Severe repercussions to food security efforts if Ukraine conflict does not give way to dialogue, diplomacy: India
The Hindu
The global impact of COVID-19 and ongoing conflicts has impacted lives of ordinary people adversely, with spiralling energy and commodity prices and disruptions in global logistical supply chains,” First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Sneha Dubey said.
India has cautioned that if the Ukraine conflict does not immediately give way to a “meaningful path of dialogue and diplomacy”, there will be “severe repercussions” in the global economy which will derail efforts to secure food security and eradicate hunger.
“The global impact of COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts, including in Ukraine, has impacted lives of ordinary people adversely, particularly in the developing countries, with spiralling energy and commodity prices and disruptions in global logistical supply chains,” First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Sneha Dubey said on July 18.
Explained | The effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global economy
Speaking at the high-level special event ‘Time to Act Together: Coordinating Policy Responses To The Global Food Security Crisis’ convened by UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid and the Committee on World Food Security, Ms. Dubey said the Global South has been adversely impacted both by the conflict itself, as well as by the various measures put in place in response. The Global South is a term often used to identify regions within Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
“If the conflict does not give way to a meaningful path of dialogue and diplomacy immediately, there will be severe repercussions in the global economy which will derail the efforts of the Global South to secure food security and eradicate hunger in the run up to 2030. Time has indeed come to start factoring in its multidimensional impact which it is having on the Global South, especially the vulnerable developing countries,” Ms. Dubey said.
A number of low income societies are confronted with the twin challenges of rising costs and difficulty in access to food grains. “Even those like India, who have adequate stocks, have seen an unjustified increase in food prices. It is clear that hoarding and speculation is at work. We cannot allow this to pass unchallenged,” she said.
Ms. Dubey emphasised that the solution to these challenges lies in “global collective action” and assured that India will play its due role in advancing global food security, doing so in a manner that upholds “equity, displays compassion and promotes social justice.” The Russia-Ukraine war is preventing grain from leaving the “breadbasket of the world” and making food more expensive across the globe, threatening to worsen shortages, hunger and political instability in developing countries.