The COVID-19 crisis provides an early glimpse of how the climate and biodiversity crises will affect the world. The impacts of the pandemic and economic lockdown have led to a stark decline in development gains, dispro-portionately affecting low-income and vulnerable households, communities and countries. Disparities have sharpened within countries and between developed and developing countries; the latter has experienced a “perfect storm” of unem-ployment, capital flight, loss of remittances, and increasing debt leading to the largest economic contraction in decades.
Though slower in onset, the climate and biodiversity crises will ultimately be deeper and broader in impact, undercutting our ability to achieve the Sus-tainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, these crises are interlinked; the shrinking space between natural and human systems is one of the root causes for zoonotic pandemics.
Yet the lockdown demonstrated extraordinary interventions are possible. Safe-guarding human health was put at the center of policymaking and public invest-ment. And we experienced a different world, a postcard from the future: cleaner air and water, less traffic and noise, and often more engagement with community, family and nature. While the severe pain of the crisis must not be underestimated, these experiences can help us envision the future we want.
Building an inclusive, green and resilient recovery is now an urgent and shared global challenge. We must build back in a way that addresses the very significant near-term challenges of unemployment, food insecurity and jump-starting the economy, while tackling the underlying drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss. Because stimulus packages are emerging at light-ning speed and the power of incumbency and inertia is strong, we need to quickly build public and political support for change.