A sort of global scientific collaborationa global coalition of state-funded institutions, is a proposal that should be pursued with the goal of identifying practical ways in which humans might intervene.
greenwashing
However, we are not starting from scratch – there are several key recommendations in the UN Secretary-General’s 2021 report, our common agendato improve global governance mechanisms that can be fast-tracked immediately.
These include Emergency Platforms, Future Envoys and the UN Trusteeship Council as a multi-stakeholder body to address emerging challenges and act to protect our global commons.
It is clear that only through a new type of global cooperation can we address this complex web of intertwined and reinforced global risks to ensure a liveable, secure, and peaceful future.
None of these risks knows borders—global collaboration to examine solutions from a multinational, multi-risk perspective is the only way forward.
This is the kind of cooperation we hoped for in the COP27 climate talks – instead we saw fragile net zero targets, greenwashing and a failure to advance the actions needed to stick to the goals of the Paris Agreement.
crisis jump
Worryingly, the 636-member Fossil Fuel Task Force at the global summit on climate breakdown is more than any delegation other than the UAE, 70 of whom are linked to fossil fuel extraction.
Due to the pandemic, the COP15 biodiversity summit took place in Montreal, Canada, almost two years later than originally scheduled — even as we face yet another pivotal moment in the future of our planet.
The decisions made at COP15 may be our last chance to protect the natural world and survival as we know it in the face of a mass extinction event.
five of nine It is estimated that the interconnected planetary boundaries that underpin the stability of global ecosystems and allow human civilization to flourish have been surpassed.
Tackling ecological breakdown and climate breakdown should be a top priority for the world in 2023. But to do this effectively, we need new types of collaboration that can deal with the complexity of intersections. “Crisis Leap” is not a response to a series of existential risks that threaten the future of humanity and the planet.
the author
Jens Orback is Executive Director of the Global Challenges Foundation.
