‘Foundational and necessary change’ needed to heal post-COVID world

“We need global solidarity and coordination”, Secretary-General António Guterres said at the event headlined, ‘Rebirthing the Global Economy to Deliver Sustainable Development for All’.   

He painted a grim picture of the havoc sparked by the pandemic, including more than one million deaths, 100 million pushed into extreme poverty and growing inequalities as hunger doubles and famine looms. 

“The gender equality gap is widening, and women’s labour force participation – a key driver for inclusive growth – has been set back decades”, he bemoaned. “We face an urgent need for climate action and building a sustainable and circular economy”. 

And amidst these ominous challenges, developing countries have been put “on the precipice of financial ruin”.  

Vaccines for all 

Noting his push for a rescue package equivalent to 10 per cent of the global economy and his call last weekend at the G20 Summit of richest nations, to help developing countries, Mr. Guterres acknowledged that the first line of business should be ending the pandemic. 

“Vaccines, tests and treatments must be global public goods, available and affordable for all”, he spelled out. 

“But we still have a gap – a gap in the COVAX facility, a gap of $28 billion and until the end of the year, a gap of $4.2 billion in order to make, indeed, this new vaccine a global public good, a people’s vaccine able to be affordable and available to all”, he continued.   

‘A quantum leap’ 

The UN chief stressed the importance of financing to “build forward and put economies on a sustainable path”, including by strengthening the IMF’s “firepower” to support the developing world. 

Moreover, he maintained the value of enhancing debt transparency and sustainability on a global level and aligning recovery efforts with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.  

“It is the moment to have a quantum leap…a global coalition for net zero greenhouse gas emissions – and act now to integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies”, he elaborated.  

“We need to implement also necessary measures…for a just transition towards good, new green jobs…[and] to prove that we care for those that will be impacted by the move from the brown to the green economy”.  

New Global Deal  

Vaccines, tests and treatments must be global public goods, available and affordable for all — UN chief

The UN chief also advocated for a “New Global Deal” in which power, resources and opportunities are shared equally and governance mechanisms that better reflect today’s realities.  

He pointed out that levels of participation in major global institutions, including the Security Council, are pegged too much to “where we were” and not enough to “today’s world”. 

No ‘walk in the park’ 

Christine Lagarde, former Managing Director of the IMF and now European Central Bank president, noted the “good politics and good economics” of shifting focus to the millions of people at the bottom of the economic scale, while acknowledging that transformation would be anything “but a walk in the park”. She upheld the need to respond to current and future shocks, calling it a test of our basic human solidarity. 

Carmen M. Reinhart, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, observed that many of today’s economic challenges pre-date COVID and stressed the need for “realism and persistence” moving forward if low-income and emerging markets are to survive the current pandemic.  

Journalist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman flagged that the virus will “win the race” if we do not seriously disrupt the transmission chain of the coronavirus, and provide further “economic compensation” for those whose livelihoods have been badly hit by restrictions.

This World Children’s Day, ‘reimagine a better future’, for every child

In a joint message, President of the European Parliament David Sassoli and UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called for urgent investment to protect children’s futures. 

As the world responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, “the rights of every child everywhere, need to come first in any recovery plan”, they stated. 

The senior officials were joined by several young people from around the world, drawing attention to the challenges facing today’s youth.  

“We see our generation facing challenges as never before in our lifetimes, millions of children are missing out on basic health care, are being cut off from education, and are facing poverty and violence everyday”, the youngsters said.  

“The COVID-19 pandemic took away ‘normal’, but for us ‘normal’ was never good enough anyway.” 

COVID-19 not the ‘only danger’ 

The youth advocates warned that COVID-19 “is not the only danger.” 

“Our planet is suffering and climate change is real, inequality and discrimination are real, the stress on our mental health is very real. 

On World Children’s Day, they continued, “we have a unique opportunity to listen to the visions and solutions of children and young people, for generations to discuss and act together.” 

That, Ms. Fore and Mr. Sassoli stressed, is why UNCIEF and the European Parliament have come together “to make sure no child is left behind.” 

“To make this day to REIMAGINE a better future where all children have a place and opportunities, where all children survive and thrive, where more investments are made today to secure their tomorrow”, the joint message added. 

UNICEF/Chuluunbaata

A young child has her temperature taken at school in Bayanzurkh district, Mongolia. UNICEF provided infrared thermometers to schools and kindergartens in the district as part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts.

Practical and concrete actions  

This year, with COVID-19 upending every aspect lives everywhere, UNICEF launched a plan with practical and concrete actions to protect children. 

