COVID-19 highlights link between health, sustainability

-Minister Todd tells summit-

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Hugh Todd has said the link between health and sustainability is among the lessons to be learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the fight against climate change.

The Minister said those lessons must be documented, analysed and implemented where applicable. He made these statements today in his address at the virtual flagship event hosted by the Government of Guyana, in its capacity as Chair of the Group of 77 and China.

“COVID-19, even as it threatens, it also teaches. The link between health and sustainability has been sharply underlined, and we are learning by force of necessity, that much more can be delivered even today with a smaller carbon footprint,” Minister Todd said.

The Minister, who chaired the summit, said the circumstances of the meeting illustrate the challenges the world faces as a result of COVID-19. At the same time, he said, there are opportunities inherent in those challenges.

Minister Todd said countries must overcome “this menace if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and rise to the promise of the Paris Agreement.”

He added that the Group of 77 and China has significantly reduced the carbon footprint associated with its meetings during 2020.

Further, he said, while the pandemic has claimed more than one million lives in a mere ten months, with over 42 million cases worldwide, “It is possible that some of the best lessons in the fight against this pandemic might well be drawn from within our Group.”

Guyana hopes that the G77 and China will contribute thought and action to a healthier and more sustainable world, keeping the existential threat posed by climate change at the centre of global attention. “It is a threat that leaves no room for delayed actions or backsliding on commitments,” the Foreign Affairs Minister stated.

The Group of 77 and China is met under the theme “Maintaining a Low Carbon Development Path towards the 2030 Agenda in the era of COVID-19.”

The meeting focused on more ambitious climate actions through climate finance, lessons learnt from COVID-19 experiences and implications for combatting climate change and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.