UN chief warns climate chaos and food crises threaten global peace: ‘Empty bellies fuel unrest’

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief is warning that climate chaos and food crises are increasing threats to global peace. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a high-level U,N. meeting Tuesday that climate disasters imperil food production and “empty bellies fuel unrest.” He urged the U.N. Security Council to address the impact of food shortages and rising temperatures on international peace and security — a view echoed by many countries but not Russia. Guterres said: “Climate and conflict are two leading drivers of (our) global food crisis” and “where wars rage, hunger reigns.” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said climate and food should be discussed elsewhere in the U.N., and blamed former Western colonial powers and the U.S. for current crises in the developing world.