While world discourse on various issues has increased as never before with the rapid spread of media, social media, research institutions and think-tanks, it is disturbing to realize that at the same time the most important issues and tasks are getting increasingly neglected. This is particularly regrettable at a time when very serious life-threatening problems are increasing.
What is the most important discourse and task before the world? Clearly it is to prepare an agenda for world in which wars are avoided and in particular all possibilities of a world war and nuclear war are avoided, effective solutions for all environmental problems are found, economic inequalities and social discrimination are minimized, basic needs of all people are met on sustainable basis and democracy in its true spirit can progress.
It is of course not enough to merely mention pious wishes. In any such effective agenda, the constraints and obstacles must be listed, forces which hinder such objectives must be identified and the ways and means of overcoming the difficulties and opposition must also be discussed and remedial actions suggested. The internal consistency of the agenda should be well- established—for instance the objectives of environment protection should be in line with the development objectives and so on.
In the course of the preparation of such an agenda, more than one possible course of actions can be listed and then the limitations, benefits as well as possibilities of realization of each one of these can be examined. Thus if the optimal course of action appears to be beyond reach due to some reason, then the second best course of action can be attempted, while the optimal course of action also at least remains on the table, for later day adoption if possibilities emerge for this at a certain point of time.
While few will deny the great importance of this kind of work, the distressing fact remains that very few comprehensive efforts of this kind have been made, and the few that have been made fall far short of the real needs. The United Nations has at best been able to come up with its SDG (sustainable development goals) agenda discourse with its many limitations. Useful discourses on other isolated aspects can be seen, but comprehensive agenda of the kind mentioned above is difficult to find. This is particularly so if we are looking for unbiased efforts that are free from the biases of power-politics, and are guided only by the objectives of justice and environment protection, peace and democracy.
Ideally the United Nations would have been the most suitable forum for taking forward such an agenda, but its ability to perform such important roles has been increasingly impaired. This is partly because of the way it is structured with veto powers for a few and other anomalies, but also because of its decay and decline due to several factors, including the increasing impact of funding by billionaires or their organizations. Instead of providing such invaluable guidance most needed by humanity, the UN appears to have more capability instead for preparing very kinds of indexes to rank various countries, although even this is often not done in a satisfactory way. For example those countries which have been involved in killing a large number of innocent people in unjust wars or exploiting other countries in numerous ways can get listed at the top level in human development or in other such indexes simply because questions regarding their injustice towards others are not included in the index. Hence the index of human development or other such indexes my end up glorifying those countries whose aggressions or highly consumerist life styles are actually a big obstacle in finding the most desirable development paths for world. Hence to expect the United Nations to prepare the most just, fair and unbiased blueprint for the most desirable path ahead would be to expect too much. Where the United Nations has actually emerged in leadership role in responding to big problems like climate change, its role has come under serious criticism in the more recent years.
There are numerous other organizations which could have filled in this gap, but due to various reasons this most important work has lagged behind. Apart from preparing very important, well-researched documents on the basis of consulting some of the best-informed and thoughtful people on various related issues, this work also involves taking this agenda to common people as well as decision makers on a significant scale with continuity, including media and advocacy efforts, but all this most important work has suffered from neglect.
However with increasing importance of such work, this situation of neglect should be overcome and various smaller organizations despite their limited resources can also come together and enlist the cooperation of senior scholars known for their commitment to justice, peace and environment protection for preparing such an agenda in an unbiased ways and then take this to various decision makers and above all to people over the next few years. This is very important work which can be invaluable for creating a future based on environment protection and justice, peace and democracy.
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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders and A Day in 2071
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