By IPS Correspondent
DUBAI, Dec 1 2023 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said world leaders needed to urgently commit to three strategies: cut emissions, accelerate a just, equitable transition to renewables, and to climate justice.

“The science is clear: The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate. Phaseout—with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5 degrees,” he said at the opening session of COP 28 in Dubai.

“So, I have a message for fossil fuel company leaders: Your old road is rapidly aging. Do not double-down on an obsolete business model. Lead the transition to renewables. Make no mistake: the road to climate sustainability is also the only viable pathway to the economic sustainability of your companies. I urge governments to help industry make the right choice—by regulating, legislating, putting a fair price on carbon, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and adopting a windfall tax on profits.”

His message to business was also direct.

Disasters that they did not cause are devastating developing nations. Extortionate borrowing costs are blocking their climate action plans. And support is far too little, far too late,” he added, saying, “The climate challenge is not just another issue in your inbox. Protecting our climate is the world’s greatest test of leadership. I urge you to lead. Humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.”

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the UAE had set a national pathway to emit zero by 2050, committed to a 40 percent reduction of emissions by 2030, and committed USD 100 billion to financing climate action with a focus on renewable and clean energy. He said they had also committed to investing USD 130 billion in the next seven years. He announced a USD 30 billion fund for global climate solutions, specifically designed to close the climate finance gap.

According to Kind Charles III, it is obvious that there are risks associated with climate change, and it has “devastated countless communities.”

He said real action was needed and noted that “records are being broken so often, perhaps we are becoming immune to what they are telling us. We need to pause to understand what this actually means. ”

The earth is warming faster than nature can fix it, and he asked how dangerous “we are willing to make our world.”

He called for innovation to move decisively toward transitions, including investments in regenerative agriculture.

“In 2050, our grandchildren won’t be asking what we said but living with the consequences of what we didn’t.”

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said it was staggering that 2 trillion dollars were spent on missiles.

“Rural workers cannot feed their families any more when floods come and destroy everything.”

The solution, he said, is multilateralism.

“No country will solve their problems alone, he said before telling the audience that Brazil had drastically reduced deforestation, developed an ecological plan for green industrialization with a common vision with other Amazon countries.

Brazilian climate activist Isabel Prestes da Fonseca, co-founder and environmental director of Instituto Zág, an indigenous youth-led organization, said: “I stand here today, representing indigenous voices and the urgent need to address environmental crises. Join us in this fight for nature and biodiversity. Together, we can be the change.”

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By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Dec 1 2023 – To mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people condemning Israel’s war on Gaza, protests were held on Wednesday across the globe, from Tokyo to Manila, Tehran and Beirut, Stockholm and London, and in Harare, Johannesburg, Quezon City, and Milan.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres termed this year’s International Day of Solidarity to come during “one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Palestinian people.”

With 1.7 million Palestinians suffering a humanitarian catastrophe and having been forced from their homes, he said, “nowhere was safe.” Even the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was of grave concern.

Like in other part of the world, in the southern port city of Karachi, with a population of 20 million, the youngest protestor was one-year-old Zaaveel. “

This is how she will learn to show solidarity for the oppressed,” said her mother, Noor-us-Sabah, who carried her in her arms on the 2.5-kilometer walk along with people from all walks of life, including politicians, civil society and religious leaders, rights activists, students, and ordinary people of Karachi.

Mothers brought their children to the rally, believing that this action would teach solidarity for the oppressed. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS

Noor-us-Sabah was not the only mother with babies. A school teacher, carrying her two-year-old son, Mir Hadi, said: “What’s happening in Palestine is devastating; carrying him in my arms and walking is my way of condoling with all the mothers in Gaza who lost their young ones,” she said.

Holding placards and Palestinian flags and chanting in Urdu “Azad rahey ga falestine, abad rahey ga falestine,” to “From the river to the sea; Palestine will be free,” many marchers were wearing the keffiyeh, a scarf seen as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance. There was also a group holding a huge Palestinian flag, 28 by 45 feet long, while walking.

Interestingly, as rallies usually go, there were not many poetic slogans during the walk.  It was a deliberate decision, said Umar Farooq, a civil rights activist and one of the organisers. “We kept slogans limited to keep any religious or ideological disagreements out,” he pointed out.

Former Karachi administrator Fahim Zaman, also one of the organisers, told IPS: “Holding the rally had a two-fold purpose: to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the Israeli Zionists and the western imperialists, and to form a non-partisan platform where everyone, including all political and religio-political parties, can come together.”

