In this mid-November, the milestone of 8 billion inhabitants on earth is crossed, which testifies to scientific progress and advances in nutrition, public health and sanitation. But as our human family grows, it is also more and more divided.
billions of people suffer; Hundreds of millions are affected by hunger, even famine. They are more likely to move to find ways to get out of it and flee debts and deprivation, wars and climatic disasters.
Except to fill the chasm that separates the wealthy from the most destitute planet, we head towards a world of 8 billion inhabitants torn by tensions and distrust, plagued by crises and conflicts.
towards the climatic precipice
The facts are eloquent. A handful of billionaires control as much wealth as the poorest half in the world. The richest 1 % on the planet pocket a fifth of the world’s income, while the inhabitants of the richest countries have thirty years of life expectancy than those of the poorest countries. While we observe an increase in wealth and an improvement in health in recent decades, in parallel, inequalities have also increased.
The acceleration of the climate crisis and an unequal increase after the Pandemic of COVID-19 are added to these long-term trends and further worsen these inequalities. We go straight to the climatic precipice, while emissions and temperatures continue to climb. Floods, storms and droughts devastate countries that are practically for nothing in global warming.
The war in Ukraine exacerbates the food, energetic and financial crises that is rampant, hitting development economies hard. It is women and girls, as well as marginalized groups already exposed to discrimination, which suffer the most of these inequalities.
many southern countries are overwhelmed with colossal debts and have to cope with the worsening of poverty and hunger and the increasingly heavy effects of the climate crisis. It is unlikely that they can invest in a lasting recovery after the pandemic, in the transition to renewable energies or in education and training in digital.
Enray destructive trends
Anger and resentment with regard to developed countries are the point of rupture. Toxic divisions and distrust delay or block advances on a whole series of questions, from nuclear disarmament to terrorism, including global health. We need to stop these destructive trends, reconcile and find together joint solutions to our common difficulties.
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