(KPL/Prensa Latina) The combination between climate change, hunger and war is devastating, denounced today the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, in light of the current conflicts and the increase in military expenditures.

In 2022, the climate and war confrontations were the main causes of acute food insecurity for 174 million inhabitants on the planet, recalled the representative of the United Nations (UN).

“An empty belly is fuel for unrest,” Guterres said in the debate promoted this Tuesday by the Security Council of the organization, based in the American city of New York.

While hundreds of millions of people “go to bed hungry every night,” a third of the food produced in the world continues to be wasted, the politician contrasted.

According to Guterres, it is also distressing that some governments are spending more and more on weapons, while leaving food security, the fight against climate change and sustainable development in general without a budget.

“The message, he said, is clear: we can break the deadly nexus of hunger, climate chaos and conflict, and quell the threat they pose to international peace and security.”

If the forecasts come true, 10 percent of the area suitable for important crops and livestock could become climatically unsuitable by mid-century in high emissions scenarios, said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol.

Such behavior would further reduce the already small surface area used for crops and livestock, noted the expert from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

On the issue of aggression, Guterres expressed his deep concern about the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip, following Israel’s announcement that it will carry out an “all-out attack” on Rafat, which would have devastating consequences for that Palestinian territory.

For his part, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned yesterday that a large-scale military incursion into Rafat, where there are around 1.5 million Palestinians crowded together, would be “terrifying”, given the probability that extremely high numbers of civilians, mostly children and women, would be killed or injured.

KPL