The United Nations warns: 1.7 billion people are at risk of drowning in poverty and starvation
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the conflict in Ukraine as a “silent attack” on developing countries that he says threatens to impoverish more than a fifth of humanity.
According to him, the crisis could plunge up to 1.7 billion of the world’s population “into poverty and hunger on a scale not seen in decades.”
The Secretary-General of the United Nations also drew attention to the fact that Russia is the largest exporter of gas and the second largest exporter of oil in the world.
He noted that Russia and Ukraine are producers of 30% of the world’s wheat and barley, 20% of corn and more than half of sunflower oil. Agricultural products, which countries provide to the world market, are the main source of nutrition for the poorest inhabitants of the Earth. More than a third of the wheat imported by 45 of the least economically developed countries in Africa grows in the fields of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Guterres also noted that the conflict in Ukraine impedes the global export of agricultural and energy products, leads to a sharp rise in prices, which has negative consequences for ordinary citizens. Above all, he added, the poor and the least socially protected population suffer.
Earlier, Bloomberg, citing a study conducted by Cornell University with the support of the US Department of Agriculture, reported that climate change on our planet has led to a loss of about 21% of agricultural production growth since the 1960s. This equates to lost productivity growth over the past seven years.
