16 April 2009: In a message to the 18th International Conference on Health and Environment, which took place in New York, US, from 15 16 April 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged adopting policies that promote health benefits to help tackle climate change and food insecurity.

Noting that climate change and the search for low- or non-carbon energy sources has led to a renewed interest in nuclear power, he stressed the need to weigh all considerations when evaluating the benefits and risks of the alternatives to fossil fuels. In this regard, he highlighted the possible negative consequences of biofuels, such as food insecurity, and called for tackling the interlinkages among climate change, public health, food security and rising energy demands. [The message]