Taken as a whole, the world's population today is healthier, wealthier, and better educatedthan ever before. Yet, despite incredible progress, disconcerting realities stubbornly persist.
Many people still live in extreme poverty, even where economies are growing rapidly. Morethan 20 percent of the world's population lives in states that are considered fragile and highlyvulnerable. Global economic and financial systems remain volatile, and armed violence andorganized criminal networks are a growing threat to human security in many countries, andwomen continue to face serious barriers to real empowerment. Meanwhile, our planetaryboundaries are being stretched to the limit, and as the world's population increases from thecurrent 7 billion people to a projected almost 9 billion in 2040, the stress on our planet and itsresources will continue to increase rapidly if current consumption and production patternscontinue.
Our political, social, economic, and technological tools and our policies need to urgentlyaddress these challenges, and building resilience is at the very heart of this effort.
Resilience implies the inherent capacity of a system to deal with any external shock, no matterhow surprising it is. It is also about being able to face adversity without losing the ability tofunction as a society. Achieving resilience is a transformative process that builds on the innatestrength of individuals, their communities, and institutions to prevent, lessen the impacts of,and learn from the experience of shocks of any type, whether internal or external, natural orman-made. When societies invest time in learning from adversity, they are better prepared toface it in the future.
In building such resilience, the first priority must be prevention, complemented by explicitefforts to reduce societal vulnerabilities and a commitment to maintaining the integrity ofcommunities, institutions, and ecosystems, as these are the very foundations of resilience. Asthe recent financial crisis showed, not all developed countries have retained systemicresilience to economic shocks.
In 2004, the magnitude-9 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck Aceh, Indonesia,causing 4 percent of the total population of around 4 million to lose their lives. When a powerful7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh this January there were no casualties thanks to aneffective government-led publicity campaign and UNDP sponsored disaster preparednesstraining.
Sustainable development based on resilience also calls for developing the capacity of the poorto overcome challenges, and should be guided by a commitment to national ownership,comprehensive and integrated responses, innovation and learning, and long-term strategicengagement.
Institutions, particularly structures and systems of governance, provide frameworks for buildingresilience. But state fragility is a function of not only weak institutions but also of social systemsunder strain. A resilient state is anchored in a cohesive society. Stark inequalities andinequities undermine that.
Building social protection systems is a key investment in resilience, as they shield the mostvulnerable from the worst effects of shocks and help prevent irreversible developmentsetbacks.
Resilient societies are also those that exhibit social and civic trust, thus enabling people to feelincluded and encouraged to work together.
It takes hard work to establish these attributes. It is even more difficult to do so in thosewrecked by conflict and violence. Yet, without such capacities for tolerance, fragility canoverwhelm the institutions and systems of a society.
When world leaders come together in Rio de Janeiro in June to discuss sustainabledevelopment, resilience must be an important part of the discussion.
By collectively committing to building resilience, the international community offers a chance forpeople everywhere to be equipped with the capacity to cope, to act, and to rise to the dauntingchallenges of the 21st century.
The author is the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the formerprime minister of New Zealand.
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