United Nations, July 8 (UNI/Sputnik) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned G20 nations on Friday about the risk of multiple famines this year.
“There is a real risk of multiple famines this year. Next year could be even worse,” Guterres said in a video message to the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.
Guterres said that the Ukraine conflict is contributing to other crises and may cause social and economic devastation. The UN chief believes that the Ukraine crisis is behind the current spike in food prices and increase in the number of undernourished people. Guterres told the ministers that without fertilizers, shortages could spread from corn and wheat to all staple crops, including rice, significantly impacting billions of people.
To alleviate the crisis, the UN is working to find a plan to enable the exports of grain out of Ukraine and grain and fertilizers out of Russia, the secretary-general added.
The meeting of G20 foreign ministers is being held in Bali, Indonesia, on July 7-8.
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