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We left behind a 2020 that was called to be the definitive one in the progress of the world.
The UN baptized the period that began as the Decade of Action with an eye toward 2030, when the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be achieved: end hunger and extreme poverty, eradicate gender-based violence and reduce inequality, guarantee quality education for all children and decent jobs for adults, ensure universal access to health and continue to inhabit the planet without definitively destroying it.
But the SARS CoV-2 virus changed everything.
More information
The prediction of the pandemic and the other 14 most read news in 2020
10 good news for the planet and health in 2020
Pneumonia: The Greatest Killer of Children
The UN recommends not to return to the (old) normality
Covid-19 has truncated lives, has put health systems to the limit - even in the richest nations -, has destroyed jobs and plunged millions of people into misery.
For the first time since 1990, human development has regressed.
The rights of women have been made invisible, despite the fact that they are the ones who suffer the most from the consequences of the pandemic.
And the fight against climate change has been put on hold.
This 2021 has to be the year in which humanity defeats the virus and recovers the path of progress towards a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.
This is defended by a group of experts in sustainable development who expose what will be, in their opinion, the priorities for this year that begins.
What do you think the three development priorities should be?
This is the question posed to seven specialists: Ángeles Moreno Bau, Secretary of State for International Cooperation;
Olivier Longué, general director of Action Against Hunger;
Franc Cortada, CEO of Oxfam Intermón;
Leire Pajín, president of the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development (REDS);
Andrés Rodríguez Amayuelas, president of the NGO Coordinator for Development;
Antoni Plasència, general director of ISGlobal;
and Gustavo Suárez Pertierra, president of Unicef Spain.
1. The usual problems (but worse)
Experts highlight the urgency of addressing the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, which are ultimately the problems that humanity was already dragging on, but exacerbated by the health crisis.
They are hunger, poverty, inequality, access to education and universal health.
"The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic means that, once again, it rains in the wet in low- and middle-income countries around the world, and more prominently in the African continent and in Latin America," underlines Plasència.
"The development support priorities must be adapted to the context, in a complex balance between attending to new and existing needs, and attending to the commitments to comply with the Sustainable Development Goals."
In his opinion, 2021 has to be the year in which, while ensuring "adequate vaccination coverage against coronavirus for priority groups", programs are strengthened against "other pandemics" such as HIV, malaria , tuberculosis, pneumonia and childhood diarrhea.
To do this, he concludes, it is necessary to "strengthen health systems, especially primary and community care, epidemiological surveillance and the capacities to prepare for emerging global risks, both of infectious origin, as well as environmental and climate".
Not going to school exposes children to enormous vulnerability
Covid-19 has disrupted many key services and placed unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems.
"Many children have been exposed to hunger, disease and without health centers to go to get a vaccine, get a treatment against malaria or pneumonia, two of the most deadly diseases for children," he explains. Suárez Pertierra.
But the consequences of the pandemic go far beyond health, Longué notes.
"You have to think that for 2,000 million informal workers in the world (in the poorest countries they constitute more than 80% of the workforce), confinement has meant a drastic reduction in their income."
For this reason, he says, "there is a lot of economic fabric to rebuild and it is urgent to give priority to the most unprotected and to those who see their daily nutrition threatened by this crisis."
The priority, for the president of Unicef Spain, should be "to get each and every one of the boys and girls back to class."
The closure of schools during the most critical moments of the pandemic affected more than 1 billion students.
"And the most vulnerable got the worst of it because they didn't have access to distance learning," he highlights.
“Many schools in Africa and Asia are gradually opening, but in Latin America, 38% of countries have yet to decide when to return to class.
And it is anticipated that millions of children around the world will never return.
Specifically, 5.9 million in Asia and 5.3 in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Unicef estimates.
“We are facing an education crisis.
Not going to school exposes children to enormous vulnerability ”.
2. Climate change
“We are the last generation that can stop the worst consequences of global warming and time is running out,” recalls Rodríguez Amayuelas.
“Our house is on fire and there is no time to lose.
And it is an issue that has profound repercussions on the living conditions of billions of people on the planet.
Precisely those that are suffering the most from these consequences are those that bear the least responsibility for global warming ”.
