December 19, 2017

One planet is all we need

editor:	Bob Koigi

The One Planet Summit saw over 60 leaders and hundreds of environmentalists, company bosses, ministers and opinion leaders gathered in order to keep tabs on the progress of the Paris Agreement. With two years since the accord was inked, it is perhaps one of the greatest pointers to the level of commitment world leaders are demonstrating on the threat of climate change, in conjunction with looking at proactive ways of turning the promise of the Agreement into a global reality.

But even with the commemoration of such a juncture, which aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, the last two years have become increasingly unbearable, particularly for the rural poor, a majority who earn a living from one of the most affected sectors of the economy: agriculture.

While the gathering at One Planet sought to marshal public and private investments to reduce the gap between current commitments and what is needed to remain in temperatures that would avoid catastrophic climate change. Bold but laudable decisions by institutions like the World Bank that has pledged to quit upstream oil and gas projects after 2019, and the declaration by French insurer AXA and Dutch Bank ING to accelerate their divestment from fossil fuels all indicate that the war on climate change requires a top down, multifaceted approach to succeed.

Pledges by governments in developed nations, multinationals and NGOs to channel greater funding to build resilience and mitigation – especially among the most vulnerable – is the ultimate fulcrum in addressing biting 21st century problems including food security, health and migration. The summit has rubberstamped that a green economy is possible and remains the only sure bet to a sustainable global population. In the words of the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, "those who fail to bet on a green economy will be living in a grey future.”