At this year's UN General Assembly, it's show up or become obsolete

Opinion by David Miliband

Updated 2055 GMT (0455 HKT) September 24, 2021

(CNN)The return of diplomats and politicians to midtown Manhattan for the annual September UN General
Assembly meeting has been good news for the hotels. But will it justify the journeys?

Last year's General Assembly was not just virtual in attendance. It was also virtual in substance. It
showcased the world's problems with beggar-thy-neighbor politics and evidence-light policymaking -- even
in the face of Covid-19's historic, and shared, thread. Then-President Donald Trump was not the only guilty
party.

The results of this failure to cooperate -- through the UN, other institutions, and in general -- have been
clear: Since the start of the pandemic, the number of people globally in need of assistance rose by about
40% -- up to 235 million -- with financial instability, hunger, out-of-school children and gender inequity all
on the rise worldwide.

At the 2021 UN General Assembly, there is no excuse for inaction. Eighteen months since the pandemic
brought the world to a standstill, the world's three major challenges -- Covid-19, the climate crisis and
conflict -- call out for much stronger global leadership.

Afghanistan shows the human impact of these three interconnected crises. Even before the Taliban's
takeover of Kabul, the pandemic, climate-related drought and decades of conflict drove the number of
people in need of humanitarian assistance to more than 18 million -- nearly double in just a year. Afghans
need more of the right kind of help.

Nearly 90% of humanitarian need is concentrated in just 20 countries. Here is what they need to hear from
world leaders.

Most pressing on the agenda is joining forces to halt the current wave of global Covid-19 cases, as the Delta
variant in particular poses challenges to global defenses.

It's clear that vaccines are the most effective line of defense against serious illness and death. They have,
however, become the privilege of the rich -- with the global vaccine partnership COVAX cutting its expected
access to doses through the year's end from 1.9 billion to 1.4 billion.

In a race to defeat variants, the US, UK, and other countries are starting to offer booster shots to their
citizens, while less than 2% of people in many of the countries the IRC deems most fragile from a
humanitarian perspective have received even a single dose of any vaccine.

President Joe Biden made a bold commitment Wednesday to donate an additional 500 million doses of
Covid-19 vaccines globally. But scaling up the supply of shots won't solve the problem unless those shots
get into the arms of people in need.

The weakness of national health systems means that in some fragile states, vaccine delivery costs more
than four times as much as these countries spend on health care per person each year. Lack of capacity also
makes it difficult to detect and respond to threats like new variants and clusters. For this General Assembly
to be successful, the UN must recognize critical gaps in health systems -- and channel funding to the
frontline NGOs best placed to reach the most vulnerable.

President Biden also announced Wednesday new funding commitments toward vaccine distribution, but
for distribution efforts to be successful, the international community must recognize critical gaps in health
systems -- and channel funding to the frontline NGOs best placed to reach the most vulnerable. Currently,
just over 20% of humanitarian funding goes to NGOs, according to UN statistics, and that funding can take
months to reach them.
The climate crisis is second on the docket. Just last month, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change released a report on irreversible changes to our climate that UN Secretary-General António
Guterres called a "code red for humanity." Yet, national commitments remain too small or nonexistent. The
world cannot afford to have the US, China and others point fingers; top greenhouse-gas emitters need to
step up, in support of both adaptation to the climate crisis and limiting emissions to mitigate it.

Resources must be directed to programs that build "climate resilience," preparing communities to confront
the impacts of climate change. Needless to say, steps must also be taken to lessen greenhouse gas
emissions, prevent environmental degradation and rebuild biodiversity. Communities need financial
support and decision-making power to address their own unique challenges.

But these two crises -- Covid-19 and climate -- are only part of what the world faces.

The true test of the UN's continued relevance is whether it can make a dent in the endemic conflict and
violence driving humanitarian need, from Afghanistan to Yemen to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Conflict is the single biggest driver of hunger globally, according to the World Food Program. Likewise, the
World Bank has warned that conflict is responsible for 80% of all humanitarian need.

Because of these three crises, progress toward the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals has stalled
dramatically. Even before the pandemic, the IRC sounded the alarm that four out of five fragile and conflict-
affected states were off track to meet the SDGs; that risk has only deepened as Covid-19 has fueled further
insecurity.

Aside from the tragic backsliding in global development gains, this toxic mix of Covid, climate and conflict
will make responding to future threats all the more difficult.

Nearly 60 years ago, US President John F. Kennedy proclaimed a "declaration of interdependence," a

recognition that the great challenges of the modern era could not be addressed through "the individual
liberty of one," but instead required common cause to protect "the indivisible liberty of all." This month's
gathering at the UN should be a recommitment to that declaration of interdependence -- to meeting
shared challenges with collective action, not go-it-alone attitudes to the detriment of all.