“Decision makers must start by listening to children and young people and including them in decision-making,” urged UNICEF, stressing that doing so is vital as it is the children who will live with the impact of this pandemic for decades to come.  

UNICEF called for global action to ensure all children learn, including by closing the digital divide; guarantee access to health and nutrition services; make vaccines affordable and available to every child; support and protect the mental health of children and young people; and bring an end to abuse, violence, and neglect, among other objectives. 

Messages globally 

Meanwhile, messages on the Day have been trending globally on social media platforms, offering support, urging action, and also asking for ideas and inspiration to improve future prospects.  

Sachin Tendulkar, retired Indian cricket superstar and UNICEF South Asia Goodwill Ambassador, declared that “children are the world’s most valuable resource and our best hope for the future.” 

Similarly, Siwon Choi, a singer-songwriter from the Republic of Korea and Regional Ambassador for UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific, invited his Twitter following to “share your ideas for a better future for all.” 

Click here to see some of the messages. 

‘Go Blue’ 

Similar to previous years, major world landmarks are “going blue” to stand for the rights of every child. This year, the representative action is not only a celebration but a resolve towards reimagining a better world for children.

Development funding and trade transparency needed, to stop COVID-19 dividing the world

The report, Impact of the Pandemic on Trade and Development: Transitioning to a new normal, said the pandemic had accelerated existing trends in trade, investment and technology, but its impact was “tilted towards the most vulnerable, both within and across countries” and it would leave many developing countries with unsustainable debt burdens.

Getting the world back on track towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a so-called “better recovery”, meant reshaping global corporate networks and multilateral cooperation, the report said.

Unavoidable transformation

“While the pandemic may be far from over, it has become clear that transforming global approaches to trade and development cannot be avoided when charting a sustainable course to recovery from the pandemic”, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi wrote in the foreword.

“It is our hope that this ‘better recovery’ can sow the seeds of a healthier, fairer and greener globalization that can be nourished by a more resilient approach to multilateralism.”

The pandemic is loading more costs onto developing countries while simultaneously reducing the availability of external finance, the report said. Cutbacks are likely in international development spending and remittances sent home by migrant workers are expected to fall 20 per cent this year.

Developing countries did not only need debt relief, but direct liquidity support to give them budgetary spending power in the short term and a framework for sovereign debt restructuring in the long term, it said.

“For developing countries – especially for the poorest and most vulnerable among them – new international consensus on financing must be reached in order to extend to all countries the fiscal breathing room and liquidity needed to meet the extraordinary outlay of resources required to tackle the health and economic crisis head on.”

New Marshall Plan

The report called for a “Marshall Plan” of international development spending to help poorer countries recover.

“There is the risk that a sovereign liquidity crisis could quickly turn into a solvency crisis if countries do not receive sufficient liquidity support. Proactive steps by the international community are required to avert a broader and deeper crisis”, it said.

The report said that international trade had sped the transmission of the pandemic and the accompanying economic shock around the world, but trade was also part of the solution and policies for fairer and greener trade would help the weakest and most vulnerable to recover.

Some of the pandemic’s economic trends would endure and should be harnessed to help the global recovery, such as accelerated digitalization. But other potentially positive changes such as more climate-friendly production and consumption, still needed policy support to reach critical mass, the report said.

Room for hope, in new world order

Despite enormous challenges to development aspirations, the right policies and sufficient coordination would steer the world economy back towards the SDGs, which were agreed by all UN Member States in 2015 and aim to reduce poverty, protect the planet and promote peace and prosperity by 2030.

“Thus, despite the grim outlook, it is still possible to turn COVID-19 into the finest hour of the United Nations and build a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable future”, the report concluded.

Backed by space technology, Asia-Pacific countries power sustainable development

Released on Wednesday, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) report Geospatial Practices for Sustainable Development showcases examples from the region’s countries employing applications of space technology to advance sustainable development.  

“Night-light” satellite images monitoring the impact of lockdowns, “heatmaps” to chart out communities vulnerable to the pandemic and its socio-economic consequences, real-time situational analysis, and dashboards integrating a wide gamut of critical information to support decisions are some of the practices cited. 

The examples, according to the report, show how space applications and geospatial data have played an important role in providing essential location-based and temporal data to make an “overall data map” and snapshots on the COVID-19 pandemic for policymakers and the public. 

Strengthening resilience 

In addition, combining spatial data from contact tracing, quarantining, and social distancing with digital solutions and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven risk analytics can help enhance community resilience. 

Such applications can also help in the recovery phase to build back better, by providing an evidence base for decisions on the easing of lockdown and the resumption of economic and social activities, the report added. 

