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UN chief calls for immediate cease-fire and de-escalation in Ukraine; says Russia violates UN Charter

New York, February 22 – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Ukraine amounts to a violation of that country’s sovereignty as well as the UN Charter. He said Russia’s military threats against Ukraine is the “biggest global peace and security crisis in recent years.”

“Let me be clear: the decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the so-called “independence” of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Guterres told journalists at UN headquarters after cutting short his trip and meetings in Africa to return to New York.            

“Such a unilateral measure conflicts directly with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations – and is inconsistent with the so-called Friendly Relations Declaration of the General Assembly which the International Court of Justice has repeatedly cited as representing international law.”

Guterres said Russia’s deployment of so-called peacekeeping troops to the two regions is a “perversion of the concept of peacekeeping. I am proud of the achievements of UN Peacekeeping in which so many Blue Helmets have sacrificed their lives to protect civilians.”

“When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers. They are not peacekeepers at all.”

“The United Nations, in line with the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, stands fully behind the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.

We are continuing to support the people of Ukraine through our humanitarian operations and human rights efforts,” Guterres said.

Russia’s military threats against Ukraine prompted the UN Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on February 21 at Ukraine’s request to discuss the situation regarding that country.

“The risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all costs,” Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the UN undersecretary general, told the 15-nation council. She said Russia’s decision was “in violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” and risks triggering regional and global repercussions.

“We also regret the order today to deploy Russian troops into Eastern Ukraine, reportedly on a ‘peacekeeping mission’”, she said, adding that the developments followed the decision to order “a mass evacuation of civilian residents of Donetsk and Luhansk into the Russian Federation”.

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Climate, Covid-19 and famine issues raised at Munich Security Conference as world faces more violent threats

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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WHO seeks $23 billion to end pandemic as a global emergency in 2022

Geneva/New York, February 9 – The World Health Organization has launched a global campaign to raise $23 billion which it said would put an end to the pandemic as a global emergency in 2022. WHO said the launch amounts to a new financing framework based on the ‘fair share’ of financing that each high-income country should contribute to the ACT-Accelerator’s global response.

The Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator (see ACT-Accelerator) is a partnership of leading UN agencies that is providing low and middle-income countries with tests, treatments, vaccines, and personal protective equipment. WHO said ‘fair shares’ are calculated based on the size of their national economy and what they would gain from a faster recovery of the global economy and trade. 

“The end of this pandemic can be within our sights – this year,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said of the launch. “We can get the economic recovery back on track and rescue the Sustainable Development Goals. But we need to act now.”

“Vaccines, tests and effective treatments are available. Yet many low and lower middle-income countries are still not getting these pandemic-ending tools to protect their families and communities – and our world. Until and unless we can ensure access to these tools, the pandemic will not go away, and the sense of insecurity of people will only deepen. We have the systems to accelerate the rollout of these essential tools.”

The launch in Geneva attended by national and international organization leaders came at a time when Omicron cases have declined and popular protests mounted against continued pandemic restrictions. Covid-19 deaths have remained high in some countries.

WHO said in a press release that the campaign aims at meeting the ACT-Accelerator’s funding gap of $16 billion and $6.8 billion in-country delivery costs to take vital steps towards ending the pandemic as a global emergency in 2022.

The press release said the ACT-Accelerator is calling for “the support of higher income countries, at a time when vast global disparities in access to Covid-19 tools persist. Over 4.7 billion Covid-19 tests have been administered globally since the beginning of the pandemic. However, only about 22 million tests have been administered in low-income countries, comprising only 0.4 per cent of the global total. Only 10 per cent of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose. This massive inequity not only costs lives, it also hurts economies and risks the emergence of new, more dangerous variants that could rob current tools of their effectiveness and set even highly-vaccinated populations back many months.” 

“The rapid spread of Omicron makes it even more urgent to ensure tests, treatments and vaccines are distributed equitably globally,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “If higher-income countries pay their fair share of the ACT-Accelerator costs, the partnership can support low- and middle-income countries to overcome low COVID-19 vaccination levels, weak testing, and medicine shortages. Science gave us the tools to fight COVID-19; if they are shared globally in solidarity, we can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency this year.”


