Advancing Human Development through Social and Environmental Justice for All
On July 8th, 2020, ATD Fourth World and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Program jointly sponsored a webinar entitled “Advancing Human Development Through Social and Environmental Justice for All” as part of the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Typically held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the HLPF reviews and provides guided recommendations for the implementation and commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the HLPF was held online this year.
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The theme of 2020 HLPF is “accelerated action and transformative pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development” especially in light of the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. From July 7th to July 16th, member-states, NGOs, human rights organizations, and other associations took part in and orchestrated a wide variety of side events that discussed this theme. The webinar by ATD Fourth World and UNDP HDRO touched upon the multidimensional intersection of social and environmental justice. The coronavirus and the encroaching threat of climate change has, and will, disproportionately hurt the world’s most vulnerable populations, and the webinar provided discussion and proposed “people-centered solutions favoring participation, solidarity, dignity and respect for the planet,” according to the event description.
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The panelists for ATD Fourth World and UNDP HDRO’s side event included Linda García, President of the Board of Directors of ATD Fourth World in Guatemala; Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office of UNDP; Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department of ILO; and Andy Raine, Head of the International Environmental Law Unit at the UN Environment Program (UNEP). The webinar also displayed a video message by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, and was moderated by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs at The New School.
Ms. Fukuda-Parr began the webinar by stating that this side event “will be an opportunity to remind ourselves of putting people at the center of development,” she said. “Today we face this triple crisis of pandemic, climate and inequality, and the pandemic has revealed all of the weaknesses in our social institutions. As the pandemic deepens inequality and reinforces the vulnerability to climate change, it has revealed the importance of participation, solidarity, dignity and respect for the planet as essential conditions for both addressing the pandemic and for building the post Covid-19 world.”
Ms. Fukuda-Parr then called upon Linda García to share her experiences working with vulnerable communities living in extreme poverty in Guatemala with ATD Fourth World. Ms. García began her presentation with a quote from ATD activist Raquel, who said that “statistics don’t tell you what poverty is.”
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Ms. García then talked about the presence of garbage throughout Guatemala City and how families not only sort through the garbage and recycling for monetary purposes but also to simply help clean up and improve the city. The trash is also incorporated into an ATD Fourth World project called Working and Learning Together, or, in Spanish, Trabajar y Aprender Juntos (TAJ). TAJ provides those living in poverty the opportunity to create crafts and home products from recycled material and garbage, such as paper or aluminum.
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TAJ has encouraged many women to overcome barriers or fears by providing a safe space that takes every persons’ abilities into account. Ms. García mentioned how these bonds between vulnerable communities grew even stronger throughout the pandemic, as families made sure that their neighbors and friends would not be left behind. She shared a quote from Guatemalan ATD Fourth World activists Luis and Sindy, who said that “We know what it is to have absolutely nothing, we know what it is to be hungry, what it is to be alone – that is why we share the food that we have now.”
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Ms. Fukuda-Parr moved the conversation to Pedro Conceição to discuss the Human Development Office’s most recent report on inequalities highlighted by the pandemic and the environmental crisis. “For 30 years now, we have also been trying to capture these multidimensional dimensions of poverty by putting out a multidimensional poverty index which doesn’t include income but actually tries to capture those dimensions that deprive people from having agency and dignity,” Mr. Conceição said. These dimensions must be discussed through a human development approach that places people at the center of the issues so that their experiences with inequalities can be addressed.
Societal imbalances diverge towards an environmental standpoint as well. “Today we know that non-Hispanic whites, relative to their consumption, have about 20% less damages or exposure to pollution, while Black communities have over 50% more exposure to pollution compared to their consumption,” Mr. Conceição said. Thus, the issue of sustainable combating climate change must be more readily incorporated within the narrative of human development in the future.
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The webinar then displayed the video from Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, who said that this moment in time provided a unique opportunity “to shift the global economy in the right direction” with respect to climate change mitigation and the fight against poverty.
