World leaders last week met to discuss critical issues facing the global community at the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA); the organisation’s main policy organ comprising all 193 member states.

This was the second UNGA meeting convened in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic was not the only issue discussed at the global forum. 

Climate change, poverty, inequality, hunger, armed conflict and racism continue to dominate global challenges. The global forum provided an opportunity to address these challenges.

President Uhuru Kenyatta – in a virtual address to the assembly, highlighted these issues, considering that Kenya is serving its two-year term non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council. 

Although Covid-19 was the thrust of his speech, he echoed the other global leaders in seeking concerted efforts towards economic recovery and building back better after a pandemic; that has spared no nation.

Equitable global access to vaccines is at the core of these recovery efforts since the lop-sided pattern of vaccine supply in a multilateral system anchored in the UN requires urgent restructuring.

Vaccines must be made available to all, especially in developing countries, so that their economies can bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.

As the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted Covid-19 is not the only challenge. At a high-level debate on international peace and security, he referred to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

The deeply alarming report released last month showed that climate disruption caused by human activities is widespread and intensifying – a “code red for humanity”.

With such an ominous warning, bolder climate action is needed ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 UN Climate Change Conference, with the powerful G20 nations of the world leading efforts to maintain international peace and security closely linked to climate change.

COP 26 that aims at increasing climate ambition, building resilience and lowering emissions, will take place from October 31 to November 12, in Glasgow hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy.

No region is immune from the worst climate impacts as witnessed in the increasing wildfires, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather events affecting every continent.

The effects of climate change are particularly profound when they overlap with the current pandemic, the economic downturn, fragility and past or current conflicts. Climate change and environmental mismanagement are risk multipliers.

UNGA 2021 also featured the UN Food Systems Summit. While President Uhuru appealed to global financial institutions to ramp up investments in agriculture to support African countries, governments in the continent must do more to ensure food security.

The leaders must fulfil the African Union Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa adopted in July 2003 and the Malabo Declaration of 2014, in which they committed to allocate at least 10 per cent of national budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development policy implementation.

The global community must prioritise emergency food and nutrition supplies to areas affected by conflicts and climate emergencies. 

Kenya continues to experience perennial droughts and flooding as currently witnessed in 21 counties requiring emergency relief.

That means investing in early warning famine prevention systems and shock-proofing all the systems that contribute to nutrition. Changing food systems is therefore necessary, not only for the planet, but also for the people.

African governments must urgently build sustainable and resilient food systems to attain the global goal of zero hunger by 2030. —[email protected]