“The effective integration of geospatial data, with existing statistics and ground-based information, will be key to delivering the timely data needed for governments, businesses, communities and citizens to make evidenced-based decisions”, said Armida Salsiah Alisjahjabana, Executive Secretary of ESCAP. 

The report, issued two years after Asian and Pacific countries endorsed an ambitious plan of action on use of space technologies to support sustainable development also provides a baseline for assessing future progress in the region. 

Importance of partnerships 

In addition to presenting an overview of the status along thematic areas such as disaster risk, natural resource management, connectivity, social development, energy, and climate change, the report also highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships.  

“Many regional and country-based efforts are sparking innovations that attract both public and private capital, supporting start-ups and spinoffs from space applications research and pilots,” said ESCAP.  

The report outlined seven key recommendations for policymakers to integrate applications of geospatial information into their planning and actions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

These include investments to cultivate national experts; incorporating geospatial information into national institutions and platforms; integrating geospatial data with other data sources; employing geospatial data to create, implement and monitor policies; ensuring privacy, safety and ethics of data; providing open data access; and encouraging local to international collaborations. 

COVID disruption will ‘pale in comparison’ if world fails to act on climate change, SDGs

“The decisions we make now will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond: Emissions must fall by half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050 to reach the 1.5C goal”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message to the virtual Finance in Common Summit.

“If we fail to meet these goals, the disruption to economies, societies and people caused by COVID-19 will pale in comparison to what the climate crisis holds in store”.

Mr. Guterres maintained that the world has a shared responsibility to redouble its efforts to recover from the economic and social crisis and “get on track” to achieve the SDGs and build a sustainable, inclusive and resilient future.

“Global solidarity is imperative to defeat the virus and recover better”, he upheld.

Encouraging signs

The UN chief told participants he was encouraged by the growing number of countries committing to the net zero target.

He noted that the European Union (EU) had pledged to become the first carbon-neutral bloc by 2050 and has aligned its COVID-19 recovery package with that objective. And 110 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan and Korea, have also made the pledge for 2050 while China is aiming for 2060.

“This means that 50 per cent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product, and about 50 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, are now covered by a net-zero commitment”, Mr. Guterres explained, adding that many cities and businesses are realizing the “we have no alternative, and because they recognize the opportunities that are there to be seized”. 

‘Not there yet’

So far, however, no bold commitments have been made to finance the vehicles necessary for the SDGs.

The UN chief noted that public development banks are “uniquely positioned to play a leading role”, by providing concessionary finance where it is most needed, and leveraging private funding. 

“This is essential to reboot our economies and put them firmly on the path to a carbon-neutral, sustainable future”, he attested.

Key steps

The Secretary-General outlined five measures to achieve these goals, beginning with aligning the mandates of public development banks with the SDGs and carbon neutrality commitments by 2050.

“Invest…in just transition programmes, that will leave no one behind, including SDG bonds, and incorporate gender and sustainability in all instruments”, he said.

Painting a picture of enormous demands for emergency funding with simplified approval processes, Mr. Guterres’ second point was to give priority to funding immediate relief measures, particularly on public health and food security.

“Investments by public development banks have been shown to bring in more private finance instead of replacing it…[and] offer opportunities to improve governance and regulatory frameworks in the countries where they operate, providing certainty and bringing in much-needed capital”, he said. 

Thirdly, there is a need to dramatically increase public development finance for adaptation and resilience, particularly for the most vulnerable groups.

“We need to invest massively in public health, food security and education for all; in empowering women, girls and the most vulnerable; in supporting productive investment and employment; in access to energy; and in promoting human rights in general”, the UN chief spelled out.

Next, it was important to have transparency to ensure that both public and private finance supports the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.

“Work together to adopt norms, standards and certification mechanisms for sustainable finance”, he urged all countries.

Finally, Mr. Guterres underscored the need for better data.

“We need public development banks to invest in the data and statistics that strengthen the capacity of developing countries to make the decisions that are needed and…openly share their data with decision-makers for better, coordinated action”, he elaborated.

The UN chief told the participants that their decisions will “send a signal to the global financial community and to policy makers around the world”, transform development finance and “help build the foundations of a new economy fit for the 21st century”.

WHO’s Tedros says it is time for the world to heal, pushing back on ‘misguided nationalism’ 

Addressing the World Health Assembly, which resumed proceedings on Monday after its annual session in May was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros said the world had achieved a “great convergence” in 2015 when governments adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on finance for development.

