The United Nations General Assembly is now in full swing, with global leaders jostling to outdo each other on the most pressing issues such as climate change, sustainable development, and global health. There’s also numerous — arguably much better — side events and the usual glamorous parties that, of course, Devex attended.
Also in today’s edition: We check Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, Ajay Banga, and Michael Bloomberg off the UNGA bingo card.
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Leading the way
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In a long-overdue move, world leaders, including U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, launched the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, a $150 million effort to tackle lead poisoning. Yes, lead poisoning is still a thing — and one-third of kids are exposed globally.
“Parents give their children toys so that they can learn and play. They prepare meals with everyday cookware to keep their family fed. All the while, dangerous amounts of lead seep into their lives, and the consequences are irreversible,” said Biden during the launch event at UNICEF’s New York headquarters.
The initiative is putting lead on notice, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes. Together, they underscored the urgency of addressing lead exposure, which can cause irreversible brain damage, developmental delays, and learning problems in children.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power said lead exposure has been a priority for months, especially in high-risk areas. In South Asia, for example, lead is often added to spices like curry and turmeric to enhance color. In the Philippines, a study found lead in 75% of playground equipment, and in Malawi, over 3 million children were exposed to lead through paint.
So, while the world’s been casually ignoring this crisis for decades, 20 countries and 25 organizations have joined forces to throw cash at blood testing, environmental surveys, and pushing out lead-based products.
Read: USAID, UNICEF announce $150M partnership for a lead-free future
Also read: 3 reasons why Open Philanthropy is investing in a lead-free future
No monkey business
Jane Goodall may no longer roam the Tanzanian jungles as part of her decades-long quest to save chimpanzees from extinction, but at 90, she travels the world calling on people to save the planet from extinction. And on the sidelines of UNGA, the famed conservationist told our Managing Editor Anna Gawel that everyone has to step up, instead of throwing their hands up in despair. That includes voters.
“All around the world this year, there have been or will be elections, and a lot of people are so fed up with politics — I don't blame them — that they're not voting. And people think … it doesn't really matter which one, they're all hopeless,” she said at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she had just spoken on a panel about climate change.
“My message has been … you may not particularly care for any of the candidates, but choose the one who you believe will do more to protect the planet, because that's protecting your future and the future of your children,” Goodall added, sitting on a sofa with a “Vote for Nature” cardboard sign at her feet.
And while she didn’t single out the U.S. presidential matchup between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, she pointedly added: “Every vote counts, and some elections are particularly important to get the right person in, or at least to keep the wrong person out.”
Gender gap
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres bemoaned the lack of women at this year’s General Debate. “I am sorry to see that despite years of talk, gender inequality is on full display at the #UNGA General Debate. Less than 10% of speakers this week are women. This is unacceptable – especially when we know gender equality delivers for peace, climate action and much more,” he observed on his X account.
UNGA isn’t the only major global development event with a gender gap. At the Devex summit on the sidelines of UNGA yesterday, a discussion of how to integrate gender justice and climate justice got real with numbers: Since the U.N. COP climate conferences began in 1995, just five women have been appointed COP president — and at 2022’s summit in Egypt, women made up less than 34% of the country negotiating teams.
“We often talk about how the climate crisis is affecting women and girls,” said Olivia Leland, founder and CEO of Co-Impact, a global philanthropic collaborative. “But the conversation also needs to be about how women leaders need to be driving those conversations at every level.”
Read: Climate negotiations have a gender inequality problem
Fancy Banga-ing into you
Anna nearly collided with World Bank President Ajay Banga — or rather he with her — as he and his entourage rushed out of the Plaza Hotel after speaking with U.S. President Joe Biden and other VIPs at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum.
"Expanding the market requires expanding the vision of the institution, and the way we look at problems, from being only focused on poverty to also include the intertwined challenges of a livable planet — climate fragility, conflict, violence, pandemics, food insecurity,” Banga said at the forum, which focuses on aligning governments and businesses around climate change, trade, and digitalization.
