Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday called at the UN General Assembly for peace summits to resolve conflicts in Ukraine and between Israel and the Palestinians, so the international community could focus instead on addressing climate change, which he said was 'the mother of all crises'.

'It would seem as though the global leadership has made enemies with life,' he said in his address to the Assembly's annual general debate, stressing that the past year of climate catastrophes and conflict had been a 'terrifying indicator' that humanity is running headlong towards 'extinction.'