Artist Durriya Kazi said she joined the rally to “honour the efforts of our ancestors, many from my own family, who untiringly protested the illegality of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the root cause of the conflict in the region over the last 100 years.” The declaration, one of the most controversial and contested documents in the modern history of the Arab world, issued on November 2, 1917, was a pledge by the British to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

She also found it encouraging that the political parties came together at a civil society-led rally. “It brought together ordinary citizens and political parties for one cause,” she said. And even though the rally was not huge, “the only flags flying were those of Palestine.”

“The best thing about the rally was seeing different political parties under one flag of Palestine,” said Rana Ansar, a senior political leader belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and former opposition leader in the Sindh provincial assembly.

Protesters changed ‘Palestine will be free; Palestine will live’ during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, this week. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim

A day before, Senator Saeed Ghani, of the Pakistan People’s Party, sent a public message to his part-time workers to join the rally “without party flags,” as the march was not about them but Palestine and its people. The delegate from the Pashtun nationalist political party in Pakistan, the Awami National Party, came wearing their red caps and carried Palestinian flags.

While there is no accurate figure to know how big the rally was, according to Farooq, “the cameramen and reporters who cover rallies and who are more experienced at estimating crowd size told us there were some 25,000–30,000 people.” However, he added more than numbers: “I think people saw a ray of hope in collective action after a long time.”

“It was great to see people from all walks of life, including the elderly, disabled, and children,” said actor Ushna Shah, adding: “As far as rallies go, it was exceptionally well organised and executed.”

“I wanted to demonstrate that Palestinian lives matter and, at the same time, send a strong message to Israel that it needs to stop this lunacy NOW,” said Huma Amir Shah, a popular television presenter, with a keffiyeh around her neck. “Public opinion matters, numbers matter, and hence I joined the march.”

Kazi said the rally was representative of the protest of all Pakistanis who want to stand by Palestinian people, and she wanted to lend her voice to millions across the world who are “horrified by the ruthless massacre by Israeli forces of Palestinian men, women, and children, whose intention seems to be total annihilation of the population and making the land uninhabitable by destroying its infrastructure.”

The Pakistanis, it seems, feel they cannot do enough to ease the pain in Gaza. An unprecedented 2800 doctors and nurses have volunteered their services to treat the injured and the sick in Gaza but are not finding a way to get there.
“I wish someone could raise this issue and bring it to the attention of the international community and Egyptian authorities to let us in,” said 42-year-old orthopaedic surgeon Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman. “They really need us.”
Over 200 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

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By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Dec 1 2023 – Although the dire impact of the Israel-Hamas war has touched many countries in the region and beyond, no foreign country has been so profoundly affected by the war than Jordan. Israel must mitigate Jordan’s concerns to save its critical alliance with its neighbor while fully collaborating in the search for a permanent resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership, Israel-Jordan relations have hit a new low. Sadly, after 30 years of peace, there is deep sullenness and disappointment between the two countries. The aspiration for strategic partnership has fallen short, except for security collaboration. Jordan’s King Abdallah and Netanyahu do not see eye-to-eye on many issues.

The King views Netanyahu as particularly responsible for the deterioration of the relationship between the two countries. Of specific concern to Jordan is the Israeli government’s brutal treatment of the Palestinians in the West Bank, its worries about any change in its status as the guardian of the holy Muslim shrines (Haram al-Sharif), and its concerns over the limits of the bilateral economic relations.

What has added significant insult to the already injured relationship is the tragically inadvertent carnage and destruction being inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.

For Jordan, the future resolution to the Palestinian conflict is the most contentious because whatever happens to the Palestinians, especially in the West Bank, has a direct and indirect impact on Jordan’s security, economy, and demographics due to its proximity and also because half of the population is of Palestinian origin.

Netanyahu made hardly any effort to address King Abdallah’s justifiable worries about the rapidly deteriorating security conditions in the West Bank. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7th, nearly 220 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank as of this writing, and there is no sign that the violence will abate any time soon.

Indeed, the absurdity here is that given that Jordan has been at peace with Israel since 1995, its proximity to Israel, and its mutual concerns over the region’s stability, the need for full cooperation on intelligence sharing, commercial ties, and national security become ever more critical.

But then, Netanyahu has taken Jordan for granted when, in fact, Amman remained faithful to its collaborative efforts with Israel and continues to play a critical role in monitoring and securing the approximately 300-mile-long border with Israel to prevent the smuggling of weapons and infiltration of terrorists into Israel proper and the West Bank.

The Israel-Hamas war has enormously changed the political dynamic of the Jordanian-Israeli relationship. Although Jordan expressed sympathy toward the Israelis for the unimaginable butchery that Hamas inflicted on innocent Israeli civilians, Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the horrendous destruction and death have enraged the Jordanians to a level unseen between the two countries since they signed a peace treaty in 1994.

