With the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic coupled with climate change and biodiversity, stakeholders came together to proffer solutions on its effect on life and on the earth.
This was the crust of the discussion at the World Bank-IMF Annual Meeting.
Themed, “a resilient recovery from the pandemic, the Sustainable Recovery for People and Planet”, the event brought together, policymakers, youth leaders, civil society organizations, and global experts to tackle the question focused on the actions and investments needed today to unlock short term gains, such as jobs and economic growth, as well as deliver the longer-term benefits of resilience, decarbonization, cleaner air and water, healthier oceans, and more sustainable food and agriculture systems.
In his opening remarks, World Bank Group, President David Malpass shared that, the big challenge is how to build back greener and build back better in a new environment as we come out of the recovery. People need to make the right investments now.
The event addressed how a sustainable recovery can restore ecosystems, reverse biodiversity loss, create better food systems and jobs. “We are a country that has no choice but to go sustainable and all our policies are taking into consideration, sustainability,” said Mozambique’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Celso Correia.
By introducing new methods of producing agriculture, “we are reducing also emissions but protecting the forestry.” Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO of the Global Environment Facility, said the recovery “is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reset our relationship with nature and to scale up nature-based solutions that can help our forests and land to absorb carbon and protect biodiversity. Nobody can prosper on a sick planet. It’s in our own self-interest to protect and invest in nature.”
For Fiji Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum such investments in resilience are critical. “For countries on the frontlines of climate change, like Fiji, building back better is a question of life or death.” In 2016, Cyclone Winston wiped out one-third of the value of Fiji’s GDP within 36 hours. “We realized we had to build back better, and it paid off—the structures that were built back better have not been damaged in the seven cyclones we’ve had since then,” he said.
With governments and institutions investing as much as $12 trillion in COVID-19 recovery, “this is an important moment now to reset our economies and build back in a way that tackles the climate and COVID crises together,” said Helen Mountford, Vice President, Climate & Economics, of the World Resources Institute.
Costa Rica plans to link the climate and crisis challenges, using the country’s long-term decarbonization plan “as a centerpiece to address the COVID crisis and to recover better,” said María del Pilar Gonzalo, Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy.
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