Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing.
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Overview
The High-level Panel on Global Sustainability presented its report "Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing" on January 30th, 2002. The report found that real progress has been made on the path of sustainable development but it would be attained only when natural rights such as human rights, basic needs and human security would be guaranteed. The global economic crisis was thus viewed as an opportunity to mold the world into a more sustainable place
The members of the High-level Panel are:
* Co-Chairs
Tarja Halonen , President of the Republic of Finland
Jacob Zuma , President of the Republic of South Africa
* Other members: (in alphabetical order)
H.H. Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayid Al Nahayan , Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair , Senior Special Assistant/Advisor to the President of Nigeria on MDGs
Ali Babacan , Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
James Laurence Balsillie , Co-CEO, Research in Motion, and Chair of the Board, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada
Alexander Bedritsky , Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation and Special Envoy for Climate
Gro Harlem Brundtland , Former Prime Minister of Norway and former Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development
Micheline Calmy-Rey , President of the Swiss Confederation for 2011 and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Switzerland
Julia Carabias , Environmentalist and former Secretary of the Environment of Mexico
Gunilla Carlsson , Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden
Luisa Dias Diogo , Member of Parliament and former Prime Minister of Mozambique
Han Seung-soo , Chairman of the Governing Board, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea
Yukio Hatoyama , Member of the House of Representatives and former Prime Minister of Japan
Connie Hedegaard , EU Commissioner for Climate Action
Cristina Narbona Ruiz , Former Minister of Environment of Spain
Jairam Ramesh , Minister of Rural Development of India
Susan E. Rice , United States Permanent Representative to the UN and member of the United States President’s Cabinet
Kevin Rudd , Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia
Freundel Stuart , Prime Minister of Barbados
Izabella Monica Vieira Teixeira , Minister of Environment of Brazil
Zheng Guoguang , Administrator, China Meteorological Administration
The Global Track Record on Sustainable Development: snapshots of progress
Poverty eradication
27 per cent of the world’s population live in absolute poverty, down from 46 per cent in 1990[1]
Halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 was one of the pledges of the world leaders in 2010, via the Millennium Development Goals. The report finds that the world is on track to fulfill this promise. Disparities between world regions are found though: China and India saw a decrease of people living in extreme poverty between 1990 and 2005, of 455 millions with an addition of 320 millions projected for 2015. Projections for Subsaharan African consider that by 2015 the number of people living under extreme poverty will be reduced by 36% (1990 as year of reference).
Economic growth and inequality
Global economic growth is up 75 per cent since 1992 but inequality is still high
While global economic growth has dramatically increased (mostly in middle-income countries), the per capita income differences between rich and poor countries has grown steadily."The gap between rich and poor has widened in many developed countries in the past 20 years, and the average income of the richest 10 per cent of the population is now about nine times that of the poorest 10 per cent"[2].
Hunger and undernourishment
An increase of 20 million undernourished people since 2000
With a population of 7 billion, the world still produces enough food for its people. Increasing food prices denies the habitants of small-import depended countries access to food and that contributes to the plagues of famine and undernourishment. "The number of undernourished people in developing countries increased by about 20 million between 2000 and 2008. Recent years have also seen the productivity increases of the agricultural “Green Revolution” start to run out of steam, with concerns over prices of inputs such as fertilizers, water availability and competition for land also casting a shadow over the supply outlook — even as demand for food is projected to rise by 70 per cent by 2050." [3]
Forests
5.2 million hectares net forest loss per year
The ozone layer
Ozone layer will recover to pre-1980 levels in 50 years plus
This is thanks to the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone layer. The multilateral action that these two initiatives produced stopped further deterioration of the ozone layer and could be a reference for any further negociation on climate change.
Biodiversity and ecosystems
Two thirds of the services provided by nature to humankind are in decline
The oceans
85 per cent of all fish stocks are overexploited, depleted, recovering or fully exploited
Overfishing has caused 85% of all the world'sfish stock to be endangered. The world's oceans are becoming more acidic- which endangers coral reefs and marine food- and "dead zones" are more frequently found
Climate change
38 per cent increase in annual global carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2009
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol have had little effect so far on global carbon dioxide emissions.
Energy
20 per cent of the world’s population lack access to electricity
Water and sanitation
884 million people lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion people are without access to basic sanitation
The world is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals target on drinking water. Access to clean water won't be a luxury for 90% of the population in developing world. The MDG on sanitation is unlikely to be met even if progress has been made since 1990.
Gender
43 per cent of those in the agriculture workforce in developing countries are women
Women are more likely than men to hold low-wage and seasonal employment. Giving them the same opportunities as men could seriously improve issues such as undernourishment and hunger in the world.
Education
67 million children of primary school age are out of school
The Millennium Development Goals contributed to the progress of education and literacy worldwide, mostly in the world's poorest countries. Countries affected by civil war are where the slowest rate of progress of enrollment rates are met. Further, gender disparities remains still remains an issue: 2/3 of the adults illiterate in the world are women.
Health
3.5-year increase in life expectancy between 1990 and 2010 [4]
Life expectancy has increased by 3.5 years between 1990 and 2010 in the world, according to the report. This increase was at +6 years among the least developed countries but the life expectancy is still shorter there, than the world average (-11 years). The mortality rate of children remains still high and MDG4 is unlikely to be met, if initiatives to address diseases such as pneumonia and malaria are not taken.
Recommendations of the High-Level Panel
Empowering people to make sustainable choices
- Delivering on the fundamentals of development: international commitments to eradicate poverty, promote human rights and human security and advance gender equality
- Advancing education for sustainable development, including secondary and vocational education, and building of skills to help ensure that all of society can contribute to solutions that address today’s challenges and capitalize on opportunities
- Creating employment opportunities, especially for women and youth, to drive green and sustainable growth.
- Enabling consumers to make sustainable choices and advance responsible behaviour individually and collectively
- Managing resources and enabling a twenty-first-century green revolution: agriculture, oceans and coastal systems, energy and technology, international cooperation.
- Building resilience through sound safety nets, disaster risk reduction and adaptation planning
Moving towards a Sustainable Economy
- Incorporating social and environmental costs in regulating and pricing of goods and services, as well as addressing market failures.
- Creating an incentive road map that increasingly values long-term sustainable development in investment and financial transactions
- Increasing finance for sustainable development, including public and private funding and partnerships to mobilize large volumes of new financing
- Expanding how we measure progress in sustainable development by creating a sustainable development index or a set of indicators.
Strengthening Institutional Governance
- Improving coherence at the subnational, national and international levels
- Creating a set of sustainable development goals
- Establishing a periodic global sustainable development outlook report that brings together information and assessments currently dispersed across institutions and analyses them in an integrated way
- Making a new commitment to revitalize and reform the international institutional framework, including considering the creation of a global sustainable development council
See also
References
United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability (2012). Resilient people, resilient planet: A future worth choosing, Overview. New York: United Nations.
- ↑ Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing
- ↑ Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing
- ↑ Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing, page 18.
- ↑ Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing
External links
Summary of the report is available here: Sumamry:Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth choosing
For the Full report