“Since then, the creeping tides of misguided nationalism and isolationism have eroded that sense of common purpose. The Paris Agreement has been undermined; the commitments made in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda have gone largely unfulfilled; and although there has been progress toward the SDGs, too often our efforts have remained siloed and splintered”, he said.

The pandemic had set the SDGs back even further while also providing evidence of their importance, he added.

‘Common purpose’

“However, we must be honest: we can only realise the full power and potential of the SDGs if the international community urgently recaptures the sense of common purpose that gave birth to them. In that spirit, we congratulate President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and we look forward to working with their administration very closely.”

Tedros said it was time for a new era of cooperation, with emphasis on health and well-being globally.

“It’s time for the world to heal – from the ravages of this pandemic, and the geopolitical divisions that only drive us further into the chasm of an unhealthier, un-safer and unfairer future”, he said.

‘Fork in the road’

“The world has reached a fork in the road. We cannot afford to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the same rate and still breathe clean air. We must choose.

We cannot afford ever-deepening inequalities and expect continued peace and prosperity. We must choose. And we cannot afford to see health merely as a by-product of development, or a commodity that only the rich can afford”, he said. 

“Today and every day, we must choose health. We’re one big family.”

Sustainable urbanization critical to COVID-19 recovery, better quality of life

The World Cities Report 2020, released on Saturday, showcases the value of sustainable urbanization and how it can contribute to global efforts to build back better after the crisis. 

“The World Cities Report 2020 convincingly affirms that well-planned, managed, and financed cities and towns create economic, social, environmental and other unquantifiable value that can vastly improve the quality of life of all”, said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the UN-Habitat Executive Director. 

“Urbanization can be leveraged for the fight against poverty, inequality, unemployment, climate change and other pressing global challenges”, 

Cities drive transformative change 

Globally, around 55 per cent of all people live in urban areas: a figure that is expected to rise to nearly 70 per cent by 2050, according to the United Nations. 

Cities have been at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, UN-Habitat said, with 95 per cent of cases found in urban areas. 

The report emphasizes the role of the New Urban Agenda, the UN’s 20-year plan for sustainable urbanization, as a road map to achieving sustainable development and combating climate change. 

It analyzes the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective, as well as what the authors called “the unquantifiable value” that gives cities their unique character. 

When combined, they can drive transformative change, the report argues. 

The value of urbanization 

UN-Habitat explained that cities generate economic value when they function efficiently, for example by providing transport options that reduce traffic congestion and shorten travel times, thus allowing for more productive employment. 

Environmental value is generated in the case of compact cities that have walkable urban centres, thus leading to a reduction in their overall carbon footprint, the agency added. 

Meanwhile, urban policies can reduce social inequalities.  Providing housing for low-income residents, or creating safe spaces for marginalized groups such as migrants and LGBTQ+ individuals (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer), are just two examples. 

Furthermore, when cities are well-planned and managed, they also create intangible value by instilling civic pride and serving as centres of cultural traditions, the report added. 

Empowering the cities of the future 

The UN-Habitat report was launched on World Cities Day, commemorated annually on 31 October. 

In his message marking the day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for putting communities at the heart of the cities of the future. 

“When urban communities are engaged in policy and decision making, and empowered with financial resources, the results are more inclusive and durable”, he said. 

UN Habitat underscored that the value of sustainable urbanization can only be unlocked provided that various planning, finance and governance conditions are in place. 

The report calls on Governments to create an environment that empowers local authorities to raise revenue, regulate land use, plan for urban growth, limit urban sprawl and relieve overcrowded housing.

Similarly, local governments also should collect revenue to improve municipal services and public spaces. 

LIVE: World Food Day

07:00

‘Grow, nourish, sustain. Together’

Good morning from UN News in New York! World Food Day is celebrated globally, but it is being led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is based in Rome, where events will be kicking off at around 14:00 Central European Time.

Over the next few hours, we’ll be taking you through some of the main themes and issues surrounding food and food systems, and how they’re being tackled throughout the UN system.

And there are some serious problems to discuss: food systems – which encompass everything that goes from transforming raw ingredients on the farm, to food on the plate – are clearly not functioning as they should. They’re exacerbating climate change, thanks to the greenhouse gases they produce, trillions of dollars worth of food goes to waste, and yet millions are still going hungry.

The UN wants to ensure that future food systems provide affordable and healthy diets for all, and decent livelihoods for food system workers, while preserving natural resources and biodiversity and tackling challenges such as climate change.

As is so often the case with global problems, the solutions are out there, but greater political will and awareness is needed to put them into practice.

Social protection coverage in Asia and the Pacific ‘riddled with gaps’

The need for social protection safety nets has been further highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report, launched on Thursday. 

