Election 2020: The complex cocktail of Covid-19 and climate change
OPINION: The pandemic is ravaging people around the world and looks set to do so for years to come. Recovery plans are being prepared and implemented to improve public health prospects and rebuild shattered livelihoods and communities. Even though Aotearoa New Zealand has taken effective steps to eliminate the virus and has thus been spared the worst of Covid-19 , the risk of resurgence remains. Continued vigilance is imperative. Our recovery efforts will impinge on every aspect of our lives, for decades. They will shape our economy, environment and our communities; and set a development course for current and future generations. Why is this a pivotal moment in history? In short, we face a complex cocktail of interconnected global challenges, including the pandemic, dangerous levels of global warming, ocean acidification, precipitous biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, among other things. READ MORE: * Methane from farms, waste and fossil fuels rising * How battling climate change helped the Marshall Islands fight Covid-19 * Jobs or the environment - will the Govt have to choose? If left unchecked, life on earth may be in jeopardy. Scientific evidence, notably from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attests to the narrow window of time available perhaps only a few decades to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to levels conducive to human well-being and life as we know it. This environmental crisis, of which climate change is the poster-child, is rooted in a pervasive and fallacious belief in unfettered economic growth and the supposed miracle-working powers of the free market. The discipline of economics long ago exposed the logical impossibility of unchecked growth on a finite planet. It has also documented the ways in which post-industrial development has fuelled staggering levels of poverty, injustice and inequity. Covid-19 compounds this humanitarian crisis and the associated and tightly-coupled environmental crisis. Pandemic pivot towards sustainable development? We now have an opportunity to pivot the trajectory of development towards pathways that meet basic needs, foster human well-being, enable equity and justice, and respect the limits and intrinsic value of the natural world. This is the essence of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our recovery choices therefore transcend the pandemic per se. In a few years, once a vaccine is available, the dislocation of this pandemic will pass into the pages of history. But recovery choices will shape our future. What future might we aspire to? How might we get there? What can we learn from the pandemic experience to navigate these turbulent times? Such questions converge in the nexus of Covid-19, climate change and community, and crucially, as we approach elections a critical opportunity to ensure we join the dots between the pandemic, the future of our planet and our political leadership. Communities are at the heart of holistic recovery and ethical development. As the recent community-based Pasifika response to the Covid-19 resurgence in Auckland reveals, community can be place of solidarity a social-ecological setting in which to support each other and connect with the world around us. What are 10 key questions to consider in planning and implementing a holistic and just recovery in these turbulent times? How might this recovery be realised? Navigating these turbulent times will demand agility and adaptive capacity. Building trust is foundational. Humility, empathy and solidarity will be the hallmarks of a recovery that enables people and planet-centred development. It is clear that development trajectories of the past do not provide a blueprint for the future. We need to move beyond the dangerous science-denialism and neoliberal authoritarianism that characterises some pandemic responses. Reinvigorated and vibrant local democracy is foundational for building resilient and sustainable communities. When future generations look back on the recovery choices we make now, what will they say about our choices? Professor Bruce Glavovic is an environmental planner based at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University. He has edited and co-authored numerous reports and research projects on climate change, including as coordinating Lead Author for Sea Level Rise chapter of the IPCCs Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.