World must come together to confront universal problems

The world must come together to deal with the growing umber of threats to our survival. Last month, countries met as part of the COP26 process to address the joint threat of climate and biodiversity destruction. The protracted meeting was of limited success, with commitments to phase out fossil fuels and cut emissions but the proof will be in implementation. There were commitments made at the last COP meeting in Paris in 2015 but these just failed to happen. Foremost, amongst those commitments was agreement to transfer US$100 billion a year from developed (rich) countries to developing (poor) countries, so that they could make adjustments in their own economies to cut carbon emissions. This funding transfer failed to materialise. Similarly, with the Covid pandemic, the rich countries stand accused of stock piling vaccines, rather than getting them out to poorer nations. Yet, as former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pointed out Covid will not be overcome until it is dealt with everywhere, which means universal vaccination. The emergence of the Omicron variant illustrates this point, a mutation in a part of the world (Southern Africa), with just 24% of the population vaccinated. Migration is another area where a more holistic approach is required. Refugees are being created by war and environmental devastation. They arrive in the rich countries that have played key roles in creating the wars and environmental meltdown. Unequal development across the world forces economic migrants to flee their lands looking for work and a better life. All of these problems have world wide implications and demand a collective, holistic response. It will only be when all nations recognise the benefit of coming together to operate for the common good of all that these issues will be resolved.