“Comprehensive social protection creates the foundation for healthy societies and vibrant economies,” Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of ESCAP, said in a news release, on Thursday, announcing the findings. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought this imperative into sharp focus, by demonstrating the stabilizing effect well-functioning social protection systems have and how their absence exacerbates inequality and poverty,” she added. 

According to the report, The Protection We Want: Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, the pandemic has created an “opportunity” to strengthen social protection systems for the future.  

The economic and employment shock countries are facing due to pandemic means that social protection will remain a critical policy tool in the recovery, it added, underscoring that social protection programmes should form an integral component of any recovery plans. 

Underinvestment

Excluding health, many countries in the region spend less than 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on social protection, a “stark contrast” from the global average of 11 per cent, said the report. 

Across the region, about 46 per cent of the population is protected in at least one area of social protection, with South East and South Asia subregions lagging with 33 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. 

In many countries, there are no schemes for numerous social protection contingencies, and responsibility for provisions such as maternity, sickness, and employment injury benefits, falling on employers. 

“These arrangements can create perverse incentives for employers. For example, employer-liability arrangements for maternity benefits can lead to discrimination against women of reproductive age,” warned the report. 

Informal employment 

Alongside underinvestment in social protection schemes, another key reason for the coverage gap is high prevalence of informal employment in the region, representing close to 70 per cent of all workers, according to the report. 

Though national and subregional differences exist, informal employment prevails in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, such as construction, wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, and restaurants, the report added. Women are particularly impacted as they are most often engaged in the informal economy, working in more vulnerable jobs. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the precarious situation of both women and men in the informal economy, explained Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at ILO. 

“There is a clear need for further investment in public social protection systems if we are to avoid the stagnation of social and economic progress made across the region in recent decades,” she said. 

Recommendations 

The report identified seven key actions governments in the region can take to improve social protection. 

These include: integrating social protection as a core strategy for socio-economic development; political commitment and stepping up investments in social protection for all; closing existing social protection coverage gaps; promoting transition from the informal to the formal economy; and embedding social dialogue at all steps from design and implementation to follow-up and evaluation. 

The report also calls for strengthening gender-responsiveness of social protection systems by ensuring that schemes address the specific vulnerabilities faced by women, men, girls, and boys; and leveraging new technologies to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of social protection. 

By stepping up their commitments to universal social protection, countries in Asia and the Pacific would “also be taking a critical step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while being better prepared to deal with current and emerging challenges,” added the report. 

Stand in solidarity with world’s poor, UN chief says in message for International Day

António Guterres issued the appeal in a video message to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, observed annually on 17 October. 

He highlighted how the pandemic represents “a double crisis” for the world’s poorest people.   

“First, they have the highest risk of exposure to the virus, and least access to quality healthcare”, said Mr. Guterres.  

“Second, recent estimates show the pandemic could push up to 115 million people into poverty this year – the first increase in decades. Women are at greatest risk because they are more likely to lose their jobs, and less likely to have social protection.” 

The UN chief underscored the need for extraordinary efforts to fight poverty at this time. 

As the pandemic demands strong collective action, he called for Governments to accelerate economic transformation by investing in sustainable recovery. 

Additionally, countries need “a new generation of social protection programmes”, that also cover people who work in the informal economy.    

“Joining together in common cause is the only way we will emerge safely from this pandemic”, said the Secretary-General.  

“On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, let’s stand in solidarity with people living in poverty, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.” 

The International Day was established by a UN General Assembly resolution adopted in December 1992. 

The theme this year is ‘Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all’. 

For the UN, this focus recognizes “the multi-dimensionality of poverty”, meaning that social justice cannot be fully realized without also working to address environmental injustices, including those due to climate change.

UN chief announces major push to transform harmful food systems

In a video message, Mr. Guterres highlighted the importance of food systems, and their impact on economies, environment and health, but warned that they are “one of the main reasons we are failing to stay within our planet’s ecological boundaries”.

A timely Nobel Prize

This year, the coronavirus pandemic has brought the fragility of the world’s food supplies to the fore, with millions going hungry. At the same time, the climate crisis continues to wreak havoc on food security.

To address these issues, the Secretary-General is convening a Food Systems Summit next year to raise global awareness and spur actions to rethink food systems, so that they can play a more positive role in ending hunger, reducing diet-related disease, and help in the fight against climate change.

The event will be held at UN Headquarters in New York in September, in conjunction with the next UN General Assembly opening session and, said Mr. Guterres, will focus the attention of world leaders on the issue.

“The awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme (WFP) highlights the Summit’s timeliness”, he added, underlining the need for global engagement and action for inclusive and sustainable food systems, and calling on everyone to join these conversations.

