G7 summit with two megawatts: hunger and global warming

At the G7 summit, it will be located for major crises from war in Ukraine to hunger and global warming. The expectations for the meeting of heads of state and government in Elmau of Bravaria are as big as problems. In addition to host Germany, the G7 group includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the US and Great Britain. India, South Africa, Senegal, Indonesia, and Argentina have also been invited to the summit. The president of Ukraine, Voldymyr Zelensky, also wants to attend.

With the attack on Ukraine, Russia has been isolated internationally, making co-operation more difficult, not only in the United Nations. So the G7 group is becoming more and more important. At this summit, crucial directions can be determined for the G20 summit and the upcoming UN climate conference. Both will be held in November. “G7 is probably the only multilateral, super-regional forum that continues to remain able to act now that we have war in Ukraine,” says Friederike Meister, director for Germany of Global Citizen, an organisation that works to combat extreme poverty. “That is why the G7 is of particular importance this year, also as a coalition of the most important donor countries. ”

Food Crisis

For a long time, the international community had made advances in the fight against hunger. But climate crisis, coronary pandemic and conflict are showing devastating consequences. According to the World Food Programme, 50 million people are on the verge of hunger. The UN organisation values the situation in Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia as catastrophic. 750,000 people in particularly affected countries are threatened by hunger.

Ukraine's war, coronary pandemic and drought-related climate change, for example, exacerbate the situation and food prices are growing. Ukraine and Russia are the world's largest wheat exporters, they usually cover almost a third of the global demand. According to the United Nations, 1.4 billion people worldwide may face food shortages because Russia keeps blocking Ukraine's ports and exporting agricultural products across the Black Sea.

Climate crisis

According to the Intergovernmental Council for Climate Change, global greenhouse emissions were between 2010 and 2019 higher than ever before in human history. Without immediate reductions of emissions intended to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times can no longer be achieved. The World Weather Organization warns that average annual temperatures in the world can exceed 1.5 degrees for the first time until 2026.

According to the UN report on drought, the number and duration of drought periods in the world has already increased by 29 percent since 2000. / DW