Coalition 2030 Just Recovery Conference – Key Lessons

Coalition 2030 Just Recovery - Conference Video - 14 July 2021

Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications 

Minister Ryan announced the development of a new national implementation plan for the Sustainable Development Goals based on a public consultation which will address supports necessary for groups to participate with the SDGs.

He noted: “The framework provided by these Goals will provide a sustainable inclusive recovery and an equitable future for all people especially the most vulnerable. We're committed to ensuring a balanced and inclusive recovery...”

Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme

1)     The current recovery from Covid-19 is marked by both a return to a previous stage of injustice and by a loss of cohesion, solidarity and connectedness

…I was looking at the definitions of what recovery means. As a medic, we look at recovery and how our patients are, and that's seen as a return to normal state of health mind or strength…But that's assuming that it was normal to start with. Unfortunately, what are we recovering to? - To a previous stage of injustice.

But I also looked at another definition of recovery…. And that is ‘the action or process of regaining possession or control of something that has been stolen or lost’, which is another way of looking at the idea of recovery... And I think we have lost something: not just recovering from the insult of a pandemic (both to our health, to our mental health and well-being, to our social health or economic health to and everything else) but [also] in a sense, something that we need to recover that has been lost too which is our sense of cohesion and solidarity and connectedness….we've really failed to do to show even the most smallest modicum of solidarity in the face of tremendous inequity that has really been the hallmark of this pandemic.

2)     The pandemic has exposed existing fragilities in our health systems and highlighted a lack of investment in resilience and solidarity.

This microbe has exploded all of those existing frailties in our system: economic, social and health injustices that have existed for years...this virus is not what's actually killing people…what's killing them are the underlying conditions that lead them to not be able to tolerate or be able to survive the infection. And that's, diabetes, hypertension, existing lung disease, lack of management, lack of access to healthcare for years, lack of health protection, lack of health promotion...

We're losing so many people, because the health and well-being of our population has not been strong enough …we have not built resilience, mental health, and we're suffering for that now….so we've lacked resilience across all parts of our society, because we haven't invested in that resilience. we haven't invested in solidarity. We haven't invested in caring or giving a damn about each other. We've isolated, our societies into nice units of production -  the individual on a treadmill, producing for fear of losing. And that is the society we've created, and not one that does well in a pandemic, not one that can come together quickly to find solutions.

And we have the money, the means and the science, but we lack the will to share them to save the lives we need to save…it’s almost a greater tragedy…the very fact that we have the technology to develop it and save those lives, and we don't share is to me almost a greater insult, to my mind, it's a greater insult to my sense of humanity.

3)     However, it is not all negative: so many people have stood out and made sacrifices to keep services running 

And yet we've seen the most wonderful behaviours in our communities…our frontline health workers, the people who work in the shops, in the post offices, the people who kept going to work to keep our services running…there are so many other workers who've gone out there, day after day and night after night and kept this planet moving and kept services moving, and they deserve our huge gratitude…

4)     The health and social justice challenges associated with the pandemic are fundamentally connected with the climate emergency and climate action

…what are we promising our children?...we have the issues of health justice, social justice climate justice. They're coming together…converging, they're becoming the same thing, because one is affecting the other: social equity is affecting how we do in pandemics, it's affecting how we're doing dealing with climate; climate is affecting social equity; climate is affecting the potential for health crises; they're wrapped around each other…They've become intertwined as threats. And we can't deal with them separately anymore…

… the reality is that climate stress and climate change is driving epidemic and pandemic risk, directly and indirectly: drought stress, changes the rainfall temperature patterns humidity patterns - they're driving direct changes in the, in our biome.…But not only that, the indirect impact is that it's driving migration, it's driving urbanization and it's driving all those other things that are increasing the risk of epidemics because we don't have the services in place.

…pandemics and epidemics will become an ever present feature of a biome that's out of balance. We're on a planet out of balance, and we're within the stressed biologic system. What did we expect?...This is not unpredicted, this thing didn't walk up and just take us all by surprise. We've been talking about pandemic threats for 30 years, more.

