The COVID 19 crisis has cast a paralytic shadow on the trajectory of development. As the world is still grappling with the pandemic, we have to admit to the fact that this unforeseen enemy was always poised to strike. We must accept that a re-orientation in existing structures is necessary for us to develop resilience from any anticipated future crises. The 2016 UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Frontiers report had flagged zoonoses as an issue of global concern. Unwavering global trends have highlighted that zoonotic disease outbreaks are happening more frequently. Without human to animal transmission, the pandemic would not have presented itself so virulently. Drivers of ecosystem fragmentation have exacerbated the crisis.
COVID-19 is a crisis that defies all rules. It has affected us in unimaginable ways, with repercussions that will last for many decades. The pandemic has brought the fragility of livelihood security for millions of Indians into sharp focus. Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are caught in “no man’s land” and many more are stuck in cities, without an income and unable to make their way home.
South-South Cooperation (SSC) is a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, intra-regional or inter-regional basis. SSC has existed for at least sixty years but it has gradually attained prominence in the past two decades.
The desire to create social and environmental impact at scale is central to the mission of many social purpose organisations. Their ability to do so on the strength of grant funding has become constrained in recent years. In such a scenario, how do traditional Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) or other not-for profit entities continue to pursue their mission; and thrive without the support of generous philanthropic funding?
The future is green and it is inclusive or there is no future. As we turn the decade and the new year, the one lingering image of the past year is of the FUTURE - our youth demanding that governments and national leaders that hold power and money either change paths or move off the path. In our universities, our market places, our homes and institutions, young people are not only raising the demands for their right to a sustainable future; they are also showing by example what can be done. Co-working and living, sharing economies, green construction systems, new energy start-ups, bike sharing apps, waste to wealth interventions, water saving systems, organic foods and eco-tourism, the list goes on and on. Young people are demonstrating what is possible.
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