Dear Ladies and Gentlemen; Distinguished Partners and Guests,

Good morning to you all! I am very pleased today to welcome you all to the presentation of UNDP’s global Human Development Report titled The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene. While I regret to face you from an online screen, the fortunate consequence of this is that we can reach greater numbers, and I hope we have participants with us from around Kyrgyzstan today.

The  30th edition of this legendary report on the state of human development demonstrates how we, the species of humans, are destabilizing the planetary systems we rely on for survival; how this strain on our planet actually mirrors strains in our societies; and recognises that we need to develop entirely different norm systems to stop these imbalances from further reinforcing each other in the future. On its 30th anniversary, the HDR also introduces a new experimental index that incorporates emphasis on both people and the planet. 

Science now informs that we are entering a new geologic epoch—the Anthropocene—in which humans are a dominant force, shaping the future of the planet. Climate change and exponential biodiversity loss are prime examples of this; COVID-19 and its complex effects on human society and wellbeing are certainly typical challenges of the Anthropocene.

And so our world has entered into an era of complexity and instability. The convergence of multiple sources of fragility is pushing hundreds of millions of people into poverty and displacement, eroding fundamental freedoms. The existential nature of the challenge has exposed many underlying defects in development policy and indeed of the human development concept itself. A central question is: How can development pathways shift from linear to systems approaches to better grasp the complexities of socio-ecological tipping points and transitions?

This year’s HDR focuses on mechanisms of action, rather than on specific actors, partly because human development in the Anthropocene will require ‘whole-of-society’ and systemic responses. Actions need to go across ministries, national and subnational levels, industries, civil society and people, and beyond just what we think of as the environment sector.

The overriding problem facing our world is no longer just how to achieve greater or fairer growth, but ensuring we survive to enjoy its benefits. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to choose to change. The report explains how the human way of life, our production and consumption patterns have entered us into a serious ecological crisis. If nothing changes, we could be on the eve of the sixth mass extinction in the long history of life, since that of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Kyrgyzstan is a global biodiversity hotspot. Despite making up only 0.13% of the world’s territory, this territory is a unique and important ecoregion on the planet. Some of its ecosystems have suffered extreme change. Sadly, the foothill plain steppes, tugai and wetland complexes in the Chui valley and the Issyk-Kul basin, dry steppe, semi-desert and desert ecosystems in the Fergana zone have already practically disappeared. Riverine ecosystems are degraded due to heavy pollution and water withdrawal for irrigation, and large parts of its plains and valleys are subject to destruction. The main cause of biodiversity loss is habitat disturbance as a result of economic activities as well as direct extermination by humans. A scientist by the name of Shukurov, famous in Kyrgyzstan and beyond, pointed out: Only life creates the conditions for life. Natural ecosystems are the matrices of life from which biodiversity is printed and the environment and well-being of people living nearby is built.  End quote.

Climate action and conservation action are mutually reinforcing. Many are aware that Kyrgyzstan is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change and highly dependent on the most climate-sensitive economic sectors. Today’s discussion takes place while the country is preparing its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; in a process of reviewing and setting more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs. The implementation of the NDCs, which we can think of as the country remaining within a certain carbon emission budget, is among the most important actions to help Kyrgyzstan transform towards a green economy. This process will open unparalleled opportunities for accel­erating structural transformations and unlocking sustainable development, by establishing the policy direction and conditions for access to international financial support in the years to come. 

 The 2020 Human Development Report comes at a critical time, as the world seeks solutions to the planetary crisis and to deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The coming years will inevitably be characterized by our world suffering both continued and more frequent outbreaks of disasters and pandemics, but they can also be defined by the beginning of a transformation towards sustainable development.

Transformation will require us to fundamentally rethink development, a new way of thinking about the state of nature and the nature of human development, and the forming of a new contract between people and the planet. We need a cessation of “environmental hostilies” for species to flourish and to slow down the extreme biodiversity loss. We need improved resource governance. A more sustainable growth pattern would depend, to a large degree, on more inclusive and fair methods of managing the world’s resources. 

This report was originally published already late last year; it has since been published in its entirety also in the Russian language, making it accessible to a wider reader circle in our region, which is an important motivation for today’s event. You can access the report from our website of course, and I hope you will use it.

I am so pleased to be joined here today by very prominent speakers. Mr Daniar Imanaliev, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance who is a champion of the Green Economy; Ben Slay, UNDP’s Senior Economist in the Europe and CIS region; Anna Kirilenko, Chair of the Board of the Global Forest Coalition who will discuss the Anthropocene from the perspective of Kyrgyzstan, and our excellent commentators Roman Mogilevsky, Associate Director at the Institute of Public Policy and Administration, University of Central Asia and last but not least Miraida from Batken - one of five UN Youth Ambassadors for the SDGs.

Welcome again to all participants; I look to a very interesting discussion today, and to hearing more from our experts.  Thank You!