© UNHCR/Kim Nelson

Refugee chefs in the UK share recipes over Ramadan (file)

Raise ambition, change direction

The Summit will be run by a specially appointed envoy, former Rwandan Minister for Agriculture, Agnes Kalibata. At a press briefing on Monday, she emphasized the need for food systems – which are responsible for trillions of dollars in wasted food, and significant greenhouse gas emissions – to radically change.

The Special Envoy told reporters that the Summit puts food and food systems at the heart of the UN’s Decade of Action, the 10 years left we have left to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Work to make sure the Summit is a success has already begun, she explained, with a scientific group, made up of experts drawn from a range of disciplines, having met over the summer to ensure that the event is based on sound scientific principles.

This November, dialogues will begin at a national level, involving governments and other stakeholders. These discussions, said Ms. Kalibata, will be critical, and will culminate in a meeting in Rome next Summer, at which actions for inclusive and sustainable food systems will be identified, and taken forward as recommendations for the Secretary-General to submit to world leaders at the September Summit.

WFP/Morelia Eróstegui

A World Food Programme (WFP) representative in Bolivia talks to Uru-Murato indigenous women about COVID-19 awareness and healthy nutrition practices.

‘Grow, nourish, sustain. Together’

This Friday, on World Food Day, the Summit team is holding a 24-hour global relay conversation, involving actors, celebrity chefs, and young people, to raise awareness about the unsustainable nature of the global food system, and will also serve as the launch of the Summit dialogues.

The main World Food Day events will begin at 2pm, Central European Time, with an opening ceremony involving key UN officials, Pope Francis, Queen Letizia of Spain and other prominent figures. 

Other events include a video mapping show, which will be broadcast live from the Colosseum, and the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the Italian capital.
 

‘Staggering’ rise in climate emergencies in last 20 years, new disaster research shows

In an urgent call for countries to prepare better for all catastrophic events – from earthquakes and tsunamis to biological threats such as the new coronavirus – data from the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) indicates that wealthy nations have done little to tackle the harmful emissions that are linked to climate threats which make up the bulk of disasters today. 

Short odds 

“Disaster management agencies have succeeded in saving many lives through improved preparedness and the dedication of staff and volunteers. But the odds continue to be stacked against them, in particular by industrial nations that are failing miserably on reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mami Mizutori, UNDRR chief, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. 

According to the UNDRR report – produced with Belgium’s Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at UCLouvain – there were 7,348 recorded disaster events worldwide, during the last two decades. 

Approximately 1.23 million people died – approximately 60,000 per year – with more than four billion affected in total; many more than once.  

These two decades of disaster also caused $2.97 trillion in losses to the global economy, with data also indicating that poorer nations experienced deaths rates more than four times higher than richer nations. 

By comparison, the previous 20-year period (1980 to 1999) saw 4,212 reported disasters from natural hazards, with 1.19 million deaths, more than three billion people affected and economic losses totalling $ 1.63 trillion. 

Climate danger spike 

Although better recording and reporting of disasters may help explain some of the increase in the last two decades, researchers insisted that the significant rise in climate-related emergencies was the main reason for the spike, with floods accounting for more than 40 per cent of disasters – affecting 1.65 billion people – storms 28 per cent, earthquakes (eight per cent) and extreme temperatures (six per cent). 

“This is clear evidence that in a world where the global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period, the impacts are being felt in the increased frequency of extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and wildfires,” UNDRR reported . 

Despite the pledge made by the international community in Paris in 2015 to reduce global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Ms. Mizutori added that it was “baffling” that nations were continuing knowingly “to sow the seeds of our own destruction, despite the science and evidence that we are turning our only home into an uninhabitable hell for millions of people”. 

COVID-19 exposure 

Turning to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has “laid bare many shortcomings in disaster risk management (despite) repeated warnings”, the UNDRR report recommended urgent action from Governments to better manage such overlapping disasters. 

These hazards included known “risk drivers”, such as poverty, climate change, air pollution, population growth in dangerous locations, uncontrolled urbanization and the loss of biodiversity. 

Chronic needs 

By way of an example of chronic weather risks which should be the focus of better national preparedness measures, the agency pointed that shifting rainfall patterns pose a risk to the 70 per cent of global agriculture that relies on rain and the 1.3 billion people dependent on degrading agricultural land.  

Despite the fact that extreme weather events have become so regular in last 20 years, only 93 countries have implemented disaster risk strategies at a national level ahead of the end-of-year deadline, Ms. Mizutori said. 

