Seventy-six years after, the hope for a peaceful, equitable and suffering-free world lives on

This year, the United Nations marks its 76th anniversary. The values and commitments the organization was established and stands for are more relevant than ever. For almost two years, our humanity has experienced a multidimensional crisis due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its dramatic impact on societies and economies around the world. For many, the pandemic deepened suffering and brought about unmanageable uncertainties in terms of health, jobs and incomes, access to basic services and exercise of human rights and freedoms. Many countries are facing economic contraction, high levels of indebtedness and growing risks of food insecurity while the number of cases approaches a quarter of a billion globally with close to five million lives lost to the virus. Vaccination remains limited in most of the developing countries despite global efforts led by the United Nations and partners to secure access to vaccines and treatment. Stronger solidarity and public leadership are needed to ensure all people get vaccinated in the coming months.

As we reflect on the 76-year journey of the organization, we must acknowledge the great work of so many people under the blue flag who have dedicated their careers to the goals of the United Nations nurturing dialogue and enabling cooperation that led to declining extreme poverty and infant and maternal mortality, and improved access to essential services. But efforts have not freed people of all forms of insecurity as committed in the UN Charter 76 years ago.

This anniversary finds our planet fighting multiple challenges that are threatening our very stability and future. Not only did the pandemic stop growth everywhere, but it has also reversed progress against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with least developed nations farthest behind. Yet, the SDGs continue to be our world’s only pathway to peace, equity, and planetary stability that we must strive to remain on until its full completion.

Disrupted supply chains are behind the rapidly increasing inflation while additional pressure comes from the unexpectedly high energy costs as a large part of the global population is heading towards winter. And despite efforts over 26 years of negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world is far from being able to avert a climate catastrophe in our and our children’s lifetime. As per the August 2021 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the planet is on a warming trajectory above the 1.5 Celsius degree limit that can still preserve life on Earth as we know it. Despite significant investments by key financing instruments including the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and other vertical funds, decarbonization is slow, too slow to avoid a climate crisis that may take the global system to a point of no return.

It is this year in Glasgow that, under the auspices of the UNFCCC, governments must take critical decisions to reverse the dangerous course of global warming. Committing to net-zero by 2050 must be mandatory to all governments as part of their social contracts to protect ecosystem and human life. On 8 October 2021, in an unprecedented move, the Human Rights Council declared access to a healthy environment a fundamental human right, urging all governments as duty bearers to ensure that public action protects both the people and the environment. Yet, the 26th Conference of the Parties soon to open doors in Glasgow may miss the opportunity to adjust course of our planet and unleash the power of the global system to develop sustainably. Without an unconditional global commitment to net-zero, nothing else on the table in Glasgow makes much sense. The USD 100 billion annual climate financing that was supposed to be mobilized by 2020, but never did, is not enough to undo the harm that economic activities and human footprint continue to inflict on the environment if the highly polluting coal industry does not cease to operate immediately.

If we continue on the same global warming trajectory, Small Island Developing States will be the first to face a profound existential threat by mid-century. Some far before that. If Glasgow discussions do not conclude with a globally embraced commitment to decarbonization by 2050, millions of people and their livelihoods will not have a future where they currently are. Climate migration will fuel instability and insecurity before long. Food insecurity due to unhealthy oceans and lands will lead to conflict and, combined with intensifying adverse weather events, massive heatwaves and wildfires as well as loss of income and livelihoods, to a global decline in population.     

At this critical point in our lifetime, the United Nations calls for a global consensus on the way forward to avoid a planetary disaster and protect future generations. Through expanding investment in research and technology advancement, adequate and accessible climate financing and a global binding agreement on net-zero by 2050, COP26 can make history by reversing the wheels of a global destruction that the over 50 billion tons of GHG annual emissions are responsible of. The end of the month G20 Summit in Italy should chart the way for debt restructuring to enable all countries to fund their green recovery.   

 Acting together, we should be able to deal with more than a global crisis at a time. The present challenges are a test of endurance and capability that we should be able to pass owing to the great knowledge we have access to in this 21st century.

From Samoa, a country that has successfully managed the COVID-19 pandemic and duly honors its Paris Agreement commitments, we look at the upcoming G20 summit and COP26 with hope. It is in our power to devise solutions to the problems we caused by adopting unsustainable development pathways in the first place.

The United Nations on this day and every day aligns with the aspirations of all people, with their rights and freedoms regardless of gender, geography and everything else that makes us different.

The UN is the custodian of a promise made 76th years ago through the UN Charter that all necessary collective efforts will be made to avoid human suffering and destruction.

Today, more than ever, this promise must be upheld with responsibility and bold action.