Mr. President,
Since the creation of the United Nations, Member States have made remarkable progress together. For a long time, conflicts and food insecurity have been on the decline.
Unfortunately, we failed to stay the course.
Over the past decade, acute food insecurity has massively increased. Despite the targets set by the Agenda 2030, almost 800 million people still face chronic hunger. Conflict is the primary cause, as demonstrated by the risk of famine in Gaza and growing food insecurity in Sudan. In other contexts on this Council's agenda, climate change is a destabilizing factor. To promote and consolidate peace, we need to better understand the interactions between these three dimensions.
This debate is therefore very timely. We thank Guyana for bringing us together to discuss this topic. Our thanks also go to the Secretary-General, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr. Stiell, the Deputy Director-General of the FAO, Ms. Bechdol, as well as Ms. Leiva Roesch, for their statements.
Your speeches leave no room for doubt: we need reinforced multilateralism. While the objective that unites us remains the same as it was nearly 80 years ago, the world has changed. Challenges are increasingly interconnected. We must therefore find new ways to consolidate peace.
The New Agenda for Peace points us in the direction of prevention:
Thanks to scientific progress, various early warning systems have been developed for food insecurity, conflict and climatic urgences. We now need to ensure that they can work together. Indeed, the related challenges call for networked systems that enable data to be linked. Only then can we avoid blind spots in prevention and act to ensure long-term food security.
Better integration between the various actors is also necessary. We welcome collaboration between the Security Council and the UN system as a whole, as well as with regional organizations such as the African Union, regional economic organizations, local players and science. With this objective in mind, Switzerland recently organized dialogues on the impact of climate change and conflict on food security with all these actors.
The New Agenda for Peace also proposes concrete paths for the Council's action.
In order to develop context-specific responses, the Council must take into account the impact of climate change on peace and security. For example, by mandating UN missions to analyze the risks associated with climate change. Food security must also be part of the equation. The Council must also serve as a platform for early warning and for mobilizing the efforts of the international community.
Of course, conflict, hunger and climate change interact differently in each context. This is clear from discussions held in the informal group of experts on climate and security that we chair with Mozambique. But the result is always the same: more instability and insecurity. We witness this trend in the Sahel, Myanmar and Haiti.
To take action against conflict-induced hunger, the Council adopted a clear basis in Resolution 2417. As focal points for hunger and conflict within the Council with Guyana, we are committed to facilitating its implementation. With regard to the security impact of climate change, progress has been made on a case-by-case basis in several resolutions. We support the search for a consensus among Council members so that a strategic framework for coherent and responsible action in the face of climate challenges can be adopted.
Mr. President,
The tools exist to reinforce prevention. What is needed is the political will to seize them. This is our duty in the face of the triple threat of conflict, hunger and climate change.
Given that the most vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected, we must do our utmost to ensure that international law is respected. In the face of the suffering caused by the violations of these universal norms, we cannot simply rely on the population's resilience.
I would like to conclude by reminding you that interconnected challenges require integrated responses. By making prevention a political priority, the New Agenda for Peace can put us on the right track. The Summit for the Future will be an opportunity for us to embark on this path together.
I thank you.