“Disaster risk governance depends on political leadership above all, and delivery on the promises made when the Paris agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction were adopted,” she said. “But the sad fact is that we are wilfully destructive. And that is the conclusion of this report; COVID-19 is but the latest proof that politicians and business leaders have yet to tune into the world around them.” 

She added: “It really is all about governance if we want to deliver this planet from the scourge of poverty, further loss of species and biodiversity, the explosion of urban risk and the worst consequences of global warming”, in a joint statement with UCLouvain’s Professor Debarati Guha-Sapir. 

Although the UNDRR report indicates that there has been some success in protecting vulnerable communities from isolated hazards, thanks to more effective early warning systems, disaster preparedness and response, projected global temperature rises could make these improvements “obsolete in many countries”, the agency warned. 

Currently, the world is on course for a temperature increase of 3.2 degrees Celsius or more, unless industrialised nations can deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 7.2 per cent annually over the next 10 years in order to achieve the 1.5 degree target agreed in Paris. 

Harness ‘transformative potential’ of urbanization for people and planet

The need is all the more pressing given the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, UN Secretary-General António Guterres outlined in a message. 

“Access to clean water and sanitation, along with social distancing, are key responses to the pandemic. Yet in slums it has proved difficult to implement these measures”, said Mr. Guterres. 

“This means an increased risk of infection, not only within slums, but in whole cities, many of which are largely serviced by low-income informal sector workers living in informal settlements”, he said. 

Globally, more than a billion people live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing, and the number is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2030.  

To meet that demand, more than 96,000 housing units will need to be completed every day – and they must be part of the green transition, said the Secretary-General, urging greater partnerships, pro-poor policies, and regulations needed to improve housing in cities. 

“As we strive to overcome the pandemic, address the fragilities and inequalities it has exposed, and combat climate change, now is the time to harness the transformative potential of urbanization for the benefit of people and planet,” he added. 

Marked annually on the first Monday of October, World Habitat Day focuses attention on the state of the world’s towns and cities, and the right to adequate shelter. This year’s observance highlights the centrality of housing as a driver for sustainable urban development. 

The World Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1985. 

‘Frontline defence’ against COVID-19 

According to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), with urban areas accounting for 95 per cent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases, housing is now widely recognised as a frontline defence against the disease, with residents across the world being told to stay at home and wash their hands.  

However, these simple measures are “impossible” for over a billion people, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, said in a separate message. 

“We have seen hospitals overflowing, jobs disappearing, schools closed and movement restricted. But we can, and we will recover, and use our experiences to build back better and greener,” she added. 

Noting that towns and cities moved quickly to provide emergency housing solutions and shelter for the homeless, quarantine spaces, truck in water and postponed evictions, Ms. Sharif urged that these achievements must not be reversed, once the pandemic is over.  

“These temporary measures need to lead to long term policy changes,” she said. 

“Otherwise, poverty and inequalities will be further exacerbated, and millions of people are at risk of losing their homes, once temporary bans on evictions are lifted, or when the lack of the stable income results in missed rent or mortgage payments.” 

Food loss and waste ‘an ethical outrage’, UN chief says on International Day

Last year, the UN General Assembly designated 29 September as the International Day, recognizing the fundamental role that sustainable food production plays in promoting food security and nutrition and highlighting the essential need to reduce food loss and waste. 

In addition, with the COVID-19 pandemic underlining the fragility of food systems, and worsening food loss and waste in many countries, Secretary-General António Guterres called for “new approaches and solutions” to solve the challenges. 

“Food loss and waste is an ethical outrage. In a world with enough food to feed all people, everywhere, 690 million people continue to go hungry and 3 billion cannot afford a healthy diet,” he said. 

Squandering natural resources 

“Food loss and waste also squanders natural resources – water, soil and energy, not to mention human labour and time. It worsens climate change, given the significant role of agriculture in generating greenhouse gas emissions,” added Mr. Guterres. 

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 14 per cent of food produced globally is lost between harvest and retail, with significant quantities also wasted at the retail and consumption levels. The figure is higher in the case of fruits and vegetables, where more than 20 per cent is lost. 

When food is loss or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce it – including water, land, energy, labour and capital – go to waste. In addition, the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change, said FAO. 

Sustainable Development Goals 

The critical issue of reducing food waste is also highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Goals 2 and 12 calling for achieving zero hunger, and halving food waste and reducing food loss by 2030, respectively.  

“While many countries are taking action, we need to step up efforts,” said the Secretary-General, highlighting that the inaugural observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste comes as the world prepare for the 2021 Food Systems Summit. 

