- Andrej Plenković
Over the last few years, the world has faced tremendous disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and other fragilities in several countries, climate change hardships and various natural disasters. Further aggravated by global economic and financial market depressions, even many more have been thrown into poverty, with greater exposure to vulnerabilities and inequalities. These disruptions have led to serious reversal problems, eroding decades worth of development progress. As is often the case, developing countries, many of which are in Africa, face the harshest impacts of shocks.
Nonetheless, enormous challenges also present enormous opportunities for resilience and the opportunity to boost local momentum to recover progress lost, particularly within the developing countries who are the most affected by any global shocks. Approaching the risks and opportunities to people, planet, and the economy, using a sustainability lens, unearths a unique opportunity to mobilize domestic resources and deploy tailored solutions at scale.