“And thinking that you can segregate these into little buckets is a luxury we don't have,” he added.
ICYMI: World Bank chief Ajay Banga's one-year climate report card (Pro)
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Earthshot in the arm
Michael Bloomberg — the American philanthropist, politician, media man, and U.N. special envoy on climate ambition and solutions — stepped onto a stage at the Plaza Hotel on Tuesday.
He was there to kick off Prince William’s £1 million Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit for climate. But before the event began, the billionaire — Bloomberg, not Wills — brought his audience’s attention to their surroundings.
“If this is your first time here, you might recognize the lobby from the cinematic masterpiece ‘Home Alone 2,’” said Bloomberg. “It’s about a 10-year-old boy who was smarter than every adult he comes across. And today, we see a version of that movie play out every day, because even most children understand the climate crisis is real.”
But despite resistance to climate solutions — or investment — in the political sphere, Bloomberg was speaking to an easy crowd, writes Elissa. His foundation was hosting a series of events at the Plaza on the sidelines of Climate Week NYC, including one to announce the 15 finalists of the Earthshot Prize. The final five awardees will be announced in November.
Read: Prince William announces finalists for the £1M Earthshot Prize
Related: 5 ways philanthropy can fund climate crisis preparedness (Pro)
And don’t miss: Link between climate and peace cut from UN Pact for the Future (Pro)
Food, fame, and philanthropy
Bill Gates was the star of the show at the Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event Monday, which of course had a swanky after-party featuring thumping DJ beats, floor-to-ceiling views of New York City, and an international buffet apropos for an event that focused on the importance of nutrition.
But for Anna, it was celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson who embodied the theme with his powerful personal story.
Born in a small Ethiopian village, Samuelsson, his sister, and mother were struck with tuberculosis and had to walk a grueling 75 miles to a hospital in the capital. Samuelsson and his sister survived; his mother did not.
“How she got us in there is absolutely, for me, still amazing, and I know I owe so much to her, but the nutrition, the dairy, the food that I needed, I didn't get,” he told the jam-packed auditorium, noting that at nearly 3 years old, he weighed 22 pounds. “That's basically what a 12 months old weighs.”
Samuelsson and his sister were adopted by a family in Sweden, where his “journey to food and cooking started again.”
“We were extremely fortunate because we didn't eat fancy food, but it was filled with nutrition, whether it was when we went foraging, whether we picked from our garden fruits and vegetables, and of course we had protein-packed seafood,” he said in front of three market-style wheelbarrows full of colorful foods.
It took Samuelsson until his teens to catch up weight-wise, and it taught the restaurateur the importance not just of how much you eat, but what you eat.
“And I realized that with a backstory like myself, it would be something that I want to work on, not just putting great, craveable, delicious dishes in my restaurant, but … really contribute to something that is much bigger, and be a voice of eating well and making sure that kids throughout the world can have access to nutritious food.”
Food security is a huge point of discussion at UNGA — but at the Devex side event yesterday, Cary Fowler, the U.S. special envoy for global food security, noted that it’s not just about having something to eat, it’s about getting the right mix of nutrients.
“For nutrition security, I think the implication would be that we invest more in diverse farming systems,” Fowler said. “We invest more in the kinds of foods that provide micronutrients for children to prevent the awful, awful scourge of stunting, for example.”
Read: Fixing food security isn't enough. Nutrition security needs solving, too
ICYMI: Gates Foundation sounds the alarm on the crisis of child malnutrition
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In other news
The International Monetary Fund has approved a new $7 billion loan for cash-strapped Pakistan, with an initial $1 billion disbursement. [The Washington Post]
The United States pledged $424 million in aid for Sudan’s humanitarian crisis while U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, urged the international community to explore all options to protect civilians amid the ongoing conflict. [The Guardian]
Liberia secured a $210 million IMF arrangement, with $8 million disbursed immediately to support economic reforms and promote private sector growth. [Reuters]
Update, Sept. 26, 2024: This article has been updated to include more information.
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
