Earth Today | Building back better after COVID-19
Published:Thursday | April 16, 2020 | 12:14 AM
FROM POLITICAL will to cooperation and the expedited mobilisation of resources, development professionals insist the worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response, while not without challenges, has important lessons for the necessary response to global climate change.
“The world is going to change. It is impossible for us to come out of this COVID-19 crisis without changing something. Some aspect of your life must change and so it is an opportunity for us to reflect on what we are going to do to make a contribution to the greatest good – and not just from an esoteric place,” said Eleanor Jones, a sustainable development specialist who sits at the helm of Environmental Solutions Limited.
Her sentiments reflect those of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres, who said recently that “we must see countries not only united to beat the virus, but also to tackle its profound consequences”.
The UN, in its March 2020 report titled ‘Shared Responsibility, Global Solidarity: Responding to the Social Economic Impacts of COVID-19’ has noted, among other things, the value that could have come from greater progress having been made on climate change.
“Had we been further advanced in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, we could better face this challenge – with stronger health systems, fewer people living in extreme poverty, less gender inequality, a healthier natural environment, and more resilient societies,” the report said.
“We must seize the opportunity of this crisis to strengthen our commitment to implement the 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. By making progress on our global road map for a more inclusive and sustainable future, we can better respond to future crises,” it added, having also referenced the need to “learn from this crisis and build back better”.
POLITICAL WILL
Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, who has a history of climate advocacy for the most vulnerable, considers that there is reason to hope.
“Where there is political will and when there is the need to mobilise and rally around a situation, we do it. It is good to see how many Caribbean countries are mobilising and putting things in place to slow COVID-19. I think that is a good takeaway, and if we could harness some of that for climate change by being more proactive, it augurs well for us,” she said.
“(For example), I think more effort has been had to made to restore water quickly to communities or to provide water solutions because the Government knows that at this point you cannot not have water to respond in a situation like COVID-19. If we can do it for COVID-19, it shows it can be done,” added Mclymont-Lafayette, who also heads up Change Communications.
Jones, too, while emphasising the march to self-sufficiency, agrees there is reason to hope.
“People collaborate when they consider it in their interest. I don’t know that we have reached the stage where people really believe that climate change is now, and that it goes beyond borders,” she said.
“But if we could have the collaboration, and that is where young people come in, if we can get the youth really working and thinking through this thing, then there is hope. They understand and support a healthy planet,” she said further.