… so it's not just the urgent response to this pandemic and that's very important…we need an emergency response to climate, but we also need an urgent response to the factors that are driving the biologic risk, not just for this pandemic…; building strong and resilient health systems, giving people basic social justice, building systems that allow us to detect and prevent and reduce the risk of future pandemics will give us more stability.

5)     In order for a people-centred recovery to become a reality, communities and children in particular, must mobilise and direct these demands at Governments

It's really about learning the lessons from this pandemic in terms of public services… people, communities, inclusive and participatory approaches, fast and fair action - that's what just recovery is but that has to turn into something real. But they're not the words I'm hearing …governments and others are not necessarily wanting to hear about empowering communities, solidarity, people-centred approaches, focus on public and common services, fast and fair action…more transparency, better trust... These are the things that will build solutions to the three big threats that I see. I'm not so sure we have the governance systems in place to pay adequate respect to those sort of approaches, and I think it's important that communities and societies activate.

…We need to mobilize right now, because it's [the children’s] planet. It's their future. They're the ones who will either inherit a planet, and a biome, and civilization that's worth living in, or tolerable to live

I heard [Asad] say three times a very important word…and I think it's a word that young people should really consider…and that is the word “dignity”. I think we forget this word, we forget the right to dignity, the dignity of work, the dignity of home, the dignity of access to health care without risking your financial future. How many people do you know in your life experience, who have to live without that basic dignity? I think we young people need to consider that. Do you want to inherit a world which basic human dignity is not guaranteed? And I think that's a conversation young people need to get involved with, and we need to mobilize you to the greatest extent possible.

6)     It has become essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as they are now crucial for our survival.

…the SDGs are becoming much less about development and more about survival…maybe we should call them Sustainable 'Survival' Goals...this isn't just about development anymore this is really about survival of our civilization..

7)     Without radical change in our approach to vaccinations, we are entering into a 2-tier pandemic where lower-income countries will suffer most.

What people aren't recognizing is more than half the world is still on the edge of the next precipice, the next cliff, in this pandemic, and are about to experience another major wave of disease without the protection of vaccines. There are I think 85 doses of vaccine per hundred people in developed, high income countries… probably translated to about an average of 40% vaccine coverage. In low income countries that's 1.3 per hundred. That's less than half of 1% vaccination coverage or two doses in low income countries. We wanted to take the death and the suffering, out of this pandemic. We have the means and had the means to do that, to protect the vulnerable, older persons and frontline workers. They're the people who have died in this pandemic, they're the people who really have died in huge numbers. And we had enough and have enough vaccines to protect each and every single one of those on this planet today, it exists.

But now we're talking about booster vaccines in the developed world…I'm sitting here getting these questions all day today [about] what's my opinion on booster doses. No one's asking me, what's my damned opinion on the fact that there are people dying all over the world that don't need to die. No one's asking me about health workers who are going to work today in isolation wards all over the world in the developing world without being vaccinated risking their lives today. [Instead] I am being asked what do I think about booster doses for people in developed countries. I'm sorry to be angry and emotional but you know what, sometimes it gets very hard to take it really hits very hard to take.

Paola Simonetti, Deputy Director, International Trade Union Confederation

1)    COVID 19 has triggered an extraordinary wave of destruction across the world of work.

The international Labour Organization estimates that over 250 million jobs have been destroyed and more than 1.6 billion informal workers are facing deprivation. The number of workers living in moderate or extreme poverty increased by 108 million in 2020, reversing five years of continuous progress.

And while only wealthier countries seem to do better concerning the labour rights, the economic crisis brought along restrictions on freedoms and labour rights violations worldwide.

2)    Women have been disproportionately affected

… pre-existing labour market deficiencies resulted in making those who are most vulnerable even more exposed to the impact of the crises: low skilled workers, migrant workers, informal workers, women, and youth. It’s really scary because women [have been] disproportionately affected. Globally, employment losses for women stand at 5 % versus 3.9% for men. Additionally, 90% of women who lost their jobs in 2020 exited the labour force. So this means that it will be extraordinarily difficult for them to come back into the labour market, so they really face long lasting exclusion in that sense.

