Review by Maria Francisca Botelho
The new Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focuses on various realities that have been causing a significant setback in human development, exacerbating social inequalities in 9 out of 10 countries worldwide.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the 2021/22 edition of the Human Development Report on September 8, 2022, under the theme “Uncertain times, unstable lives: building the future in a changing world”. Indeed, this new report concludes a trilogy of reports that begins with the 2019 Report on inequalities in human development, followed by the 2020 Report on the risks of the Anthropocene, where humanity has become one of the main driving forces behind dangerous planetary changes.
Effectively, the new UN report depicts a global society that oscillates from crisis to crisis and is at risk of heading towards increasing and unfair deprivation. Leading the list of events causing major global disruptions are the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused upheavals in human development in almost every country in the world and continues to provoke unpredictable variations; the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has caused further human suffering amid a geopolitical order full of tensions and in full mutation compounded by radical social and economic changes; the volatile and dangerous planetary changes of the Anthropocene reflected in record temperatures (leading to global warming and, in turn, the melting of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica, causing storms, fires, droughts, and floods); and the unforeseen and massive increases in the vacillations of polarized societies. Together, they paint a picture of unprecedented times of uncertainty and unstable lives on a global scale.
According to the report, for the first time in the 32 years that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has calculated it, there is the first consecutive decline in the Human Development Index (HDI), which is based on indicators such as population, health, education, employment, national wealth, security, and perception of well-being that allow measuring the HDI of each nation and region of the world. Human development has fallen to 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations project aimed at ensuring a fairer future for individuals and the planet Earth. In fact, the reversal is almost universal, as more than 90% of countries recorded a decline in their HDI score in only 2020 or 2021, and more than 40% in both years, demonstrating that the crisis has deepened for many countries in the world, particularly for those in the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa (which faced devastating droughts in the Horn of Africa). The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed not only the enormous inequalities of the global economy but also gender inequalities. Regarding inequalities in the global economy, although the development of effective vaccines has been hailed as a monumental achievement, credited with saving billions of lives, and as a demonstration of the enormous power of innovation allied with political will, the access to purchasing power of vaccines, which is to say access to vaccines, was not equal worldwide. While an overwhelming majority of the population in developed countries was vaccinated, another portion of the population in developing countries was not, making it almost impossible to eradicate the virus globally considering these disparities. As for gender inequalities, it was found that women and children were the social group most exposed to the vulnerabilities of the pandemic, taking on more domestic and care responsibilities, and facing increased domestic violence due to confinement. Indeed, the successive waves of new variants of Covid-19 and the warnings that future pandemics are increasingly likely to occur have helped to create a widespread atmosphere of uncertainty for 6 out of every 7 people about their future, regardless of their socioeconomic status or the country they live in, negatively affecting their mental health.
Clearly, we have faced diseases, wars, and environmental disruptions in the past, but the confluence of destabilizing planetary pressures with the growth of human development inequalities, the profound social transformations to alleviate these pressures, and widespread polarization present new, complex, and interactive sources of uncertainty for the world and for all who inhabit it, so this is the new normal in the life of any society worldwide. Thus, understanding and responding to these challenges facing humanity and providing individuals with the necessary tools to feel safer, regain control over their lives, and have hope for the future are the objectives of the 2021/2022 Human Development Report, as emphasized by Pedro Conceição, director of the office responsible for the Human Development Report at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its chief writer: “The Human Development Report 2021/2022 not only aggregates but also extends these discussions by assuming uncertainty as a theme – how it is changing, what it means for human development, and how we can thrive in the face of this reality.”
Thus, the report highlights that there are opportunities in uncertainty. In these last three years, we have shown our ability to deal with and overcome adversities, that we are capable of going “beyond” conventional ways of dealing with issues, transforming our institutions so that they are more suited to the current world. As Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UNDP, stated, there is a need for a renewed sense of global solidarity to address “common and interconnected challenges,” but for this, the international community must come together, as it has more to gain if we “co-invest” in each other, rather than trying to compete with each other. In other words, all countries (developed and developing) should focus on ways to promote human development, which do not exclusively focus on improving the wealth or health of individuals. Thus, if the international community makes the right choices to shape the development paths of the 21st century it needs to ensure its future and that of the planet, it can chart a new course from the current global uncertainty.
In conclusion, the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) emphasizes that there are no inevitabilities within the international community, only hard uncertainties about the future by the international community. Indeed, uncertainty is not something new, as humanity has long been concerned about the challenges that arise in the world, so it can be said that there is danger in uncertainties, but also that there is opportunity in them to reimagine our future, renew and adapt institutions, and create new stories about who humanity is and what it values. Indeed, the best response to be given is a reinforced commitment to human development, which highlights the creative and cooperative capacities that integrate the essence of humanity itself, being this the hopeful path to follow if it wants to thrive in a changing world, so “this is a job for everyone and for the benefit of everyone,” as emphasized by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
References
CONCEIÇÃO, Pedro (2022), Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World, United Nations Development Programme Report 2021/2022, New York, USA.
ENGSTRÖM ALEXANDER, Petra (2021), World Childwood Foundation Activity Report 2021, Stockholm, Sweden.
ILO & UNICEF (2023), More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection for children. Second ILO–UNICEF Joint Report on Social Protection for Children, Geneva and New York.
WORLD CHILDWOOD FOUNDATION (2023), Childwood in Ukraine. One year after the invasion, Stockholm, Sweden.
