#COVID-19

The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:

The World Meteorological Organization reports that the recent heatwave in Canada and the United States had major impacts on people, animals and vegetation, and that so many records were broken in June regarding high temperatures worldwide that it was hard to keep track.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning today that, without urgent funding, the displacement crisis in the north of Mozambique could become a hunger emergency.  Displacement has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado without access to their land and no means of earning a living.

In Niger, 2.1 million children need humanitarian assistance, a third more than just a year ago, as the country continues to face conflict, displacement, food insecurity, floods and drought, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.  The Agency is appealing for safe, sustained access to deliver aid.

As the COVID-19 crisis has pushed between 119 and 124 million people into extreme poverty, Governments around the world must enact policies that are coherent, inclusive and informed by high-quality data as they emerge from the pandemic and refocus their sights on achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, speakers in the Economic and Social Council integration segment stressed today.

In Syria, United Nations agencies and aid partners are trucking in emergency water supplies and installing reverse osmosis pumps in Al-Hasakeh city amid reports of another disruption at Alouk water station,  which shut down on 23 June.  Up to 1 million people in the region are affected when the station ceases to operate.

A new report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development found that the crash in international tourism due to COVID-19 could cause a $4 trillion loss to global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic’s direct impact on the sector and ripple effects on others.

The Ministerial Forums for the High-Level Dialogue on Energy ended today, with commitments announced by India’s major power supplier, NTPC; Power Africa pledging to the electrification of more health centres; and Student Energy aiming to mobilize $150 million to train 35,000 young energy leaders in 100 countries.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the fifth United Nations Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters:  “Building Back Better towards a More Resilient and Sustainable Post-COVID-19 World”, in Brussels today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day of the Seafarer today: