The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge the world has faced since World War Two. The pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it also an unprecedented socio-economic crisis, with the potential to create devastating social, economic and political effects that will leave deep and longstanding scars. In this regard, a recent study from UNDP found that the severe long-term effects of the COVID19 pandemic could push an additional 207 million people into extreme poverty, on top of the current pandemic trajectory, bringing the total to over 1 billion by 2030.
While the explosion of Beirut on 4 August 2020 was a turning point for Lebanon, the country is still fighting an uphill battle against the spread of Covid-19 and the deteriorating socio-economic crisis amid growing inequalities and heightened uncertainty. These are daunting challenges, certainly, but they also create a unique opportunity to “Build Lebanon Forward.”
Across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the limits of social systems and safety nets when it comes to providing and caring for populations, particularly the most vulnerable. The 2019 UNDP Human Development Report 2019 explored many of the resulting inequalities from these systems and advocated solutions that take into account interlinkages between different factors in societies, economies and political structures to guarantee sustainable human development. The COVID19 crisis has called for reevaluating priorities for individuals, communities and humanity at large. Even if the pandemic is contained, going back to the “old normal” is no longer viable.
This supplement therefore analyzes the implications of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and the compounded crises causes by the economic situation and the August4 Beirut explosions on the “old normal”. It also outlines sectors in need of critical rethinking and sheds light on current solutions and possible ways forward, from rethinking social relations to promoting more sustainable local models of production, consumption and post-consumption, reevaluating workplace needs and improving the flow of accurate information at this critical juncture. We trust that the insights and recommendations captured in this supplement will contribute to charting the way forward to build Lebanon forward.
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (Rep.). (2020). UDNP. https://sdgintegration.undp.org/accelerating-development-progressduring-covid-19