Editorial 1: Agents of global well-being
Recent Context:
- Recently, India is hosting the 2023, G20 Leaders’ Summit on September 9-10. And inclusive development is going to be one of the central areas of discussion during the summit.
- As, investing in the health of women, children, and adolescents is critical to sustainable economic growth globally.
New Emerging challenges for G 20 nations which affect global population adversely
- Every year, across all G20 countries, nearly two million preventable deaths occur among mothers, newborns, children, and adolescents — this includes stillbirths.
- In recent years, the key drivers of these negative outcomes have included the “four Cs”: Covid-19, conflict, climate change, and the cost of living crisis.
- These factors have combined to inflict immense damage on the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. Systemic discrimination and an increase in extreme weather events, food insecurity, and poverty are major causes of the lack of progress in women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health
- For example In 2000, the climate emergency was already responsible for more than 1,50,000 deaths worldwide and an increasing global burden of disease, 88 per cent of which fell on children.
- It is estimated that 80 per cent of people displaced by the climate emergency are women, largely due to economic and social disparities between genders.
- Such inequalities, environmental damage, and loss of human life and capital are profoundly distressing.
- As a result, women are negatively impacted, exacerbating the “feminisation of poverty”. Throughout the world, women continue to earn less than men, even when accounting for similar education levels.
India as a guiding light at G 20 platform
- The G20 countries are home to two-thirds of the global population and the actions they take collectively have a global scale.
- The G20 must act now to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents and tackle preventable loss of life.
- India currently holds the G20 presidency and is committed to achieving universal health coverage and improving healthcare service delivery globally. For example, India has proposed several initiatives for digital health solutions as part of a digital strategy launched in 2021.
- These digital tools enabled the registration of a billion people in order to monitor immunisation coverage, and the administration of more than 1.78 billion doses of the covid-19 vaccine
- India has also proposed initiatives on the climate-health nexus ( for e.g. LiFE), given the ongoing impacts of the climate crisis on public health, and on efforts towards better pandemic preparedness and response.
- It is important to ensure that these initiatives are gender- and age-sensitive — for instance, through prioritising women-centric digital health services.
- Along with it, Cooperation across countries is critical for sharing good practices and addressing shared challenges.
- For example, effective adaptation to climate change requires both systemic approaches and, for countries to support each other’s efforts in raising financial resources and building technological capacities through South-South and North-South cooperation
Further steps need to be taken by G20 countries to overcome the health and well-being challenges
- G20 countries must also take more substantial action to overcome the health and well-being challenges faced by women, children, and adolescents.
- First, G20 countries must prioritise increased cross-cutting financing to strengthen health systems, enhance access to essential health services, and address the social determinants of health, such as poverty and gender inequality.
- Investments in physical and digital infrastructure through a gender lens could reduce the burden of unpaid work, improve wellbeing, create jobs, increase labour force participation, reduce the digital gender gap, bolster productivity, and foster economic growth
- Second, numerous countries are struggling to maintain pre-pandemic levels of health spending. That is affecting women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health worldwide.
- Global efforts are required to help countries strengthen their health systems by attracting more development assistance for health and finding sustainable solutions to alleviate debt burdens. The G20 must advocate for this.
- Thirdly, we need robust data systems to monitor and implement policies and programmes effectively.
- Given that G20 countries account for approximately 85 per cent of the global GDP, two-thirds of the global population and carry significant political influence, they are well positioned to advance research and the development of new and improved health technologies and vaccines while focusing on women, children, and adolescents.
- Fourth, investing in the early years of childhood is vitally important, including in family-friendly policies and universal social protection.
- Such investments can boost cognitive capital the complete set of intellectual skills, primarily nurtured prenatally and in early childhood, that determines human capabilities leading to inclusive economic growth.
Conclusion
- Therefore, The G20 must prioritise the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents by making it a permanent fixture on its agenda for action. That requires dedicated, enhanced, and sustained financing, as well as more global coordination and solidarity so that no woman, child, adolescent, or country is left behind.
- The health and well-being of women, children and adolescents are essential for sustainable economic growth worldwide. This cannot be optimised without strong G20 leadership.
Editorial 2 : The climate crisis
Recent Context:
- Recently, events because climate changes are observed in different parts of the world such as Raging wildfires across Europe and Canada, devastating floods, cloudbursts, and storms in China, India and Brazil and sweltering heat waves in numerous countries.
- And these more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gasses.
The following are the three such records broken in the summer of 2023 and why they matter
1. Hottest summer ever
- As per World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this year’s summer was the hottest. The three-month period from June to August broke previous records with an average temperature of 16.77 degree Celsius, which was 0.66 degree Celsius above the 1990-2020 average.
- In July, the global average daily temperature crossed the mark of 17 degree Celsius for the first time. While on July 3, the average temperature reached 17.01 degree Celsius, on July 6, mercury soared to 17.08 degree Celsius. The latter is currently the hottest day recorded on the planet.
Why it matters:
- With such soaring temperatures and El Nino conditions setting in, the year 2023 may become the warmest ever in history. It so far the second-hottest on record only 0.01 degree Celsius below the all-time high of 2016.
- The development highlights the possibility that the planet may soon become 1.5 degree Celsius warmer than it was during the pre-industrial times. Once the limit is breached, there could be irrevocable damage to the Earth’s ecosystem, severely impacting humans and other living beings.
2. Highest sea surface temperatures
- Each day from July 31 to August 31, 2023, has witnessed warmer global average sea surface temperature than the previous record from March 2016.
- Therefore, August as a whole saw the highest global monthly average sea surface temperature on record across all
- Notably, the North Atlantic Ocean’s average sea surface temperature reached a new high on August 31, when it touched 25.19 degree Celsius.
Why it matters:
- The oceans have absorbed 90% of the additional heat caused by human activity since the second half of the 19th Century. Higher ocean temperatures often cause marine heat waves (MHWs), which are extreme weather events.
- MHWs lead to the deaths of several marine species, alter their migration patterns, cause coral bleaching and even impact weather patterns. They also can make storms like Hurricanes and Typhoons stronger.
3. Lowest Antarctic Sea ice extent
- As per NASA Earth Observatory report, The Antarctic Sea ice extent hit a new record low in 2023. In July, the sea ice extent averaged 13.5 million sq km, the lowest levels observed for this time of year since the continuous satellite record began in late 1978.
- The worst affected regions were the northern Ross Sea and in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean sectors.
Why it matters:
- The extreme decline in Antarctica’s sea ice sheet has set alarm bells ringing for scientists. Less ice cover may have grave consequences for the world.
- Low sea ice extent leads to higher ocean temperatures, difficulty in the formation of ice, rising sea levels, and disruption of the ocean circulation.
Conclusion:
- Climate change due to global warming and GHGs emission is real challenge for the survival of human being along with Environment and biodiversity.
- Therefore, nations of the world should make serious outcome based efforts at national and international level to counter the change changes and issues related to it.