Welcome to the United Nations
COVID-19 is showing that development gains can be lost in a matter of months, with millions of people around the work falling back under the poverty line after decades of effort to improve their conditions. It has also revealed the precariousness of the systems upon which trade, food, energy, transportation, and social safety nets depend. Finally, it is proving that no individual, no community, and no nation is immune to disasters.
We must acknowledge the impact disasters can have on development and the commensurate vulnerability of the Sustainable Development Goals when they are not implemented through a prevention lens.
We urgently need to start applying a preventive, risk-informed approach to all decision-making and develop accountability frameworks to support comprehensive risk disclosure and preventive action. Approaches that governments choose can radically transform the sectors that they seek to save and introduce a shift towards risk-aware behaviors and decisions by all of us.
