In normal times, one third of global fertiliser trade – along with 35 per cent of crude oil and a fifth of liquified natural gas – passes through the maritime corridor located south of Iran, but tanker traffic has essentially come to a standstill.
In response, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres established a task force to facilitate the safe passage of fertilisers and related raw materials for humanitarian purposes.
It is headed by Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services UNOPS, which provides infrastructure, procurement, and project management services across the world.
“We cannot afford to wait,” he said in an exclusive interview with UN News.
“The planting season is upon us, and the risk of a major food crisis is real. We need the support and the cooperation of all stakeholders to make this mechanism a success.”
He told Reem Abaza that the UN task force he is leading will be able to get its “one-stop platform” up and running in just seven days, if combatants blocking the strait allow fertilizers and other raw materials through, to benefit the world’s most vulnerable.
The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
Jorge Moreira da Silva: The idea of the task force was to develop a mechanism focused on fertilisers and related raw materials such as urea, sulphur, and ammonia, to prevent a massive humanitarian crisis. We have one-third of all fertilisers in the world going through the Strait of Hormuz, so you can see how important the Arabian Gulf is for the production of fertilisers and how impacted the entire supply chain of fertilisers with the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz.
If we don’t get a solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens
But we also know that there are some countries that are more dependent on those fertilisers. Unfortunately, some of those countries were already highly vulnerable due to previous shocks, such as Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya, and Sri Lanka. These are just a few countries that are high importers of fertilisers coming from the region.
UN News: We’re talking about a time-sensitive period because it is the agricultural season in some parts of the world, and not having fertilisers will have a huge effect on food security. But how fast can you be operational?
Jorge Moreira da Silva: The point of speed, as you mentioned, is a critical one. Diplomacy and nature do not have the same speed. And I know that there are diplomatic efforts towards a political solution for the Middle East, and for this war, to have a lasting peace.
But the point that I’ve been making is we can’t wait until everything is fixed to at least get something fixed in time for the planting season. The planting season has already started, and in most countries in Africa, it will end in May. So, if we don’t get a solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens.
I want to stress one point. The mechanism is not a way to compromise or challenge the freedom of navigation. Freedom of navigation is an indisputable principle, and the Secretary-General and I have been very clear in stating the need to reinstate the freedom of navigation.
But what we are saying is: while we don’t have that freedom of navigation fully embedded and established because there are these negotiations in the context of the war, at least let’s have a time-bound, exceptional, limited mechanism just for fertilizers and related raw materials. After all, this will still be in time for the planting season.
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