Creating Momentum: Today is Tomorrow
Introduction:
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is pleased
to announce its Sixteenth Sustainable Development Conference titled
"Creating Momentum: Today is Tomorrow" to be held from 10 - 12 December
2013 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Even a cursory look at South Asia will reveal that we have
been long on words and theories but short on actions and implementation.
If the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is
anything to go by, most developing countries are falling woefully short
on most of the targets set therein. It is not only the failure of
developing world, but also of the developed world which had promised to
forge development partnership and provide development support under MDG
8.
The time to act has been fast passing us by but all we have
done is to wait, procrastinate and delay. Even when we know the
questions that haunt the states and societies in the region and even
when we know the need to work out timely answers for those, there is
precious little that the governments and non-governmental stake-holders
have achieved to show that they are serious about resolving the multiple
crises and problems staring starkly at the countries in the region.
After having agreed that equitably shared natural resources
have the best chance of being sustainably maintained for the future,
what have we done to achieve that goal? After acknowledging that
economically egalitarian societies and states have a proven track record
of stability, security and prosperity, what have we done to change
unequal and divided states and societies at war with themselves? After
having understood that increasing literacy and improving healthcare
facilities can create equal opportunities for betterment of lives across
all political, social, cultural and economic divides, what have we done
to take schools and hospitals to those sections of the society which
don't have them?
The reason for such failure is obvious: We did not start
working on attaining these objectives as early as we should have. It
goes without saying that halving poverty, reducing infant mortality,
increasing literacy and improving other socio-economic and environmental
indicators need long term planning, commitment of resources,
implementation and monitoring to become a reality. But while this
realization has been there almost always, it has not resulted in
corresponding and timely action. The truth is that we haven't yet even
started on most counts.
Now, however, time seems to be running out fast.
Procrastination, delays and unending debates over theory are the
luxuries available to none of the countries in the region. The moment to
act is now – the tomorrow that we once dreamed of when envisioning
equitable, sustainable, secure, stable and prosperous societies in the
region has arrived except that our states and societies remain as
unequal, as unsustainable, as insecure and as poor as they always have
been. If we have done anything to change the situation for the better it
is that we have not done anything at all. Or at the least not enough
and certainly not on time to realize a better tomorrow.
It is already too late to further delay the implementation of
the plans that the Afro-Asian states in particular and South Asian
states in general ever had for their societies to move forward in tandem
with the rest of the world. Either they start acting today or there
will be no tomorrow that promises economic equality, social justice,
environmental sustainability and societal peace and security to more
than one billion people living in the region.
The failure to act today and urgently is premised on the
argument that waiting for another tomorrow for action will result in
wasting opportunities that may not be available ever again. As is
already obvious from the various deadlines that the developing countries
have missed on MDGs and other global and regional commitments, the
options we still have today will soon become missed opportunities of the
yesterday. Inaction no longer remains an option if it ever was in the
past.
Just consider a scenario in which all the states and the
societies in the region let the present pass by without ensuring a
future that people in the region not just deserve but direly need.
Without moving instantly to resolving the multiple interstate and
intrastate conflicts over politics, history, environment, commerce and
distribution of natural resources, we can only envision a future which
promises more conflict.
Let us take South Asia as an example, as the foreign forces
plan to leave Afghanistan, for instance, the time is now for Pakistan
and India to move towards finding a lasting solution to the outstanding
issues between them. Otherwise, they are set to continue their rivalry
in Afghanistan, making it a theatre for their proxy wars. Bangladesh is
facing the prospects of political agitation over 1971 war crime trials
even when its terrible working conditions for textile workers have taken
hundreds of lives in recent times. If the country does not act now to
resolve its internal political conflict and the state and the society do
not move quickly to ensure better working conditions in the industry,
it runs the risk of stymieing its economic growth. In places like Sri
Lanka and Nepal, the post-conflict transition is both slow and
controversial and runs a serious risk of reversal if nothing is done
today to ensure continuity, equal participation and democratic dialogue
across the dividing lines. Similarly, Bhutan and Maldives are facing
teething problems in their transition to democratic governance and if
they do not take on these problems today, they are certain to encounter
the prospects of their nascent troubles turning into gigantic conflicts
and chronic crises as the example of Pakistan clearly shows.
Lack of regional integration in areas like economy and
environment means that each of the eight countries in the region
continues to suffer the financial and physical consequences of inaction
in isolation. Unmanaged floods and persisting droughts, economic and
investment opportunities wasted due to trade barriers and unequal and
discriminatory tariff regimes have already resulted in deadly disasters
across the region as well as having led to a heavy dependence on third
party trade and/or extra-regional powers in the economic arena.
Not that South Asia today is totally devoid of trends that, if
taken proper care of today, can lead to a tomorrow of our dreams. There
are some visibly positive social, economic, cultural and political
changes taking place across the region. A growing middle class, access
to information and technology, improved literacy and increased space for
media freedom and civil society activism are ensuring a democratic
participation in running the affairs of the states like never before.
But at the same, these very trends are leading to consumerism at an
unprecedented scale, leading to an exploitation of precious natural
resources like water, land and forests in a rapacious manner and
atomising the power of the state to an ever-increasing number of
stake-holders and players.
To take advantage of the positive impacts of the factors
mentioned above, we need to move today to give diplomacy, participatory
politics and democratic dialogue a big chance in running the regional
affairs.
The coming SDC will be an effort to advocate the dire and
urgent need for bringing about much needed changes within each country
of the region as well as among all the states and the societies in the
region. The focus of the Conference will be on stressing that today is
the time to act otherwise we will be condemned to a tomorrow which
offers little hope for improved living conditions in the region.
In this Conference, researchers, academicians, scientists,
policy makers and experts from different fields will be able to
recommend policy interventions and present workable solutions to the
emerging challenges discussed above. The focus is South Asia and its
neighbouring regions, but we welcome contributions from other regions,
highlighting the success and or failure stories, which may serve as
lesson learnt for South Asian countries. Within above overarching
theme, a number of panels based on sub-themes listed below will be
organized.
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