This is confirmed by the United Nations Development Program in its latest report that measures the progress of countries in relation to the pressure they exert on the planet.
We are the last generation that can stop the worst consequences of global warming and time is running out
We are not just experiencing a terrible pandemic, we are in the middle of a climate emergency.
“With an increase in the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or in temperatures;
hurricanes and storms of a force never seen before ... ”, Suárez Pertierra recalls.
“If we do not manage to reverse this situation, we would condemn today's childhood and future generations to a world of destruction, misery and instability.
We must act now ”, he asks.
Rodríguez Amayuelas, in fact, would like to see in 2021 “ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and determined measures to stop the loss of biodiversity”.
"We are tempted to think of insects, fish or birds when we talk about biodiversity, but the varieties of plants or animals adapted to their environment and that serve as food for the human species are also in danger", he describes.
3. Universal access to the SARS CoV-2 vaccine
Experts agree that, once the feat of developing several vaccines against the disease that has changed the planet in record time has been achieved, this should be the year to provide them equitably to people at risk, wherever they live.
“It is a concrete objective: that by 2021 all countries have access to the vaccine and treatments against covid-19.
We have to achieve it, ”says Pajín.
It is a concrete objective: that by 2021 all countries have access to the vaccine and treatments against covid-19
“In the current situation, in 2021 the rich world will be mostly vaccinated and making progress in its recovery, although in a very limited way, since covid-19 is still a risk in most of the planet.
Meanwhile, the developing world will have to wait, suffering the prolongation of the health and economic effects of isolation and trade limitations until 2024 ″, denounces Cortada.
"This is unacceptable: recovery must be universal and the priority must be focused on the people who need it, not on the rights of pharmaceutical companies or the privileges of the richest countries," he adds.
From Unicef they assure that in 2021 they want to supply and distribute 2,000 million doses of vaccine and almost 750 million tests and treatments in countries with few resources.
In this sense, Moreno Bau comments that the covid strategy in Spain focuses on “universal access and distribution of vaccines”.
For this reason, the country has contributed 50 million euros to the COVAX AMC fund, a multilateral and multi-actor tool to guarantee the acquisition and supply of vaccines for nations that cannot afford to compete in the market.
However, Spain has positioned itself, together with the European Union and the richest countries on the planet, against liberalizing patents for immunizations and medicines against covid-19.
A request that India and South Africa have raised in the World Trade Organization as a way to increase the production and distribution capacity of vaccines and treatments, and that has yet to be settled.
In addition, rich countries "have monopolized 75% of the available doses," says Rodríguez Amayuelas.
"What will prevent vaccination in the poorest countries from starting, at the earliest, until 2022."
Therefore, he insists on the need for an equitable distribution, if not "sooner or later, the virus will end up returning to us."
4. Human Rights
The latest Cívicus report shows that civil liberties have been the great harmed by the government's management of the coronavirus around the world.
"Removing obstacles to achieve the effective enjoyment of human rights for all people throughout the world" is one of the priorities that must be taken into account in this year that begins, according to Rodríguez Amayuelas.
“Without freedom, participation or transparency, the causes of poverty, inequality or global unsustainability cannot be eradicated.
A change in the EU's position in relation to the United Nations binding human rights and business treaty, and the approval of a due diligence law in the Spanish state would be appropriate steps in this direction ”, he opines.
In the words of Cortada, one of the inescapable questions in 2021 must be "to protect human rights by preventing inequality and nationalism from prevailing in the response to the crisis."
Amnesty International has also denounced it.
Many governments have made their cloak a robe and have taken the opportunity to further repress citizens, even those already detained or imprisoned, he warned in his report
Daring to defend human rights during an
August 2020
pandemic.
In his study, the NGO identified that 131 people around the world had been victims of harassment, prosecution, murder or imprisonment under pretexts related to covid-19.
“Legislation on
fake news
, restrictions on movement, reduced police protection and increased intolerance of criticism have led to a new wave of repression around the world against those who have reported irregularities in the health sector or have flagged responses inadequate to the pandemic ”, they indicated.
5. Global governance versus nationalisms
“Global governance mechanisms must be strengthened and strengthened.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of having a joint response tool.
The challenges are common and we do not have sufficiently operational instruments to respond ”, asks Pajín.
