The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said that coronavirus and its unprecedented effects on human development was a wake-up call to the potential consequences for people’s well-being from the relentless pressure placed on nature and the planet.
It said that the present pandemic also showered light on how the interconnected societies faced vulnerabilities anywhere. Moreover, these vulnerabilities are carving deeper cleavages in societies and are set to become ever more worrying in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, the UNDP said.
Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP Pedro Conceição said that it was worthless to think of people and development as separate from the planet. “We are embedded in nature. Neglecting this not only threatens future generations with catastrophic risks but is already blighting the lives of many today,” Pedro Conceição said.
Noting that there are arguments that the people are living in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, the UNDP said that the human led impacts risked the common future and are eroding opportunities and destroying the livelihoods of many and threatening to deepen existing inequalities.
”We are better prepared than ever to understand the risks and threats that we confront, but also to act upon them. Decisive action is needed now, and it is feasible if we confront the social, economic, and technological challenges that stand in the way of ‘transforming our world’, as called for in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Pedro Conceição said.
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