Environmental issues and sustainable development

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message at the twentieth meeting of the Council of Heads of State of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), held today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Green Horizon Summit, delivered today:

Amid tensions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the Secretary-General spoke to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and regional leaders, relaying his support.  United Nations staff will continue to deliver assistance to over 2 million people in Tigray, where thousands are also affected by COVID-19 and a desert locust infestation.

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message at the opening of the “Race to Zero” Dialogues, held today:

The Emergency Relief Coordinator reported that six humanitarian workers were lost in targeted attacks in Somalia, in two separate incidents in South Sudan, and in north-west Syria.  “This cannot be tolerated,” he said, calling the attacks a violation of international law and an “obscene act against people working hard” to help the world’s vulnerable.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the Food Coalition, a multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral alliance that aims to ensure global food access and increase the resilience of agri-food systems.  The pandemic could add 132 million more people to the world's undernourished in 2020, FAO says, on top of the 690 million hungry people in 2019.

In Nicaragua, UNICEF and its partners have prepositioned emergency supplies and developed a joint response plan to address the needs of families impacted by Hurricane Eta, including 10,000 people evacuated from the northern coast, while the World Food Programme has positioned 80 metric tons of food assistance in the region.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video remarks to the “Global Perspectives 2020 Experience - Passion for Inclusion!” conference organized by the International Civil Society Centre, today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, observed on 6 November:

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message to the event organized by the Government of Guyana on its Chairmanship of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, today: