3 November 2009: In an address to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (social, humanitarian and cultural issues), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres highlighted that mega-trends are causing humanitarian crises to multiply and to deepen.
He explained that these mega-trends include population growth, urbanization, climate change, migration and food, water and energy insecurity, which combined with the external global shocks such as the financial crisis, are making the operational environment of humanitarian action more challenging. [UN Press Release]