3)    We need a human-centred recovery focused on the Sustainable Development Goals

It is now imperative to focus on a human-centred recovery from the unprecedented crisis that is affecting the world of work…the Sustainable Development Goals..are helping us in this respect, showing the path towards resilient economies and just societies.

Through its targets on decent work social protection and sustainable growth, SDG 8 plays a fundamental role in providing policy responses to the crisis.… it is crucial that policymakers prioritise both urgent and long-term recovery measures in line with the SDGs and SDG 8 in particular:

1)    Stepping up Investments in decent and climate-friendly jobs creation with just transition measures…

2)    Scaling up universal social protection systems…

3)    Upholding equality and fighting vulnerability: Investments in quality public care services and infrastructure, the promotion of equal pay for work of equal value, and the introduction of minimum living wages with stronger collective bargaining remain the preconditions to gender equality…

4)    Financing recovery and resilience: universal access to vaccines and treatment, increased levels of Official Development Assistance…and concessional finance will need to do the heavy lifting for the recovery and resilience needs ahead….

5)    Supporting inclusive governance and social dialogue…

Asad Rehman, Executive Director of War on Want

1)     We cannot have a just recovery unless we tackle existing injustices faced by the Global South

The reality is that there continues to be an active denial of that universal truth that everyone has the right to a dignified life…This week, we witnessed record breaking temperatures in Pakistan, a million people facing famine in Madagascar, and heat wave across North America, 38 degree temperatures in the Arctic.  All of this is occurring at 1.2 degree warming, yet another warning that no temperature increase is safe, and is deadly for many. And the reality is that for many countries in the Global South, they're already being overwhelmed and their ability to respond is being diminished.

...we are currently heading towards a catastrophic warming of the planet of at least three degrees, if not more, and that of course threatens the existence of many of our fellow citizens across the world. So richest countries are not only failing to do their fair share as set out in the Paris Agreement (to prevent this breach of the 1.5 degree guardrail), but even those inadequate plans that are in place continue to bank on unproven risky and non-existent technologies to suck out hundreds of billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere; the net zero mantra has literally become a license to be able to continue to pollute.

And if we're looking at that carbon budget for 1.5 [degree Paris objective], the reality is it means decarbonisation in the Global North by 2030, so that the poor have some room to be able to breathe and be able to cut their emissions by 2050.

…the unmet promise from a decade ago to provide 100 billion a year to the close to 13 trillion, that has been spent, mainly in the global north on the corporate response …the 16 trillion that has flowed in financial flows from the south to the north since 1980 alone…Even today the reality is, for every $1 that flows in aid, $24 flows in the opposite direction. It literally is that the South, is developing the Global North…

2)     We can address these crises together and prevent a siloed approach

…we've been working on 4 tests [for national plans]:

1)     Does our plan commit to keep limiting temperatures to allow to below 1.5 degrees, through a fair share response?

2)     Does it tackle economic inequality?

3)     Does it put well-being ahead of unsustainable growth and extraction of rules, resources,

4)     …Does it undo the embedded systems of injustice?…

And if you start at those four tests, then you begin to see demands that meet those tests. So that goes beyond us calling simply for renewable energy, to actually making demands  that food and energy should be a fundamental right for all under democratic control, equitably shared and not for exploited for corporate profit. It's about ensuring that everyone no matter where they are in the world has a right to a living wage, to social protection and free universal services…

…I think we have this incredible opportunity at this moment - there is a window that exists for us to actively and, and, and consciously uproot these unjust systems, and for us to champion, a vision of a genuine just transition for all. That's why we as War on Want together when many of our partners all around the world are calling for a global Green New Deal.

.….And I think now is the moment for all of us in terms of the progressive communities to actually be much more vocal… to be talking about that this isn’t the economic model that we want...