Reflections and Solutions from the Andean Region: An interview with Experts from Argentina, Ecuador and Chile

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated across the globe on Wednesday, April 22, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) hosted its first global 24-hour " Happiness and Sustainability around the Earth " webinar, bringing together experts and community leaders to discuss how sustainability and happiness are linked. In addition, implementation of the SDGs, as experienced throughout the various regions of the world by the national, regional and thematic networks, was explored. During the seminar, the impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 disease) pandemic was addressed, as they pertained to the webinar’s themes.

The fifth session of the seminar was organized by SDSN Andes , and moderated by its Director, Dr. Jorge Gómez-Paredes. This session was organized around the themes of "Reflections" and "Solutions," with the participation of prominent experts from Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.

Reflections

The first part of the session began with a recorded video message focused on why "We are part of the Earth" by Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo María Pérez Esquivel. Adolfo mentioned that "we are living at the end of an era, and we have to think about which path humanity is going to take". He emphasized the need to create "a fairer global economy" and to recover the balance we have lost: "balance with ourselves, balance with others, balance with Mother Earth, balance with the cosmos and balance with God". He also added that in order to achieve change, "critical awareness, social organization, resistance of the peoples [...], and a recovering of values" are needed, in addition to "a collective consciousness and overcoming [...] a singular ideology or form of thinking," since the "most dangerous monoculture of all is the monoculture of minds".

The session continued with "Harvest the Seed" by Estela Cammarota , Founder and President of Ingeniería Sin Fronteras Argentina (Engineering without Borders – Argentina). Estela mentioned that "there are theories that consider Earth as a self-regulating system, which arises from the entirety of organisms that compose it," which has the purpose of "preserving the life that inhabits it at every moment" for which, "the biosphere needs to be in balance." She added that beyond the "apparent adjudication of a purpose and therefore of awareness, the condition of being a system cannot be denied," of which humans are a part of and in which "our actions cause the changes in the entire system, [since we are all] completely connected. Within this reality, she said, "the tree we cut is our partner we kill, and [to cut it down] must have a noble reason, because if not, it is a crime, and crimes have to be paid for."

The session continued with Yolanda Kakabadse , who focused on "COVID-19 and Sustainable Development." The former Minister of the Environment of Ecuador and former president of IUCN and WWF International, pointed out that just as it is important to understand climate change as the result of the deterioration of ecosystems, it is fundamental to recognize the "abuse and misuse of natural resources, ecosystems, and biodiversity as the basic cause [...] of what is happening at the moment." She added that the pandemic has made clear that "the governance systems of our countries, the region, and the entire world are not prepared" to respond to this type of crisis, and "they should be," considering the level of risk to which humanity is exposed by issues such as climate change. She stressed that this lack of preparation does not only apply to governments, but is also evident in "regional and global governance," and that this is something that should concern us. Kakabadse emphasized the importance of rethinking growth and consumption models, which we must begin to discuss with different social sectors and at the international level, because "we cannot continue on the current path we are on.” She indicated that a "creative reflection towards the future" and a "revaluation of science" are fundamental to lead humanity towards a new "renaissance."o be paid for.”

Finally, Yolanda called on organizations working on sustainable development to focus on "spreading a respect for nature among other sectors.” She indicated that it is fundamental to generate behavioral changes, citing worldwide food waste, which she called immoral, as an example. She encouraged youth to become active in this regard, pointing out "It would be nice to see this renaissance through hundreds of ‘Gretas’".

Solu tions

The second part of the session focused on "solutions" and brought together specialists and leaders from the Catholic Church, academia and NGOs.

Father Mariano Oberlin , a Catholic Priest from the Crucifixión del Señor parish in Cordoba, Argentina has worked for several years with vulnerable youth, developing workshops on skills, sports, and culture for approximately 600 young people participating each week. In his presentation, "Experiences of Community Initiatives and Youth Development to Reduce Poverty and Inequality," Father Mariano provided an overview of the project of building houses with plastic waste that he developed with Lucas Recalde. This project provides employment and housing to locals, while taking advantage of solid waste. Mariano highlighted that the pandemic has made people more aware of the homeless, because they are unable to perform social distance, adding: "I hope we become aware of what it means to not have a place to live." Finally, he pointed out that "we can all do something to save this planet," and that the solution lies in all of us acting on it, every day, to that end.

Reinalina Chavarri , professor and Director of the Observatory of Sustainability of the University of Chile, presented on a "Critical View on the Implementation of the SDGs in Chile and the Challenges of Technological Transformation." In line with the seminar's theme, Reinalina said that "happiness and sustainability must be in accordance with the cycles of nature and that they are not opposing concepts," adding that sustainability must be understood as an "ethic for development." On Chile, she said that the SDGs have had to overcome the limits of different governments in office and the short-term vision of public and economic policies, which have prevented greater progress. She noted that "[economic] growth has not resulted in [sustainable] development," which is reflected in social inequality, and cited the "social explosion" that prevented COP 25 from taking place in November 2019. She concluded with her perspective that there will not be "a new normal, but a new reality" post-pandemic, and that among other things it is necessary to "build technological capacities, to reduce the digital gap, to stimulate and to strengthen the educational and health systems," as well as to achieve changes in production and consumption; all of this in conjunction with overcoming the short-term view imposed by the economic system, to ensure "that the economic systems communicate with the social, political, and cultural systems, and be able to face future environmental challenges.”

The SDSN Andes session concluded with the participation of Mireya Villacís , Project Coordinator at Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (Latin American Future Foundation), an organization founded by Yolanda Kakabadse to respond to the needs of the region identified at the Earth Summit (1992), and Julio López , Director of Sustainable Development and Cities at Grupo FARO, a leading Ecuadorian think tank. Mireya and Julio presented on "Experiences on the Implementation of the SDGs in Ecuador," referring specifically to the project "SDG Territory Ecuador" developed by both organizations with the support of the European Union. The speakers pointed out that this initiative promoted joint work towards the implementation of the SDGs based on three pillars: 1) Dialogue and multi-sectoral participation, 2) Citizen observatories, and 3) Capacity building on the SDGs. They pointed out that the project managed to bring together the public sector, the private sector, academia, and Ecuadorian civil society to identify which SDGs are "a priority for their territories, based on their challenges and advantages; that is, to seek in their specific contexts, what their vision of development is.” After the prioritization of SDGs at the sub-national level (in different provinces), road maps were generated towards these objectives. The presentation concluded with a mention of their work on the development of indicators and the collection of citizen data (with emphasis on SDG 11), as fundamental for "not leaving anyone behind" on the road to sustainable development.

Why Happiness and Sustainable Development?

All humans experience happiness and well-being, and most societies strive to achieve these on a communal scale. In this age, despite great economic and technological development, we experience isolation, depression, loneliness, and anxiety. According to the WHO, " depression is the world's leading cause of disability and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease." On the other hand, our unsustainable practices generate crises (such as the current pandemic) that bring collective suffering and challenge the well-being of peoples. Finally, the World Happiness Report for 2020 quantifies happiness through social welfare indicators clearly related to sustainable development. All of this suggests that happiness, based on social welfare as an objective, can drive better public policy and progress in our societies. This demonstrates how happiness and sustainability are linked around the planet.

Originally published on www.unsdsn-andes.org. View the original post here.