End Poverty, Protect the Planet, and Ensure Prosperity for All - Part 1
The United Nations recently brokered two historic agreements applicable to every person on the planet. In September 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched to guide the U.N.’s work over the next 15 years, and in December, the U.N. created a roadmap in Paris for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and responding to their devastating impacts. The world in 2030 will look very different if we get these goals right. The hope is that we will have avoided and averted some of the world’s worst crises, but that is only if we get it right. There is a chance that we will not.
Some people will see, and have seen, these efforts as separate agendas with separate organizations and separate funding streams. It is not uncommon, inside and outside the UN, to hear climate action pigeonholed to only a handful of the 17 SDGs for example. Both development and climate experts alike do this and this is a mistake. The SDGs and the Paris climate agreement are clearly interconnected and any effort to tackle one without immediate consideration of the other will do serious disservice to both. (It is not unlike the lack of coordination between the UN’s Security Council and the UN’s Economic and Social Council when dealing with global violence; the former body, which is predominantly reactive to conflict, would do well to prioritize preventive approaches in direct conversation with the latter body.)
Both SDG and climate commitments bring with them unimaginably hefty, but necessary, workloads. Hefty in that we are still over-reliant on unsustainable systems and must transition to something more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable. Necessary in that we must do it now in order to survive. Done together however, we might actually have a shot at this. But that means that myriad communities committed to the SDGs – e.g. poverty, hunger, health, education, gender, etc. – will need to be in direct and daily conversation with climate organizations. This is not a groundbreaking proposition. Many of my colleagues are already pounding this pavement but it definitely bears repeating as this is going to require an entirely new modus operandi, unlike anything that has been orchestrated before. There is some discussion now, but it must increase tenfold.
If we are to efficiently and effectively tackle what is in store, we will need to come out of the gate strong this year. There is no time to waste, which is why some cities in the US – such as New York City, Baltimore and San Jose – are already adopting urban SDG agendas on top of their climate commitments. They did not want to wait; we should not wait. The agenda begins now, and a first step in that process is ticking through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and enumerating their climate connection clearly, lest anyone still doubts that these agendas are interrelated.
Eradicating poverty and hunger, the first two SDGs, are perhaps the most obvious in their connection to climate, yet funding streams and workflows are still siloed or marginalized. The anti-poverty and anti-hunger camps, for example, have yet to fully integrate the climate narrative. And yet, climate change is one of the UN’s biggest obstacles in its 15-year goal setting on these two fronts. Not only will extreme weather force more people into poverty, disease, and malnutrition, it will destabilize everyone and everything that is already vulnerable. Putting poor populations at the fore of any climate fix will be essential, as will difficult decisions regarding diet. Increasing food production 70 percent by 2050, to feed the nearly 10 billion people that will live on this planet, is going to require a massive uptick in plant-based diets given the carbon intensity of the animal industry. There’s no easy way around this and it’d behoove both camps to get on board this train sooner than later, something they have yet to do.
Health is a no-brainer as dirty fossil fuels are killing us. Air pollution alone kills 3.3 million people a year, a deathly figure set to double in 35 years if we don’t change course. Hotter temperatures, and the heat records we continue to break, bring all sorts of harmful health impacts. Simply put, that means more strokes, heart attacks, mosquitoes and ticks. Thankfully, the highly reputed Lancet Commission is already addressing this issue, but more needs to be done to engage health practitioners in the telling of the climate story, whether in mobile clinics, emergency rooms, or hospital boardrooms. The climate-health connection needs to be as commonplace in the public’s mind as prep for cold season and flu shots are at your local Walgreens and CVS stores.
As you can see from the first three SDGs above, there is an obvious disconnect developing. The gaps should be self-evident. Much of it has to do with communication but also with improved education, which will have a better chance of succeeding if people are out of poverty, healthy, and well fed. Kids can be what they should be – i.e. students – when poverty, which will worsen with global warming, is not forcing them to work the fields or the sweatshops. Additionally, any climate change curricula has a much better chance of landing on less-distracted ears if basic human needs – like shelter and food – aren’t so out of reach.
Gender equality is another obvious goal despite the fact that many women’s rights organizations are not yet fully on board the climate train. With every possible climate impact, women are, without question, the most vulnerable. In most countries, they are still the ones primarily handling the water, food, firewood, and maintenance of household infrastructure – all of which becomes more onerous and arduous as the planet warms and extreme weather worsens. They are also more likely to die from, and be exploited during, disaster situations. Worse, the unequal distribution of the climate burden undermines every other gender equality target. This fact alone should make this SDG deserving of both camps’ attention.
The next goal related to water is arguably the most important. Yet, for some unknown reason, it remains one of the least urgent among advocates. Despite the devastating climate-induced droughts and floods on every continent – from California to the UK, from Sao Paolo to Syria – we have not yet woken up to the reality that freshwater, as we know it, will not be around for the taking much longer. Billions of people are already living in physical water scarcity or water shortages, and these numbers are set to grow substantially with global warming. While talk of water conflict and water wars is rightly on the rise, much more will be needed, including a complete rethink on water-intensive industries, from food and fashion to tech and trade.
Energy is obvious. No need to spend much time talking about this as both camps are already on board, talking about 100 percent (renewable energy) for 100 percent (of the world’s population). What is great about the clean energy revolution, if done right, is that it will help accomplish other UN goals: It is good for health, it is good for economic growth, it is good for gender and income equality, and it is good for democracy. In fact, the democratization of energy, enabling and empowering people anywhere and everywhere to harness the sun and the wind, should be front and center for international financial institutions. Mirror what the Internet and mobile technology did for the majority, globally, and similarly free up renewable energy and make it easy for the taking. It’s no wonder that Tea Party libertarians in America are already all over this issue. So should every other party.
### Part II of this article is available at: http://scar.gmu.edu/newsletter-article/end-poverty-protect-planet-and-en...