has established the WHO Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, which has now developed its own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

With the financial support of the European Union, WHO announced (February 18) the first six African countries to receive technology from the hub to produce their own mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

Tedros called for substantial resources of $31 billion a year in order to strengthen global health security with about $20 billion coming from existing and projected domestic and international resources, leaving a gap of U$ 10 billion per year. 

“To close the gap for the most essential functions – such as surveillance, research and market-shaping for countermeasures – we support the idea of a new dedicated financing facility, anchored in, and directed by, WHO’s constitutional mandate, inclusive governance and technical expertise,” he said.

WFP: Famine threatens world like a ring of fire
David Beasly, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), told the conference that conflict and climate shocks compounded by the pandemic and rising costs are driving millions of people to the brink of starvation.

“We have a ring of fire circling the earth now from the Sahel to South Sudan to Yemen, to Afghanistan, all the way around to Haiti and Central America,” Beasley said. “If we do not address the situation immediately over the next 9 months we will see famine, we will see destabilization of nations and we will see mass migration. If we don’t do something we are going to pay a mighty big price.”

He said a total of 45 million people in 43 countries are teetering on the edge of famine and as global hunger rates and humanitarian needs shoot ever higher, the resources required to meet them are levelling off. Beasly said the number of food insecure people has jumped from 135 million to 283 million in the last two years and it could spike ever further.

“We averted famine and catastrophe in 2021 and 2022 because nations stepped up. We thought COVID would be behind us by 2022, but it only recycled again, exacerbating, and creating economic catastrophes among the poorest countries around the world,” Beasley said. “WFP has the solutions and we’ve got the programs to stop this crisis, we just need the money, otherwise nations around the world will pay for it a thousand-fold.”

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Kabul, Geneva, New York, January 26 – Afghanistan is “hanging by a threat” just six months after Taliban forces took over the country and it is facing another brutal winter with people burning possessions to keep warm and over half of the population of 39 million suffering extreme levels of hunger and over 80 per cent relying on contaminated drinking water, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council.

“For Afghans, daily life has become a frozen hell,” Guterres said. Other extreme conditions include clinics overcrowded and under resources;

Covid-19, deadly preventable diseases like measles, diarrhea and even polio and some families forced to sell their babies to purchase food.

“There is a danger that the currency could go into freefall, and the country could lose 30 per cent of its GDP within the year,” he said pointing out that liquidity has evaporated as sanctions and mistrust by the global banking system have frozen nearly $9 billion in central bank assets.

“As the economy spirals downward, human rights are also losing ground,” the UN leader said, citing the plight of women who lost their jobs and girls shut-out of their classrooms, and arbitrary arrests and abductions of women activists. “Meanwhile, terrorism remains a constant threat – not only to the security of Afghanistan itself, but to the entire world.”

Guterres urged the council to support recommendations and humanitarian programs that the UN team in Afghanistan was launching to assist  Afghanistan and to jump-start the country’s economy through increased liquidity.

While Guterres briefed the 15-nation Security Council at UN headquarters in New York, UN officials leading the humanitarian programs for Afghanistan launched the One-UN Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) to assist Afghan people in 2022. They said TEF is the “overarching strategic planning document, ensuring the coordination of the UN team’s work to reduce the suffering of the people of Afghanistan by saving lives, sustaining essential services—such as health and education—and preserving essential community systems.”

“This UN system wide strategy will help ensure that Afghans can meet their basic human needs; acting on this now is more important than ever to avoid that an even wider proportion of the population requires lifesaving humanitarian assistance. It’s especially important now as millions are suffering with the harsh winter months, and we thank the international community for stepping up their vital support to the Afghan population,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov.