More than 50 percent of the Jordanian population are of Palestinian origin and have a strong affinity to their brethren wherever they reside. The death of more than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including nearly 6,000 children and 4,000 women, caused an unparalleled stir in Jordan, damning Israel and demanding an immediate end to the hostilities. In fact, out of sympathy and solidarity, many Jordanian youth have chosen to adopt “Hamas ideology.”

The UN Jordanian delegation presented a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for an “immediate, permanent, and sustainable humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities,” which was adopted by 120 countries. On November 1st, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi recalled Jordan’s Ambassador to Israel, saying that his decision was an “expression of Jordan’s rejection and condemnation of the raging war in Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented human catastrophe.”

Jordan considers the forced evacuation and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza as equivalent to a war against civilians that will fundamentally shake the bilateral Israeli-Jordanian relations, mainly because Jordan has the largest Palestinian refugee population of any other country, which makes it extraordinarily sympathetic and sensitive to the Palestinian cause.

Of particular concern to the Jordanian government is that the Netanyahu government is determined to deny the Palestinians the right to statehood, which will have a significant impact on Jordan domestically. What worries the Hashemite Kingdom is that some ministers in the current Israeli government are resuscitating the notion that Jordan is Palestine by their actions in the West Bank.

Although Netanyahu knows how sensitive the Jordanian government is about this momentous issue, he has done nothing to assuage the Jordanians’ growing anxieties that the West Bank Palestinians will be entirely pushed into Jordan.

Amman can play a significant regional diplomatic role in stemming the escalation of the conflict, especially in the West Bank, before it spins out of control. Jordan, the most stable country with moderate political leadership in a region reddened with violent conflicts, has and continues to serve along with Israel as the cornerstone of the US-Middle East security partnership, which both countries must guard with zeal.

There are several necessary measures that the Israeli government must take to alleviate and mend past and present Jordanian grievances and restore and further improve their bilateral relationship, which would best serve their national interests.

First, given Jordan’s direct and indirect involvement with the Palestinians, Israel must not ignore Jordan’s concerns over the violent clashes between the Israeli settlers and security forces and the Palestinians. Recently, the increasing violence in the West Bank compelled Jordan to strengthen its border security to prevent the escalation of violence from spilling over into its territory.

Nevertheless, it could precipitate an influx of Palestinians into Jordan, which Amman wants to avoid. Israel must restate in an unmistakable tone that it respects Jordan’s sovereignty, and any resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be separate and apart from and would not infringe in any way on Jordan’s independence, which Israel recognizes.

Second, Israel must commit to continuing water and gas supplies to Jordan without interruption. This is critical for restoring Jordan’s confidence in any Israeli government, which has been dangerously eroding under Netanyahu. The “Blue and Green Prosperity” project, financed by the UAE and signed in August 2023, enables the exchange of Israeli desalinated water for Jordanian solar energy. This is a significant project for Jordan and must be guarded and fully implemented under any circumstance.

Third, although the collaborative security ties and intelligence sharing between Jordan and Israel remain close, the Israeli government must ensure their security collaboration stays intact and robust. Israel must also carefully address Jordan’s unique security needs given the continuing regional tension and the threats of extremist militant groups, as well as its concerns over Iranian threats, which Israel shares. Amman needs to feel assured that Israel has Jordan’s back.

Fourth, Israel must assure Jordan that under no circumstances would it seek or facilitate any change in the custodianship and the administrative responsibility of Jordan over the Muslim holy shrines (Haram al-Sharif) in Jerusalem. From the Jordanian perspective, the current arrangement gives it a strategic basis that allows it to have a say in any future agreement with the Palestinians in connection with Jerusalem. Although Saudi Arabia aspires to assume that role, Israel should honor its agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom from the time Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.

Fifth, Israel ought to strengthen its economic ties with Jordan by expanding the import-export of goods and services, encouraging Israelis to invest in Jordan, especially in the technological sector, and increasing tourism once the Israel-Hamas war comes to an end and the anti-Israeli Jordanian public sentiment subsides.

The current Netanyahu or any future Israeli government must stop short of nothing to safeguard its ties and constantly improve its relations with Jordan—Israel’s most important Arab ally, partner for peace, and its closest neighbor. Since they have a strong mutual national security interest and strategic alliance, Israel should work hand-in-hand with Jordan in the search for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because it will directly affect Jordan’s national interest on every front.

To be sure, given the Israel-Hamas war, which makes it impossible nor desirable to restore the status quo ante, it is now more urgent than any time before for Israel and Jordan to mitigate their differences, strengthen their strategic alliance, and find common ground on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

For more information on how a sustainable peace agreement based on a two-state solution can be reached, please refer to my essay in World Affairs, “The Case for an Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian Confederation: Why Now and How?”

