UN calls for more aid amid ‘climate chaos and conflict’

AFP | Seville

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UN chief Antonio Guterres urged the world to “rev up the engine of development” at an aid conference in Spain yesterday as US-led cuts jeopardise the fight against poverty and climate change.

He urged nations to “change course” and “repair and rev up the engine of development to accelerate investment” in “a world shaken by inequalities, climate chaos and raging conflicts”.

Dozens of world leaders and more than 4,000 representatives from businesses, civil society and financial institutions are in the city of Seville for the June 30-July 3 meeting to seek fresh impetus for the crisis-hit sector.

But the US is snubbing the biggest such talks in a decade, underlining the erosion of international cooperation on combating hunger, disease and climate change.

Investment

Guterres told the opening of the conference that two-thirds of UN sustainable development goals set for 2030 were “lagging” and more than $4 trillion of annual investment were needed to achieve them.

President Donald Trump’s gutting of US development agency USAID is the standout example of aid cuts but Germany, Britain and France have also slashed funds while boosting spending in defence and other areas.

The Oxfam charity says the cuts are the largest since 1960, while according to the World Bank rising extreme poverty is affecting sub-Saharan Africa in particular.