The UN team said in a press release that the $8 billion required to implement this UN-wide framework include the $4.44 billion previously requested through the Humanitarian Response Plan, launched on 11 January, since all the activities in the TEF complement one another and are interdependent. While the HRP aims to deliver lifesaving assistance to 22.1 million people, through the TEF, the UN requires an additional $3.6 billion in immediate funding to sustain essential social services such as health and education; support community systems through maintenance of basic infrastructure; and maintain critical capacities for service delivery and promotion of livelihoods and social cohesion, with specific emphasis on socio-economic needs of women and girls.

“The United Nations are grateful to all donors for their continued generous support of relief and recovery efforts in Afghanistan, demonstrating the strong solidarity of the international community with the people of Afghanistan,” Dr. Alakbarov said, launching the TEF in Kabul with UN team representatives and members of the international community. “With the world coming together in aid of the resilient Afghans, adherence to the principles of equity, transparency and accountability inscribed in TEF will work towards restoring hope and dignity for all Afghans.”

The press release said the European Union recently announced 268 million Euros (US$302 million) to meet the basic human needs of the Afghans. Key contributions also include $308 million from the United States as well as continued generous support from the UK, Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada, Japan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Republic of Korea and other donors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $405 million in grants to support food security and sustain delivery of essential health and education services, while the World Bank (WB) and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) donors approved first transfer of $280 million in support of delivery of essential services. Staying and delivering at the grassroots level across Afghanistan, the UN and partners will continue to engage in the sustained effort to meet humanitarian and basic human needs of Afghans, in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2615 adopted in December of 2021. 

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Geneva/New York, January 17 – World government and corporate leaders have begun addressing the week-long, virtual annual meeting of the Davos Agenda 2022 in Switzerland with the pandemic and how the disease has affected the global economy and widened the gap between rich and poor countries as top issues. Organizers of the prestigious conference said the Davos Agenda virtual event “offers the first global platform of 2022 for world leaders to come together to share their visions for the year ahead.”

“Everyone hopes that in 2022 the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crises that accompanied it, will finally begin to recede,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “But major global challenges await us, from climate change to rebuilding trust and social cohesion. To address them, leaders will need to adopt new models, look long term, renew cooperation and act systemically. “

The event at the scenic Swiss Alps resort of Davos (January 17-21) features heads of state and government, corporate CEOs and civil society groups. It will also mark the launch of several Forum initiatives including efforts to accelerate the race to net-zero emissions, ensure the economic opportunity of nature-positive solutions, create cyber resilience, strengthen global value chains, build economies in fragile markets, organizers said.

UN leader blasts unequal vaccination as “shameful”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his address that the world has failed on one particular demand to assist poor and vulnerable countries obtain Covid-19 vaccines and help the World Health Organization’s program to vaccinate 40 per cent of people in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent by mid-2022.

“We are nowhere near these targets,” Guterres said. “Vaccination rates in high-income countries are — shamefully — seven times higher than in African countries. We need vaccine equity, now.”

“We need pharmaceutical companies to stand in solidarity with developing countries by sharing licenses, know-how and technology so we can all find a way out of this pandemic.        

“In situations where compensation may be warranted, developed countries should explore ways to provide it.

And we must prepare for the next pandemic through common sense investments in monitoring, early detection and rapid response plans in every country — and by strengthening the authority of the World Health Organization.”

Guterres asked participants to the Davos Agenda to act urgently on three issues: “confront the pandemic with equity and fairness;” reform the global financial system so it works for all countries; and “support real climate action in developing countries. Emissions must fall, but they continue to rise.”

“Coal-fired power generation is surging towards a new all-time record,” he said. “Even if all developed countries kept their promises to drastically reduce emissions by 2030 — and all developing countries achieved their Nationally Determined Contributions as written — global emissions would still be too high to keep the 1.5 degree goal within reach. We need a 45 per cent reduction in global emissions this decade”.

President Xi Jinping of China called for cooperation to jointly defeat the pandemic.

“The pandemic is proving a protracted one, resurging with more variants and spreading faster than before. It poses a serious threat to people’s safety and health, and exerts a profound impact on the global economy,” Xi said his government has locked down several cities to stop Omicron from spreading.