See important links:


ACT-Accelerator calls for fair share-based financing of US$ 23 billion to end pandemic as global emergency in 2022

·        Consolidated Financing Framework for ACT-A Agency & In-Country Needs: www.who.int/publications/m/item/consolidated-financing-framework-for-act-a-agency-in-country-needs

·        ACT-Accelerator ‘fair share asks’ – by country: www.who.int/publications/m/item/act-accelerator-fair-share-asks—by-country

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UN launches 2022 humanitarian campaign for Afghanistan as it is “hanging by a threat” under Taliban authorities

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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UPDATE: UN chief names five priorities for 2022; calls for actions to keep trust in institutions

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

New York, January 21 – Governments have failed to meet five major challenges under the pandemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an address presenting his priorities for 2022 to a session of the 193-nation UN General Assembly. “All these challenges are, at heart, failures of global governance,” Guterres said. “I want to begin the year by raising five alarms – on Covid-19, global finance, climate action, lawlessness in cyber space, and peace and security. We face a 5-alarm global fire that requires the full mobilization of all countries.”

“Across all these challenges, the world needs a strong and effective United Nations to deliver results,” said Guterres, who started a new 5-year term as UN chief in January.

Guterres told a press conference that the challenges are not isolated. “Each of the alarms is feeding off the others. They are accelerants to an inferno.” He said failures to meet challenges in tackling the pandemic resulted in people’s deep mistrust in institutions.

“For an organization built in the aftermath of World War, in the wake of unprecedented genocide, we have an obligation to speak up and act to put out the fire.”

“We must go into emergency mode in the COVID-19 battle.”

Guterres called for actions that are grounded in science and common sense.

“Omicron is yet another warning. The next variant may be worse. Stopping the spread anywhere must be at the top of the agenda everywhere.

At the same time, the virus cannot be used as cover to undermine human rights, shrink civic space and stifle press freedom.”

“We need all countries and all manufacturers to prioritize vaccine supply to COVAX and create the conditions for the local production of tests, vaccines and treatments around the world. This includes pharmaceutical companies more rapidly sharing licenses, know-how and technology.

We must also fight the plague of vaccine misinformation.

And we must do much more to ready our world for the next outbreak in line with the recommendations of the independent panel on pandemic preparedness.”

Global financial system failed

One of the main functions of the global financial system was to ensure stability by supporting economies through financial shocks. But the pandemic is itself a shock and the system failed, Guterres said.

“The divergence between developed and developing countries is becoming systemic – a recipe for instability, crisis and forced migration.

These imbalances are not a bug, but a feature of the global financial system. They are inbuilt and structural.

They are the product of a system that routinely ascribes poor credit ratings to developing economies, starving them of private finance.

Credit ratings agencies are de facto decision-makers in the global financial system. They should be accountable and transparent.

Developing countries also suffer from a lack of transparency around Official Development Assistance, climate finance, and more.”

Guterres called for a serious review of the global financial governance mechanisms, which he said are dominated by the richest economies in the world. “Financial metrics must go beyond Gross Domestic Product, to assess vulnerability, climate, and investment risks.

Credit ratings should be based on comparable fundamentals and evidence, rather than harmful preconceptions. Reforming the global financial architecture requires an operational debt relief and restructuring framework.”

“We must go into emergency mode against the climate crisis”

“This year, we need an avalanche of action,” he said.

“All major-emitting developed and developing economies must do much more, much faster, to change the math and reduce the suffering – taking into account common but differentiated responsibilities. A growing number of countries have committed to significant emissions reductions by 2030.

“Others, including some big emitters, have an economic structure – namely high dependence on coal – that stands in the way.

They need resources and technology to accelerate the transition from coal to renewable energy.

That is why I am appealing for the creation of coalitions to provide financial and technical support for each of these countries that need assistance.

Developed countries, multilateral development banks, private financial institutions and companies with the necessary technical know-how – all need to join forces in these coalitions to deliver needed support at scale and with speed.

At the same time, every country must strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions until they collectively deliver the 45 per cent emissions reduction needed by 2030.”

“We must go into emergency mode to put humanity at the center of technology

 “Technology shouldn’t use us. We should use technology,” he said, pointing out that global governance barely exists in this area.

“And if governed properly, the opportunities are extraordinary, especially if we can ensure safe and secure internet connectivity.

But growing digital chaos is benefiting the most destructive forces and denying opportunities to ordinary people.

In countries with low broadband connectivity, simply connecting schools to the internet can grow GDP by 20 per cent.

Realizing such benefits requires safely connecting the 2.9 billion people who remain off-line, mainly in developing countries.

Women still lag far behind men in terms of internet access.”

He proposes a Global Digital Compact as part of the Summit of the Future in 2023 and also a Global Code of Conduct to end the infodemic and the war on science, and promote integrity in public information, including online.

Such a compact should bring together governments, the private sector and civil society to agree on key principles underpinning global digital cooperation.

“We need to go into emergency mode to bring peace to a world that sees too little of it”

Guterres said the number of violent conflicts is currently the highest since 1945, military coups are back and impunity is taking hold.

