Here in New York, the 2022 United Nations General Assembly opened Monday with an appeal for urgent action on hunger, poverty, racial and gender inequality and the climate crisis. During an opening ceremony, 24-year-old U.S. poet Amanda Gorman read her new work, “An Ode We Owe.” Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to nations to meet the U.N.’s blueprint for peace and prosperity, known as the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Secretary-General António Guterres: “Young people — and future generations — are demanding action. We cannot let them down. This is a definitive moment. All of you here today, and those tuning in from around the world, give me immense hope that we can put our hands on the wheel of progress and steer a new course.”