Volker Turk has criticized world leaders for thinking only in the short term when addressing the climate crisis. Speaking at a UN Human Rights Council debate on the right to food, Turk said extreme weather events are destroying crops, livestock and ecosystems, making it impossible for communities to rebuild and feed themselves. “In 2021, more than 828 million people faced hunger. And climate change is projected to put up to 80 million more people at risk of hunger by the middle of this century,” Turk said. Our environment is burning. It’s melting. It’s flooding. It’s draining. It’s drying. It’s dying,” he said, evoking a “dystopian future.” “Addressing climate change is a human rights issue… there’s still time to act. But that time is now,” he said. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to limit global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900 – and, if possible, to 1.5°C. The average global temperature in 2022 was 1.15°C above the 1850-1900 average.