“Nuclear weapons stockpiles now exceed 13,000 — the highest level in decades. Human rights and the rule of law are under assault.

Populism, nativism, white supremacy and other forms of racism and extremism are poisoning social cohesion and institutions everywhere.

The pushback on human rights – especially the rights of women and girls – continues.

We need a united Security Council, fully engaged in addressing them.

Geo-political divides must be managed to avoid chaos around the globe.

We need to maximize areas for cooperation while establishing robust mechanisms to avoid escalation.

And in all we do to secure peace, I am committed to ensuring that women are at the center of our conflict prevention, peacemaking and peacebuilding efforts.

We know that peace efforts are more successful and sustainable when women are a full part of decision-making and mediation and peace processes”

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Covid-19, global economy are top issues at Davos Agenda 2022

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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Climate Failure and Social Crisis Top Global Risks 2022, World Economic Forum says

-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)



Notes to editors

How to contact the following Partner companies: Jason Groves, Global Director of Media Relations, Marsh, United Kingdom, +44 (0)20 7357 1455, jason.groves@marsh.com Pavel Osipyants, Head Media Relations EMEA, Risk Management, Investment Management, Zurich Insurance Group, Switzerland, +41 (0)787 242 188, pavel.osipyants@zurich.com Sam Ik Whang, Director, Media Relations Team, SK Group, South Korea, +82-2-2121-1636 samik.whang@sk.com About the Davos Agenda – the state of the world in 2022
The Global Risks Report 2022 comes ahead of the Davos Agenda, which will mobilize heads of state and government, business leaders, international organizations and civil society to share their outlook, insights and plans relating to the most urgent global issues. The meeting will provide a platform for connection, enabling the public to watch and interact through livestreamed sessions, social media polling and virtual connections.
 
Read more about the Global Risks Report 2022 and join the conversation using #risks22
Watch the report launch press conference here
Find out more about the Davos Agenda
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The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (www.weforum.org).

  Sam Werthmuller, Public Engagement, +41 79 267 80 17, swer@weforum.org      





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Journalists who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize denounce tyranny, torture and deaths of colleagues

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

Oslo/New York, December 11 – Dmitry Muratov of Russia and Maria Ressa of the Philippines, who co-share the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, denounced tyranny and governments that rule their countries when they received (December 10) the coveted prize which this year was given to journalists for the first time in 80 years. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said both Muratov and Ressa are awarded the prize “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

Muratov, who co-founded and edited Novaya Gazeta, an independent newspaper, holds Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government responsible for the deaths of six of his investigative reporters, including well-known Anna Politkovskaya.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 24 journalists were killed because of their reporting works and 293 others are behind bars worldwide in 2021.

Muratov said in his speech, “But journalism in Russia is going through a dark valley. Over a hundred journalists, media outlets, human rights defenders and NGOs have recently been branded as ‘foreign agents’. In Russia, this means ‘enemies of the people.’ Many of our colleagues have lost their jobs. Some have to leave the country.

Some are deprived of the opportunity to live a normal life for an unknown period of time. Maybe forever… That has happened in our history before.”

“We are journalists, and our mission is clear – to distinguish between facts and fiction. The new generation of professional journalists knows how to work with big data and databases. By using these, we have found out whose airplanes are bringing refugees to the conflict area. The facts speak for themselves. The number of Belarusian flights from the Middle East to Minsk has more than quadrupled this autumn. 6 flights in the period August-November 2020 and 27 in the same period this year. The Belarusian airline company brought 4,500 people to possible crossing of the border this year, and only 600 last year. The same number – 6,000 refugees – came with an Iraqi airline company.

This is how armed provocations and conflicts arise. We journalists have uncovered how it is all organized, our task is accomplished. Now it is up to the politicians.”

International Tribunal Against Torture

Muratov denounced the practice of torture in prisons and during investigation, which he said took place under the Stalin era and is “alive and well in today’s Russia.”

“Abuse, rape, terrible living conditions, ban on visits, ban on calling your mother on her birthday, endless extension of custody. Seriously ill people are locked up and beaten in custody, sick children are held hostage, and they are pressured to plead guilty without any evidence against them.

“Criminal cases in our country are often based on false accusations and political motives. Opposition politician Alexei Navalny is being held in jail based on a false accusation from the CEO of the Russian branch of a big French cosmetics company. The accuser was somehow not summoned to the court or neither pleaded to be an aggrieved party. But Navalny is behind bars. The cosmetics company chose to step aside hoping that the odour from this case will not harm the scent of the company’s products.

“We hear more and more often about torture of convicts and detainees. People are being tortured to the breaking point, to make the prison sentence even more brutal. This is barbaric.