“I urge countries to set a reduction target aligned with SDG 12, measure their food loss and waste and act boldly to reduce it. Policy action in this area should also be included in climate plans under the Paris Agreement [on Climate Change],” he said. 

Many businesses should take a similar approach, continued Mr. Guterres, calling on Individuals to shop carefully, store food correctly and make good use of leftovers. 

“Let us work together to reduce food loss and waste for the benefit of people and our planet,” added the Secretary-General. 

Ahead of biodiversity summit, UN officials call for action to preserve the natural world

“We have no time to wait. Biodiversity loss, nature loss, it is at an unprecedented level in the history of mankind”, Elizabeth Mrema, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, told UN News in the SDG Media Zone. “We’re the most dangerous species in global history.”  

The Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty agreed to at the UN Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992. It has three goals: the conservation of biological diversity; the sustainable use of nature; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic science.  

Biodiversity targets 

If you look at the scorecard, like a school report, the highest is below 30 per cent of the progress … Not one Aichi Target will be fully met – Elizabeth Mrema

Under the CBD, countries in 2010 agreed to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets – a group of 20 goals to conserve biodiversity that range from preserving species, to reducing deforestation by 2020. Aichi’s goals are to biodiversity what the Paris climate accord is to global warming.   

Countries had until this year to reach the targets, and then move on to create a post-2020 global biodiversity framework. But despite some progress, the targets – which range from stopping species from extinction to cutting pollution and preserving forests – were not achieved.    

“If you look at the scorecard, like a school report, the highest is below 30 per cent of the progress”, Ms. Mrema said. “Not one Aichi Target will be fully met, so that, by itself, of the 20 targets, 10 years, we have failed.”  

Discussions are now underway for a new framework that builds on those “quote unquote failures”, said Ms. Mrema.  

The document is still in the early stage, being reviewed in informal consultations, but needs to be ready for adoption at the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in China in 2021. 

One of the major differences between the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the post-2020 framework will be implementation. After Aichi, some countries had to create national strategies to act on the targets. Those are now in place. 

Coral Reef Image Bank/Tracey Jen

A sea turtle glides over the reef in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

Taking action now 

“We are not calling for reinventing the wheel, so basically implementation should be able to begin immediately,” Ms. Mrema said.  

The new framework will also include resources such as technology transfer and capacity building, which were not considered priorities at Aichi. 

To create momentum for this new way of living with nature, the President of the UN General Assembly will convene the Summit on Biodiversity this Wednesday, where world leaders are expected to declare their countries’ commitments to nature and a post-2020 biodiversity framework.    

“They are not going to say, ‘We will continue a path of destruction.’ They are going to say, ‘We will get on a path of sustainability’,” said Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).  

Ms. Andersen, speaking alongside Ms. Mrema in the SDG Media Zone, outlined other voices that will be heard this week in the General Assembly Hall, and in so-called leaders’ dialogue sessions that will focus on sustainable development and on science and technology. 

Youthful energy 

“Just like in the climate movement, and then the Climate Action Summit, we saw that the energy that the young people bring in, into the room, onto the street, over dinner tables, back at home, into the classroom, and eventually into the voting booth”, Ms. Andersen said about the inclusion of young people in the week’s discussions. “That is an energy that we want to see also for nature and biodiversity.” 

She highlighted the voice of indigenous peoples, calling them “environmental defenders”, “stalwarts of nature” and “holders of knowledge” whose “voice, in the UN and beyond, is irrepressible and critical.” 

The week will include participation from the private sector and highlight an awareness among participants of agriculture and how to more effectively incentive farming in line with preserving biodiversity. 

Mark Anderson

Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor). The Asian and southern African populations are partially migratory, with many making regular movements from their breeding sites inland to coastal wetlands when not breeding.

Changing agriculture 

“We all eat, so we all have to understand that eating is important,” Ms. Andersen said. “But our agricultural practices need to change for the better, and so that means that big agriculture has a to-do item on its list in terms of how we do that, and policymakers have a to-do item in helping them shift.” 

While these senior UN officials hope for strong participation from a variety of groups, the most important voice is strong commitments from heads of State who have the ability to direct policy change. 

 “It’s time for action. And understanding, therefore, that the heads of State now what they will say will really matter, because future generations will judge them,” Ms. Anderson said, echoing Ms. Mrema. 

“Were we going to be the leaders that stood and let species and nature disappear? So that your grandchild or mine, will not see that magnificent animal or that incredible flower or the very being of ecosystem that supports us? It’s not small. It’s very, very big, because it is the future [of] food security, because it is the future of peace, because it is the future of humanity as we understand it.”