Without healthy nature people will not survive. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for governments and the international community to focus more on health, environment, climate, land degradation and human security issues. African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development (ANYL4PSD) has been engaged with several African youth and civil society organizations to fight against COVID19 and pandemics so as to build a common future for all life on Earth in the frame of the New Deal for Nature and People.
The current declaration is a consolidated document of several scientific works performed by African Network of Young leaders for Peace and Sustainable development and its platforms over COVID19 and its impacts. It is a document of position and roadmap enriched by children, youth and civil society organizations that have taken part and contributed to the regional online certified workshop and the subsequent working session and activities organized by ANYL4PSD from May 26 -31, 2020 with the support of Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). Main actions and key recommendations are as follows:
1. Strengthen multilateralism: Develop a whole -of-society coordinated approach and accelerate implementation of the “New Way of Working” mobilizing all the stakeholders and taking into account all the layers and sectors (that no one is left behind) in the implementation of innovative measures at different levels
2. Ensure continued access to people in need in line with humanitarian principles and recommit to Disaster Risk Reduction to build Back Better
3. Increase funding to Children, Youth, and Civil Society Organizations/NGOs and adapt funding mechanisms to maximize flexible COVID-19 responses
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4. Keep gender and vulnerable groups front and centre: Support to a youth, women and indigenous group led, localized response to COVID-19.
5. Strengthen investment and the implementation of One Health and EcoHeath through policy frameworks and initiatives aiming to restore ecosystem integrity indispensable for human health and development and to prevent and mitigate future pandemics
6. Strengthen partnerships for food security and agriculture monitoring and assessment for evidence based programming while increasing critical humanitarian food and livelihood assistance to the most vulnerable
7. Accelerate and enlarge the contribution worldwide of sustainable energy strategies, technologies, and applications for the purpose of achieving a sustainable quality of life for all
8. Durably implement the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire – Disinvest in nuclear and military weapons to invest in sustainable development goals for present and next generation.
We intend to widely share, implement and follow the implementation of this policy framework during and beyond the African Youth Resilience Initiatives Against COVID19 and Pandemics project.
We commend those in many corners of the world who are heeding the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the diverse populations especially children, youth, women and indigenous and vulnerable groups working and volunteering on the front lines as well as health care and other essential workers putting themselves at increased risk so that communities can continue to thrive.
We offer our condolences to the families of those who have already been lost to this illness, and our sympathies to those who have lost employment as a result. The effects of a pandemic are felt far more deeply than the illness itself, and we are hopeful that our governing institutions and communities are able to have responses that can mitigate the harm.
We call upon governments, local elected, traditional and religious leaders, social and traditional media, communities, private sector and other civil society organizations and NGO/INGO to take into account this declaration in their daily duties, act in lock-step with medical professionals and share information which prioritizes the health and wellbeing of people over economies and ensure that misinformation is not permitted to enter the popular discourse. Moreover, decisions taken by such leaders must be clear and evidence based in order to have the greatest impact.
Get the full Document here: https://anyl4psd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Eng_DECLARATION_AFRICAN-CSO-AND-YOUTH_COVID19-PANDEMICS-1.pdf