Priyanka Chopra Jonas Says the World Is at 'Critical Point' During UN Speech About Climate Change

Priyanka Chopra Jonas Says the World Is at 'Critical Point' During UN Speech About Climate Change
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Priyanka Chopra Jonas is addressing the climate crisis.

In a speech shared by the United Nations via YouTube on Monday, the Quantico star discussed some of the world's most significant issues, including climate change, during her appearance at the 2022 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) opening remarks.

"We meet today at a critical point in our world, at a time when global solidarity is more important than ever," the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador shared.

RELATED: Priyanka Chopra Appointed as UNICEF's Newest Global Goodwill Ambassador

"As countries continue to struggle from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the climate crisis appends lives and livelihoods, as conflicts rage, and as poverty displacement, hunger and inequalities destroy the very foundation of the more just world that we have fought for for such a long time," Chopra Jonas, 40, continued.

Noting that "all is not well with our world," she added, "These crises did not happen by chance but they can be fixed with a plan."

"We have that plan, the UN sustainable development goals — a to-do list for the world," she explained. "These goals were created hand in hand with people around the world in 2015; together we have an extraordinary opportunity to change the world that we live in."

"We owe it to our people, we owe it to our planet," she said.

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Chopra Jonas has worked with UNICEF as a global Goodwill Ambassador for more than a decade, visiting places in need like Zimbabwe and India's Mumbai slums.

After winning Miss World in 2000, she realized she could make a difference on a global scale.

"I realized I had a position of power, and I could associate myself with causes I really believed in," the Baywatch star told PEOPLE in 2018.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas attends the BVLGARI EDEN THE GARDEN OF WONDERS
Priyanka Chopra Jonas attends the BVLGARI EDEN THE GARDEN OF WONDERS

Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images for Bvlgari

"The field trips are the most special, because you meet incredible kids and survivors," Chopra Jonas shared at the time. "That has been one of my joyous moments, being able to help advocate children's rights and children's welfare around the world. That moved me so much in being able to go to places where these kids have no voice or no one listening to them, and actually shedding light on that."

RELATED VIDEO: Priyanka Chopra Jonas Shares New Photo From Baby Malti's 6 Month Birthday Celebration

As a result, she felt more grateful for her own blessings.

"The one thing that has changed in me is, I do not take my my privileges for granted," she told PEOPLE. "I do not take the fact that I live in a comfortable home, I have the ability to get an education, I have a job that I want to have, I'm living the life that I choose to live."