Southeast Asia’s Malay Archipelago is very far away from Ukraine and the indigenous people of Borneo — living in some of the most pristine jungles left in the world — do not leave much of a carbon footprint. Yet even they cannot escape the effects of war, inflation and climate change.
And one of our best hopes of building a better world — the United Nations sustainable development goals — is looking increasingly unattainable.
The SDGs are supposed to “end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all” by 2030. But the latest SDG report makes for grim reading. “Cascading and interlinked global crises” — including the COVID-19 pandemic, global warming, war, inflation and polarization — are jeopardizing the SDG agenda, having already reversed years of progress toward eradicating poverty and hunger.