U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday laid out a list of five global challenges in his speech before the opening of the United Nations annual General Debate. The first of these, he said, is sustainable development. "We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, and food security," Ban said. "Solutions to one problem must be solutions to all." A second challenge is preventing conflict. Ban said the U.N. peacekeeping budget is currently $8 billion. "Consider the savings if we act before conflict erupts-by deploying political mediation missions, for example, rather than troops." He also added that the best form of prevention is development, promoting the rule of law, and ending impunity for human rights violations. The third challenge is "building a safer and more secure world-our core responsibility as the United Nations," the U.N. chief said. Addressing the Middle East, Ban said: "We must break the stalemate. We have long agreed that Palestinians deserve a state,".