"It is about giving up sovereignty, that there are global governments that can make decisions," he explains.
In this section, Moreno Bau gives relevance to homework: “All our priorities go through a first urgency: the institutional, legal and financial restructuring of the Spanish Cooperation system, something absolutely essential to adapt to reality the 2030 Agenda and the transversality of the Sustainable Development Goals ”.
This reform, he says, is already underway and his wish is for it to be ready by the end of 2021. “Spain is a reliable and key partner of the multilateral system, but it must be updated.
In reality, the whole machinery of international cooperation is changing to be able to face the new challenges of climate change, global health, migration or poverty ”, he points out.
"The governments of affluent countries are going to receive a lot of internal pressure to meet the strong negative socio-economic impact and the expectations of their populations, in competition with their commitments to support development," recalls Plasència.
The first response to covid-19 "has offered hopeful signs," says Cortada.
But at the same time it has shown the inability to constitute a global government "that establishes recovery as a priority over the benefits of particular groups."
That is, Pajín insists, an urgent task for this year, although populism and nationalism represent a threat.
Cortada agrees: “Our governments have had a nationalist vision, and in a tacit way, they have allowed the particular interest and benefits of very powerful interest groups to prevail over the common good, the protection of public health and aid to people and the most vulnerable countries affected by covid-19.
Changing the direction of those decisions, and that common goods are privileged, from a new multilateralism is the greatest challenge of 2021 ″.
6. Finance development
Having strong institutions, which prioritize the common good over the individual, is not the only ingredient to be able to fight poverty, inequality, hunger or guarantee education and health to citizens.
The funds are equally necessary.
But "there is an obvious risk that the more developed economies will contract their aid and withdraw within their borders, ceasing to finance other crises such as massive hunger in Africa or Southeast Asia," Longué warns.
While the richest countries have helped themselves with 11 trillion dollars, official development aid has remained stagnant
Pajín fears the same.
“Funding should not be reduced.
Now there is going to be a reorientation of funds towards urgency, which also reveals structural problems ”, he acknowledges.
The data indicate that this withdrawal is taking place.
"While the richest countries have helped themselves with 11 trillion dollars, official development aid has remained stagnant and debt relief has been only 5.700 million for the countries that need the most support," he lists Cut.
Rodríguez Amayuelas is clear about it: development financing at the global level is going to be cut because the States are going to use their funds to recover their economies.
"And because, in general, the decline in national income in all countries as a result of the crisis will mean a lower percentage of development aid in absolute terms," he warns.
Moreno Bau promises that the Government of Spain maintains the commitment to "gradually increase the percentage of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.5% of Gross National Income at the end of the legislature."
And a wish ...
What do the experts we have consulted ask of 2021?
Leire Pajín (REDS): “I would like this year to be definitive and important in the fight against gender violence.
The pandemic should not hide other forgotten tasks like this.
It must be put back at the heart of the agenda ”.
Gustavo Suárez Pertierra (Unicef Spain): "Achieve the reopening of schools in safe conditions, resume vaccination campaigns and ensure that social and health services are once again 100% operational in all countries of the world."
Antoni Plasència (ISGlobal): “I would like to see progress in development cooperation through research, innovation and training programs, with partnerships of centers and universities in Northern countries with their counterparts in countries in the global South, especially in Africa and Latin America ”.
Andrés Rodríguez Amayuelas (NGO Coordinator): “To attract broad support from Spanish society for a new law on cooperation for sustainable development that recognizes that we live in an interdependent world and that urgently promotes radical measures.
It is a small thing in the global context, but it is what we can push to make it a reality ”.
Ángeles Moreno Bau, Secretary of State for Cooperation: “I would like us to be able to convey to citizens the deep sense of cooperation, delve into the human perspective of this profession which, sustained on ethical imperatives, is a great company of progress and good common".
Franc Cortada (Oxfam Intermón): “A great agreement to turn all covid-19 vaccines into a public good with universal access, free of patents.
And a universal commitment for a sustainable and fair recovery that prioritizes women and girls ”.
Olivier Longué (Action Against Hunger): “We would like to see decisive progress towards the achievement of the second Sustainable Development Goal: Zero Hunger”.
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