“I am now presenting an initiative of setting up an international tribunal against torture, which will have the task to gather information on torture in different parts of the world and different countries, and to identify the executioners and the authorities involved in such crimes.

Of course, I shall rely first and foremost on investigative journalists around the world.

“Torture must be recognized as the most serious crime against humanity.”

We are the antidote against tyranny.

Maria Ressa and Mark Thompson, a former chief executive of The New York Times Company, bylined an article published in the New York Times under the headline “We are the antidote against tyranny.” The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte prevented Ressa from going to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. But courts in Manila overruled the government and allowed her to make the trip.

She said in the article, “I, Maria Ressa, co-founded the digital news site Rappler in Manila in 2012. Our aim has always been to pursue the truth wherever it may lead and to report the facts, not what the powerful want the public to hear. But the Philippines is also a dangerous place to be a reporter: 22 journalists have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power, the latest just this week. At Rappler, relentless political intimidation and harassment are daily realities. In less than two years, the government has filed 10 arrest warrants against me. I’ve had to post bail 10 times just to do my job. Currently I am appealing a conviction and potential six-year jail term for “cyber libel.” I cannot leave the Philippines — even to accept my Nobel Prize — without permission from different courts.”

“The growing intolerance of governments and elites toward a free press across the globe is one major cause of the crisis. Global surveys of censorship, arrests and journalist deaths suggest that the picture has been darkening for years. But Zaffar Abbas, the editor in chief of the independent newspaper Dawn in Pakistan, views Donald Trump’s campaign against “fake news” as a further fateful turn for the worse. Abbas believes that authoritarian regimes and populists see it as a green light to step up their own attacks on journalists. If the leader of the free world could show such open contempt for a free press, why shouldn’t they?”

Ressa and Thompson decided to create and co-chair the International Fund for Public Interest Media to support independent journalism across the world.

“We both know from our different vantage points — Maria on the frontline of the battle for free media in Manila, Mark as a past leader of two of the world’s global news providers, The New York Times and the BBC — what a difference great journalism can make both to the individual lives of readers and viewers and to the civic health of a society. We both know how important secure and sustainable income is if you want to preserve that journalism for today and tomorrow. We both know that the great political and cultural battles that free media faces everywhere can only be won if we first stabilize and future-proof its economics.”

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UN calls for resilient agri-food systems; warns 3-4 billion people cannot afford healthy diet

Rome/New York, November 23 – The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for agri-food systems that can withstand shocks and stresses such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It said about 3 billion out of the total world population of 7.8 billion currently cannot afford a healthy diet and another billion would be added to the group if they lose one-third of income due to those shocks.

 “Truly resilient agri-food systems must have a robust capacity to prevent, anticipate, absorb, adapt and transform in the face of any disruption, with the functional goal of ensuring food security and nutrition for all and decent livelihoods and incomes for agri-food systems’ actors,” the Rome-based UN agency said in its 2021 State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report – Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses.

 “Such resilience addresses all dimensions of food security, but focuses specifically on stability of access and sustainability, which ensure food security in both the short and the long term. Another dimension of food security – agency – is deeply connected to human rights, including the right to food, and underscores the need for inclusiveness in systems.”

The report defines shocks as” short-term events that have negative effects on a system, people’s well-being, assets, livelihoods, safety and ability to withstand future shocks.”

“The pandemic highlighted both the resilience and the weakness of our agri-food systems,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said at the virtual release of the report.

It defines the agri-food systems as “the web of activities involved in the production of food and non-food agricultural products and their storage, processing, transportation, distribution and consumption – produce 11 billion tonnes of food a year and employ billions of people, directly or indirectly.”

The report said that shocks have immediate impact while stresses are “slow processes that gradually undermine the capacity of systems to cope with change and which render them more vulnerable.”

“Agri-food systems’ components and actors are exposed to shocks and stresses of various types and intensity and, because components are interlinked, disruption in any of them can spread quickly throughout systems. The same shock or stress may have different impacts on different systems’ components and actors. Among producers, shocks are most likely to affect the livelihoods of low-income, small-scale operators; among food consumers, the poorest will be the most affected by rising food prices.”

The report said lockdowns under the pandemic caused labor shortages and exposed the vulnerability of small and medium agri-food enterprises

“The smooth functioning of food supply chains underpins the resilience of national agri-food systems. A food supply chain is composed of interconnected activities performed by various actors – farmers, processors, wholesalers and retailers – who, in turn, draw on lateral chains that supply inputs and logistic services. The capacity of a food supply chain to absorb shocks depends on the resilience of each of its segments. Diverse, redundant and well-connected food supply chains enhance agri-food systems’ resilience by providing multiple pathways for producing, sourcing and distributing food. This resilience is necessary not only for safeguarding and enhancing the livelihoods of farmers and businesses, but also for ensuring the physical availability of food to all.”