Mr. De Schutter mentioned a study that sorted through over 300 national recovery plans created during the pandemic. The study found that only 4 percent of these plans included ambitions to support climate mitigation. Furthermore, 4 more percent were “brown plans,” which would actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, and the remaining 92 percent of plans were considered to be neutral, he said.
Thus, as economies begin to bounce back after the pandemic, countries must ensure that employment opportunities incorporate permanent sustainable solutions – a pro poor and pro climate policy. This could include strengthening public transportation or by encouraging decentralized energy grids in rural areas, but most importantly, Mr. De Schutter said, those in poverty must be included in the conversations to build back better.
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The following speaker, Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department of ILO, touched on similar points. If the world has to withstand similar economic and societal shocks in the future, we must use this crisis into an opportunity, she said. Even though the virus does not discriminate between the rich and the poor, the pandemic has highlighted the differences of capability between the countries who boast strong social protection programs and those who do not.
“Those who have had secure jobs and can work remotely with access to good internet, those who have the backing of a very strong social protection system, have been able to bounce back much better than those who do not have these assets to draw on,” Ms. Razavi said. “I think the need for a universal social protection system is a necessary ingredient to build dynamic economies and inclusive societies that have been underlined very clearly by this crisis.”
This kind of global solidarity would provide permanent solutions for any future shocks and would work in tandem with economic and social policies that sustainably provide assistance to the most vulnerable communities, she said.
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Final speaker Andrew Raine, Head of the International Environmental Law Unit at the UN Environment Program, reiterated the direct correlation between the pandemic and the environment.
“We've been mapping very closely what countries are doing as a response to Covid-19 with their environmental policy and legal frameworks and we're seeing a very disturbing trend,” he said. “Instead of stepping up, we're seeing a lot of member states step back. I think half of all of the G20 countries have demonstrated a regression in environmental protection, be it a step back in environmental impact assessment, procedures and laws. Perhaps more concerning, and more linked to environmental justice, some states are even criminalizing or proposing to criminalize environmental protest, and that is incredibly concerning and is that is not the way to go if we want to recalibrate our relationship with nature.”
Now is the time for the international community to recognize a universal human right to a healthy environment, Mr. Raine said. The fight against poverty and climate change are intertwined, and in order to build back better, countries must address these issues simultaneously.
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Ms. Fukuda-Parr then opened the discussion up to questions asked by the listeners. Many questions related to a similar theme of how to put ideas into concrete action – Frances Stewart specifically said: “excellent ideas, but is anyone listening?”
Ms. García began by emphasizing the importance of not losing hope which, she acknowledged, could be difficult amidst a pandemic. She also stressed that in order for tangible action to occur, those already living in poverty need to have a seat at the table; they can contribute not only their personal experiences but also their knowledge, as many people living in poverty are already organizing and finding innovative solutions by themselves.
Mr. Conceição echoed Ms. García’s statements. “Frances, people are listening,” he said. “I think not so much because of what we do in the UN but more broadly, and this is reflective in results of recent studies that show that more than 70% of people think that climate change is a threat as serious as COVID-19.” Mr. Conceição added that although we may not be moving at the speed that we all want, many countries are taking steps that are leading towards the right direction.
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Ms. Fukuda-Parr ended the webinar by acknowledging the frustration described by some of the listeners as seen with their questions. “So we all agree, but how do we put these words into action? I do think that this emphasizes the importance of solidarity and also the power of civil society action,” she said. Whether we are dealing with the current pandemic, widespread inequality or the impacts of climate change, vulnerable communities cannot be left behind. Although many problems may seem exacerbated in our current era, discussions such as this webinar allows for the issues at hand to be seen through a multidimensional lens. By giving the floor to UN experts, researchers, and practitioners working alongside people living in poverty, ATD Fourth World and UNDP HDRO’s HLPF side event successfully lives up to its name: Advancing Human Development Through Social and Environmental Justice for All.