Data Indispensable in Tackling Complex Global Crises, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Climate Crisis Conference, Stressing ‘We Are at a Make-or-Break Moment’

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Conference on Sustaining Peace Amidst the Climate Crisis: The Role of Data Science, Technology and Innovation, in Berlin, today:

We have less than a decade to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  In the same timeframe we must see a 45 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to keep global heating below 1.5°C.

We are at a make-or-break moment.  The COVID-19 pandemic has set back development by decades.  The climate emergency continues unabated.  And now we risk being pushed further off course by the war in Ukraine.

An urgent rescue effort is needed now to get us back on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and the Paris Agreement’s [on climate change] mid-century net-zero emissions targets.

Better data, technology and innovative solutions will be indispensable in responding to these challenges.  But gaps in data availability render global humanitarian, peace, and stabilization efforts for some 300 million people in crisis-affected and fragile settings less effective than they could be.

This is why together with the World Bank we are working to fill these gaps by coordinating data financing.  Through instruments such as the United Nations Complex Risk Analytics Fund and the World Bank’s Global Data Facility, we can support data ecosystems and secure data-driven insights that can help us to better anticipate, prevent and respond to complex risks — before they turn into full-blown crises.

Better data will us help navigate the choices and complex risks ahead earlier, faster and in a more targeted and efficient manner.  For example, conflict datasets, multidimensional risk models and early warning systems can save lives and inform crisis management decision-making by guiding priority setting and programming.

This is essential for both sustaining peace and in responding to climate-related disasters.  Yet today, least developed countries and small island developing States sorely lack the data and information they need.  That is why the Secretary-General has called for a plan by COP27 [twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] in November to deliver universal early warning system coverage in the next five years.

Together, that we can harness the potential of data, technology, and innovation for people, planet, prosperity and peace.  Thank you.