Securing the Well-Being of Future Generations

Presently, we stand at a critical juncture in the history of humankind, as we risk creating a world that is no longer compatible with human civilization. The international evidence is now clear that we need to significantly scale up reduction in carbon emissions to prevent runaway climate change. If we carry on with our current trajectory, we are projected to reach a three- to four-degree Celsius rise by 2100, and a three- to 10-degree Celsius rise by 2200. To put it plainly, the planet is sick; and we all need to work together to ensure the well-being of future generations.

As Co-chair of the InterAction Council, an organisation of former heads of state and government that promotes global security as part of its mandate, I endorse the recently launched “Manifesto to Secure a Healthy Planet for All – A Call for Emergency Action.” This initiative by the Council builds upon collaborative action to advance the Dublin Charter for One Health, a product of the InterAction Council’s Plenary Session in 2017, with an overall aim to secure a healthy planet.

The manifesto has been developed in response to increasing evidence and understanding of the severity of our global climate and environmental crisis. Now more than ever, we need courageous leadership to take crucial decisions and actions to secure a healthy planet for all, including the very existence of human civilization.

Much can be learnt and applied from the philosophy and perspectives of Traditional Chinese Medicine with regards to re-framing how the health of humans is intimately connected to the health of the planet, and ultimately, how to create a healthy planet as a basis for healthy humans. The manifesto summarises key international evidence and has been inspired by the parallels of human and planetary health at high-level presentations from Traditional Chinese Healers at our plenary sessions.

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, in many respects human systems can be seen as a microcosm of the Earth’s living biosphere. Although there are significant differences in scale and functioning of some of these systems, in terms of appreciating the seriousness of the Earth’s failing ecosystem, it is helpful to consider the analogies of the planet’s health with that of human systems. If we were to consider our planet as a patient, we would be seriously concerned about its health and would quickly diagnose that ‘Patient Planet’ was critically sick. A rapid assessment of the planet’s health would find an escalating fever with difficulties breathing, a faltering circulation with metabolic acidosis and a toxic status, failing liver and kidney functions, a pale and blotchy skin indicating signs of shock and a rapidly declining mental state.

From the perspective of the planet’s doctor, we would urgently send ‘Patient Planet’ straight to Critical Care for emergency resuscitation and stabilisation. This should involve a rapid reduction of carbon emissions over the next decade, including actively sequestering carbon to lower key drivers of increasing temperatures. Stabilisation of ocean temperatures and acidity may also be required.

The UN recently declared that we have to reduce global carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, in order to keep within the relatively safe limits of global warming of 1.5°C, with a target of zero emissions by 2050. This will require urgent and large-scale action with an estimated annual investment of 2.5 per cent of global GDP to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, including carbon capture (IPCC 2018).

Over the last year, a number of countries, as well as more than 1,000 local governments, have declared an emergency response to the climate crisis, including: Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Canada, France, Portugal and Argentina. Drawing upon these experiences, I encourage other communities and countries, including China, to also declare an emergency response.

We can draw upon the successes of China’s ability to improve human health and education, advance development outcomes and to rapidly transform economic well-being of nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population. Building upon China’s ambitious goals in its Climate Change Policies and Work Plans, we can set an example to the world of the ability to co-ordinate responses and harness the necessary capacity to address the climate crisis at scale and speed. Ultimately, China is and will be pivotal to our global response to be able to address the climate crisis and successfully secure a healthy planet for all.

In order to be successful, climate and environmental emergency response committees will be required to: stabilize risks from tipping points, rapidly reduce carbon emissions, protect ourselves and our planet from the increasing impacts of the climate and environmental crisis, and strengthen recovery processes and community resilience. We can all learn from the successes of China in advancing the development of scaling up green and smart cities within the framework of creating Ecological Civilizations.

We can also build upon past experiences of successfully managing emergency situations and draw upon existing tools like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Collaborative efforts are required to scale up emergency action, including strengthening coherence and coordination to harness resources and capacity across the global community, while mainstreaming responses to the climate and environmental crisis through established delivery mechanisms.

We need to express our commitment and demonstrate our responsibility by becoming ‘Guardians to Secure a Healthy Planet for All’ – a concept that reflects the Chinese concepts of the inter-relationship between the health of humans and their environment.

China can play a key global leadership role as a Guardian for the Planet’s Health, for example, by scaling up innovative responses to carbon capture, by creating low-cost renewable energy and by mainstreaming recovery processes. Moreover, China’s ability to coordinate and rapidly transform societies can be applied to build community resilience and create sustainable flourishing civilisations, across China, throughout the Belt and Road initiative, and in the many other countries that China is investing in.

Together, by rapidly responding to our climate emergency, we can take the decisive actions that are essential at this critical time. I am especially encouraged by the boldness and energy of our younger generations, as well as the commitment expressed by the many supportive and professional organisations endorsing the manifesto. In particular, I welcome the important role that China has in matching ambition with the size of this existential challenge, in order to transform and create a flourishing future in this world that we all share together.

Bertie Ahern is the Co-chair of the InterAction Council and former Prime Minister of Ireland.