Mr. President, Excellencies, 

I thank the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana for convening this important debate. It is an honour to join you on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme.

This conversation could not be more prescient. 

Global human development has stalled just as violent conflicts have surged to levels not seen in eight decades.  The coincidence is not lost on us. Nor is it accidental. It reflects deep vulnerabilities left unattended that have resulted in severe peace and security breakdowns.

The latest UNDP Human Development Report shows the sharpest global drop in Human Development in over two decades. For the first time in 35 years, progress in human development has slowed so significantly, that over half of world’s poorest countries have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. 

Over a billion people live in acute multidimensional poverty, nearly half in contexts affected by conflict or fragility. These figures are not just statistics – they are warnings.

Every time governance and development falters, and the two are closely interwoven, based on the choices and decisions leaders take viz their people, their neighbors, and sometimes countries far from their own borders, when these international and social contracts fail, conflict gains ground.

From Gaza to Myanmar, from Sudan to Afghanistan it shows that conflict hits GDP fast and drives a deeper poverty and despair that is not seen in more usual economic slowdowns. In Myanmar, for example, UNDP’s analysis shows that urban poverty in Yangon surged from 10% to 43% in just the last few years. 

IMF messaging is also clear -  very $1 invested in prevention can save up to $103 in a ballooning conflict-related costs, meet swelling humanitarian needs and in lost economic output.

Let me offer three priorities for investment that can help break this cycle, or at least pause it to allow peace negotiations and interventions to be realized:

 First, protecting the household economy. In fragile settings, where peace and security have been shattered, development directed to the local level becomes the first line of peoples’ defense and survival. And the hope for recovery. 

From these local economies - when livelihoods are restored, water and electricity flows again, women’s businesses reopen, farmers can trade food and some basic finance allows local enterprises to stay afloat – from this, comes the resources to build back broken capabilities and resilience. 

In Afghanistan, for example, UNDP has supported over 80,000 women entrepreneurs. These micro and small businesses have directly created jobs for close to half a million people—generating income and independence for 2.7 million people. 

What stronger illusttration of the need for investing in people’s ability to navigate crisis. And this cannot be done through short-term relief. 

Second, addressing the Climate Crisis through the lens of Human Security

Climate change is a “crisis amplifier” that compounds vulnerabilities and is driving people to move in the millions to find arable land, shelter, food and water. We are seeing the mounting displacement this is causing around the world.

In Nigeria, climate-peace hubs are addressing root causes of insecurity in the country’s North-West. These hubs provide climate resilience data systems and are incubating green jobs for youth and women in Katsina and Sokoto States.

In Rakhine State, in Myanmar, what peace if there always looms the threat of famine, compounded by a civil war, as is the case today? Integrating climate driven anticipatory adaptation and risk reduction, with investments in food, water and renewable energy systems, and I emphasize systems, is a must. 

Third, addressing these pressures well ‘beyond national borders’. 

These compounded risks travel fast, and today we see the UNODC analysis that shows the accelerants that drive illegal activity across borders, using parts of regions that have less rule of law and security.

Take Haiti and its surrounding seas, the Sahel region, and an expanded lucrative drug trade and human trafficking through the Golden Triangle today. 

And yet, development interventions bring some hope. In the Lake Chad Basin, every 1 euro in core funding to UNDP has unlocked nearly 60 euro in additional resources—stabilizing communities and enabling over 500,000 internally displaced people to return home^.

In Closing, Mr President,

For UNDP and the UN Development System, building peace means creating conditions that prevent conflict. And these foundations can and will shake with the meltdowns of economies, governance changes and resource scarcity driven by climate change. And they will shake and break due to wars and conflicts.

That does not mean we give up and stop investing in development. ON the contrary, it must remain an ongoing intentional Global Project, to keep building back capabilities, the institutions, the systems that ensure stability and put back human development progress, social cohesion, trust in leadership and functioning institutions. This is a strategic ongoing investment in peace.

This is why over half of UNDP’s annual expenditure now goes to fragile and crisis-affected contexts. 

And we see FFD and the ongoing Peacebuilding Architecture Review as a timely opportunity to strengthen the role of development actors in addressing the structural causes of conflict—and to align efforts across the HDP Nexus.

We welcome Guyana’s leadership in advancing the climate, peace and security agenda and reaffirming the need to invest in inclusive, climate-smart, and risk-informed human development which is to invest in peace to bring people safely home.

Thank you.