“Strong confidence and cooperation represent the only right way to defeat the pandemic. Holding each other back or shifting blame would only cause needless delay in response and distract us from the overall objective.”

Xi said China always delivered on its promises and has sent over 2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. He said China will provide another one billion doses to African countries, including 600 million doses as donation, and will also donate 150 million doses to ASEAN countries.

On the global economic situation, Xi said, “We should open up, not close off. We should seek integration, not decoupling. This is the way to build an open world economy. We should guide reforms of the global governance system with the principle of fairness and justice, and uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its center. We should make generally acceptable and effective rules for artificial intelligence and digital economy on the basis of full consultation, and create an open, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological innovation. This is the way to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all, and to fully unleash the vitality of the world economy.”

Xi said the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will open soon. “We are confident that China will present a streamlined, safe and splendid Games to the world. The official motto for Beijing 2022 is ‘Together for a Shared Future’. Indeed, let us join hands with full confidence, and work together for a shared future.”

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-Top risks are climate crisis, growing social divides, heightened cyber risks and an uneven global recovery, as pandemic lingers on

-Global survey of experts finds only 1 in 6 are optimistic and only 1 in 10 believe the global recovery will accelerate

-To resolve these systemic issues, global leaders must adopt a coordinated multistakeholder response, even as room for cooperation narrows

-Read the Global Risks Report 2022 here and find out more about the Global Risks Initiative here. Join the conversation using #risks22  

(Following is a press release from the World Economic Forum)

Geneva, Switzerland, 11 January 2022 – Climate risks dominate global concerns as the world enters the third year of the pandemic. According to the Global Risks Report 2022, while the top long-term risks relate to climate, the top shorter-term global concerns include societal divides, livelihood crises and mental health deterioration.
 
Additionally, most experts believe a global economic recovery will be volatile and uneven over the next three years.
 
Now in its 17th edition, the report encourages leaders to think outside the quarterly reporting cycle and create policies that manage risks and shape the agenda for the coming years. It explores four areas of emerging risk: cybersecurity; competition in space; a disorderly climate transition; and migration pressures, each requiring global coordination for successful management.
 
“Health and economic disruptions are compounding social cleavages. This is creating tensions at a time when collaboration within societies and among the international community will be fundamental to ensure a more even and rapid global recovery. Global leaders must come together and adopt a coordinated multistakeholder approach to tackle unrelenting global challenges and build resilience ahead of the next crisis,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.
 
Carolina Klint, Risk Management Leader, Continental Europe, Marsh, said: “As companies recover from the pandemic, they are rightly sharpening their focus on organizational resilience and ESG credentials. With cyber threats now growing faster than our ability to eradicate them permanently, it is clear that neither resilience nor governance are possible without credible and sophisticated cyber risk management plans. Similarly, organizations need to start understanding their space risks, particularly the risk to satellites on which we have become increasingly reliant, given the rise in geopolitical ambitions and tensions.”
 
Peter Giger, Group Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group, said: “The climate crisis remains the biggest long-term threat facing humanity. Failure to act on climate change could shrink global GDP by one-sixth and the commitments taken at COP26 are still not enough to achieve the 1.5 C goal. It is not too late for governments and businesses to act on the risks they face and to drive an innovative, determined and inclusive transition that protects economies and people.”
 
The report closes with reflections on year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, yielding fresh insights on national-level resilience. The chapter also draws on the World Economic Forum’s communities of risk experts – the Chief Risk Officers Community and Global Future Council on Frontier Risks – to offer practical advice for implementing resilience for organizations.
 
The Global Risks Report 2022 has been developed with the invaluable support of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Advisory Board. It also benefits from ongoing collaboration with its Strategic Partners, Marsh McLennan, SK Group and Zurich Insurance Group, and its academic advisers at the Oxford Martin School (University of Oxford), the National University of Singapore and the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center (University of Pennsylvania)