As human family grows larger, it's also growing more divided: UN Secretary General

The UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said that as the world’s population reaches 8 billion by the middle of November and as the human family grows larger, it is also growing more divided.

There are billions of people on this planet who are struggling; hundreds of millions who are facing hunger and even famine. A record number of people are on the move looking for opportunities and relief from debt and hardship, wars and climate disasters, said Guterres in a statement as the world population hit 8 billion.

According to Guterres, unless the “yawning chasm” between the global haves and have-nots are not bridged, we are setting ourselves up for an 8-billion-strong world filled with tensions and mistrust, crisis and conflict.

The facts speak for themselves, he pointed out, as a handful of billionaires control as much wealth as the poorest half of the world. “The top one per cent globally pockets one fifth of the world’s income, while people in the richest countries can expect to live up to 30 years longer than those in the poorest,” he said, adding that as the world has grown richer and healthier in recent decades, these inequalities have grown too.

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Besides these trends, the “accelerating climate crisis and the unequal recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic” are further aggravating inequalities. “We are heading straight for climate catastrophe, while emissions and temperatures continue to rise. Floods, storms and droughts are devastating countries that contributed almost nothing to global heating,” he said.

Guterres also pointed out that the Ukraine war is adding to ongoing food, energy and finance crises, hitting developing economies hardest. These inequalities take their greatest toll on women and girls, and on marginalised groups that already suffer discrimination, he stressed.

There are many countries in the Global South face who are tussling with huge debts, increasing poverty and hunger, and the growing impacts of the climate crisis. They don’t get the chance to invest in a sustainable recovery from the pandemic, easily transit to renewable energy, or education and training for the digital age.

According to Guterres, the anger and resentment against developed countries are reaching breaking points. There are toxic divisions and lack of trust, which is causing delays and deadlock on a host of issues, from nuclear disarmament to terrorism to global health. “We must curb these damaging trends, repair relationships and find joint solutions to our common challenges,” he said.

Developed countries have the responsibility to reverse this runaway inequality starting this month at the ongoing UN climate conference in Egypt and the G20 summit in Bali, said the UN chief.

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To meet climate goals, wealthier countries must provide key emerging economies with financial and technical support to transit away from fossil fuels, stated Guterres. He hoped that COP27 will see a historic Climate Solidarity Pact under which developed and emerging economies unite around a common strategy and combine their capacities and resources for the benefit of humankind.

He viewed the G20 summit in Bali as an opportunity to address the plight of developing countries. “I have urged G20 economies to adopt a stimulus package that will provide governments of the Global South with investments and liquidity, and address debt relief and restructuring,” he said, adding that as they push for action on these medium-term measures, they are working non-stop with all stakeholders to ease the global food crisis.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative is an essential part of those efforts. It has helped to stabilise markets and bring food prices down. Every fraction of a per cent has the potential to ease hunger and save lives, he stressed.

They are working to ensure Russian fertilisers can flow into global markets, which have been severely disrupted by the war, he said. Fertiliser prices are up to three times higher than before the pandemic and rice, the most widely consumed staple in the world, is the crop that will suffer most.

Removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian fertilisers is an essential step towards global food security, he said, adding but among all these serious challenges, there is some good news.

Our eight-billion-strong world could yield enormous opportunities for some of the poorest countries, where population growth is highest.

He ended his statement saying that he never bets against human ingenuity, and has enormous faith in human solidarity. In these difficult times, he said, that everyone would do well to remember the words of one of humanity’s wisest observers, Mahatma Gandhi: “The world has enough for everyone’s need – but not everyone’s greed.”

The big global meetups in November must be an opportunity to start bridging divides and restoring trust, based on the equal rights and freedoms of every single member of humanity’s eight-billion-strong family, he said.