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UN issues new global roadmap to secure clean energy access for all by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050

Following is a press release from the UN Department of Global Communications:

New York, November 3 – As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050. 

The roadmap sets an aggressive timeline to ensure that 500 million more people gain access to electricity in a mere four years’ time, by 2025, and 1 billion more people gain access to clean cooking solutions. This would require that annual investment in access to electricity and clean cooking increase to US$ 35 billion and US$ 25 billion, respectively. The required investment represents only a small fraction of the multi-trillion-dollar global energy investment needed overall, but would bring huge benefits to one-third of the world’s population.

“We face a moment of truth,” the Secretary-General said. “Close to 760 million people still lack access to electricity. Some 2.6 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions. And how we produce and use energy is the main cause of the climate crisis. We must solve these challenges this decade. And we must start today. With the global roadmap at hand, we can together realize the potential of energy as a crucial enabler for the achievement of the SDGs and the objectives of the Paris Agreement, ensuring a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable future for people and the planet.”

The global roadmap is a major outcome of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy held on 24 September, at which over 130 Heads of State and Government and global leaders from business and other sectors announced over $400 billion in new finance and investment for clean energy as part of voluntary commitments called Energy Compacts. These Compacts are examples of the concrete actions and partnerships required under the global roadmap, in order to achieve clean, affordable energy for all by 2030 – Sustainable Development Goal 7 – and net zero emissions by 2050, in support of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Targets and timelines for action

Also by 2025, the roadmap calls for: fossil fuel consumption subsidies to be re-directed towards renewable energy and energy efficiency; a 100% increase in modern renewables capacity globally; a doubling of annual investment in renewables and energy efficiency globally; and 30 million jobs to be created in renewable energy and energy efficiency. These will help ensure an inclusive, green recovery by investing in poverty reduction, health, education and social protection.

The most immediate target in the roadmap calls for no new coal power plans to be in the pipeline after 2021. This has been an area of mobilization in the lead-up to the energy summit, and a “No New Coal Power” Energy Compact was announced by the Powering Past Coal Alliance and UN-Energy with seven partner governments so far: Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Montenegro, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

By 2030, the roadmap calls for tripling annual investment for renewable energy and energy efficiency globally as well as global renewable power capacity, and phasing out coal power plants altogether by 2030 for OECD countries and globally by 2040. At the same time, universal access to electricity and clean cooking solutions must be achieved, including electricity for all healthcare facilities and schools worldwide, and 60 million new jobs created in renewables and energy efficiency.

A just and inclusive energy transition

Acknowledging that no two national energy transition pathways will be identical, the roadmap urges that in achieving the milestones set out, the Sustainable Development Goals should be integrated as a guiding framework to ensure a just and inclusive energy transition where no one is left behind, especially vulnerable populations.

The Secretariat of the High-level Dialogue on Energy today also issued a report, which provides more details on the roadmap’s recommendations, as well as the statements and commitments made at the High-level Dialogue.

Spearheading partnerships

Looking ahead, the global roadmap urges governments, businesses and all stakeholders to step up and drive the global energy transition forward through transformational partnerships. Additional Energy Compacts should continue to be mobilized, including through a global energy compact action network, supported by UN-Energy, the coordinating body that brings together over 25 UN system and international organizations working on various aspects of sustainable energy.

The roadmap calls for the UN system to significantly scale up its efforts towards attaining SDG 7 and net zero emissions, and for strengthening UN-Energy, which will coordinate and monitor progress on the Energy Compacts and implementation of the roadmap through the 2030 target year.

Under the leadership of its Co-Chairs, Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, who have also served as Co-Chairs of the High-level Dialogue, UN-Energy will continue to spearhead commitments and partnerships and sustain the momentum created by the Dialogue, including the Energy Compacts. Serving as the Secretariat for UN-Energy is UN DESA, under the leadership of Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin, who also served as Dialogue Secretary-General.

Media Contacts

UN DGC: Dan Shepard, shepard@un.org; HLDE Secretariat, UN DESA: Pragati Pascale, pascale@un.org; Daniella Sussman, daniella.sussman@un.org. UNDP: Sarah Bel, sarah.bel@undp.org.  SEforAll: Divya Kottadiel, divya.kottidiel@seforall.org.

Read more news on Environment here

On the web: www.un.org/en/conferences/energy2021 | Twitter: @UN_Energy

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