The head of the United Nations said the world is in “great peril” and said leaders meeting in person for the first time in three years must tackle a range of issues. They include conflicts, climate catastrophes, increasing poverty and inequality – and divisions among major powers that have got worse since Russia invaded Ukraine, secretary-general Antonio Guterres said.
In speeches and remarks leading up to the start of a leaders’ meeting on Tuesday, he cited the “immense” task not only of saving the planet, “which is literally on fire,” but of dealing with the persisting Covid-19 pandemic. He also pointed to “a lack of access to finance for developing countries to recover – a crisis not seen in a generation” that has seen ground lost for education, health and women’s rights.
Mr Guterres will deliver his “state of the world” speech at Tuesday’s opening of the annual high-level global gathering. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it would be “a sober, substantive and solutions-focused report card” for a world “where geopolitical divides are putting all of us at risk”.
