Geoff Bennett:

To help us understand the global stakes of the impasse at the Strait of Hormuz, especially its impact on the deepening humanitarian crises, we're joined now by Jorge Moreira Da Silva, executive director of the U.N.'s operational arm and head of the U.N. Task Force on the Strait.

Thanks for being here.

Jorge Moreira Da Silva, United Nations:

Thank you, Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

So, as I mentioned, you are leading this U.N. task force during what is this volatile moment in the Strait of Hormuz.

Where are you most concerned about the ripple effects right now?

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

We are mostly concerned about the consequences of the disruption on fertilizers.

I know that everyone is talking about energy, oil and gas, but the fact that there is so much dependence from so many countries, particularly in Africa and in South Asia, from fertilizers from the Gulf will very likely trigger a massive food security crisis with devastating consequences on the poor.

That's why we can't delay. We must find a solution to unblock the strait. Of course, freedom of navigation is critical. We must have everything going through the strait, but until we get this freedom of navigation, we can't miss the planting season. Planting season is from now until May.

If we miss the planting season, the farmers, particularly in Africa, won't have productivity. The prices will go up and hunger and starvation will be spread around the world.

Geoff Bennett:

When you say we have to find a solution, the U.N., as I understand it, is trying to create a mechanism for what you call safe, predictable transit through the strait.

What does that actually look like right now in practice?

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

In language that is less technocratic, in practical terms, we need to build confidence and trust to ensure that we can deconflict so that the vessels can cross the strait with no risk.

We must monitor and verify to ensure that the cargo that is loaded is fertilizers and related raw materials, and we need to track the vessels and report. This is not rocket science. We have done this in Yemen. We have done this in Gaza. We have done this on the Black Sea grain initiative.

It's something that my team is already ready to put on the ground. What are we missing? We are missing a political deal.

Geoff Bennett:

If access remains constrained, how do you prioritize which countries, which regions get the fertilizer and get the raw materials?

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

A week ago, the main concern was Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya, Sri Lanka, countries that are most dependent from fertilizers from the Gulf.

Now we know more. We know that the entire fertilizer market is disrupted, that even the producers of fertilizers in South Africa, in Morocco, in China, in Turkey are being affected, because they don't have the raw materials. If they don't get the fertilizers, the productivity goes down. You don't have the ability to put the agriculture functioning properly, and we have massive devastation and hunger and starvation.

If we don't get a solution quickly, we will have 45 million people, more, forced into food insecurity.

Geoff Bennett:

It sounds like we're already at the point at which aid groups cannot compensate now for this disruption.

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

We have seen this movie, this script, a crisis that starts locally, it becomes regional, and then it's global.

I have my team ready. Look, I have identified already the monitors to put on the ground. I have already developed with my team the digital platform to approve all of the vessels. I can -- in seven days, my team can in seven days put everything functioning.

We just need a political will.

Geoff Bennett:

From the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to this crisis now we're talking about connected to the Strait of Hormuz, is the international community moving with enough urgency?

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

We are living in the worst consequences, in the worst conditions ever since the World War II in terms of conflict.

One quarter of the people in the world live under conflict. One was the last time that we spoke about Afghanistan or Myanmar or Somalia or Sudan or Mali or Haiti or Ukraine? So it's important that we don't jump from one crisis to the other, forgetting the others that were already happening and didn't disappear.

So this is a moment where solidarity must be boosted. It's one planet, one society, and we are all on this together. If we don't find collective solutions, we will all be significantly affected.

Geoff Bennett:

When you say you have a team ready to move right now, what really can the U.N. do, absent a deal between the U.S. and Iran and Israel?

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

We will be condemned to deal with the consequences. If you don't let the U.N. act now, if you don't let the U.N. bring the monitors to the Strait of Hormuz to monitor, verify, to deconflict the cargo, the fertilizers, we will -- you'll need the U.N. later to bring the food for the people that are facing starvation and hunger.

You'll need U.N. later to bring the sheltering and the housing and the humanitarian need for the people that was put on poverty because of this impasse. So we really need to find a solution now. It's much cheaper, it's better, and it's, from a human rights point of view, the right thing to do.

Geoff Bennett:

Jorge Moreira Da Silva, thank you for being with us.

Jorge Moreira Da Silva:

Thank you, Geoff.