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
alon@alonben-meir.com

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With the ongoing national tree-planting campaign, Rwanda seeks to replace its degraded forest resulting from charcoal production and firewood and increase the need for construction materials with new indigenous trees to combat climate change. By using the power of carbon markets to fight climate change, Rwanda aims to reduce 4.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions across different key […]

By External Source
NEW YORK, Dec 1 2023 – The main challenge for addressing climate change a decade ago was how to develop low-cost, low-carbon solutions such as wind or solar power. Since that hurdle has been cleared, we now need to focus on social dimensions to deploying solutions quickly and at large-scale.

Important progress has been made over the past decade in terms of scaling up climate change mitigation efforts and the emergence of net-zero policies in many countries. Critical climate technologies such as solar panels, electric vehicles, and heat pumps have matured while countries and companies globally have made ambitious commitments to reduce emissions.

This progress has laid the groundwork for a Decade of Deployment during which solutions need to scale rapidly and globally. Although the technological progress of climate resilient energy solutions is good news, the bad news is that significant human, social, financial, and institutional barriers to deployment remain, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Our research collectively supports the contention that climate change cannot be addressed without social equity, and social equity cannot be achieved without human-centered climate solutions. And with COP28 ongoing, it is time to take these elements more seriously

Equally concerning is the ability to address social equity and implement the Just Transition Declaration, which was adopted by 40 nations at COP26. Justice40 in the United States is one example of backing the declaration with measurable action. Our research collectively supports the contention that climate change cannot be addressed without social equity, and social equity cannot be achieved without human-centered climate solutions. And with COP28 ongoing, it is time to take these elements more seriously.

To achieve the Paris ambitions, and embrace the reality of technological progress, a people-centered approach that prioritizes trust is key and processes must be inclusive.

This localized approach includes education on alternative pathways that account for on-the-ground realities, such as disparities in financing costs, labor and permitting costs and workforce gaps.

This is critical so that low- and middle-income countries can meet their energy and quality of life goals while following a decarbonized path and realizing co-benefits such as improved air quality and reduced environmental burden.

A decade ago, this conversation would have been very different. The concerns at that time were about driving down the costs of cleaner energy options that are commercial today—by subsidies or innovation investments in the clean source or carbon fees on the dirty sources—so they would be more acceptable to market adoption.

But recent advances have changed the conversation. With significant reductions in the costs of equipment, such as solar panels and wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles, there is an opportunity to integrate cleaner sources of energy and build a localized solution that is affordable, reliable, and resilient, albeit more complex to manage.

Those looking to realize the net zero economy by 2050 anticipate an enormous expansion of the role of these clean energy technologies, as well as electrification.

But realizing those possibilities faces numerous challenges, including defiant incumbents, political opposition, local community opposition, a higher cost of capital in those countries that need it most, and more recently BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) mindsets.

The negotiations of the UN’s annual Conference of Parties (COP) are grounded in the history of technocratic and bureaucratic analysis and diplomacy.

While the COP negotiations garner the attention of high-level diplomats and bureaucrats, there is a growing desire and need for solutions that address fundamental human needs.

We all desire heating & cooling, clean cooking, potable and sufficient water, electronic and in person connectivity, and the provision of sustainable food and other goods.

The importance of meeting these basic needs in the immediate term leads communities to make choices that discount the value of actions with future benefits.

Since many of the engineering challenges have been met or are now on a glidepath to be met, we need to shift from a technology-centered to a people-centered approach. We must focus on trust and empathy and make stakeholders the center of our solutions and not just an object of our analysis.

Engaging with and understanding the needs and wants of the communities is a necessary step. And we can establish with certainty that they care about staying healthy, educating their kids, having enough food and water, and having the means to improve their lives. But, can they afford to care about the environmental impact of their energy supply? What benefits of clean technologies do they care about?

Much like locations and countries compete for manufacturers to build new factories with tax incentives and other inducements, paradigms need to shift to welcome and embrace clean energy as the preferred pathways, while simultaneous embracing just procedures and outcomes, energy security and affordability.

Doing so might require a break from conventional methods for organizing local and regional processes so that all stakeholders, including residents and consumers, can access a set of benefits such as ownership, job creation, low-cost power, and clean water.

Examples of these outcomes are playing out around the world, including South Africa, where communities are offered ownership interest and jobs in clean power and water. In India, distributed renewable energy to support income-generating activities in rural areas is a potential market of more than $50 billion usd. In England, communities compete for local, clean energy generation because they are offered low-cost power. Why are these approaches not used ubiquitously?

Other, more progressive possible examples: bans on the use of Internal Combustion Engine cars in specific locations (e.g. within a city), which have been implemented in 40+ locations around the world, with huge emissions reductions; and the emergence of Just Transitions platforms and social movements.

Why is trust such a critical component? What about empathy? Information is increasingly obtained through narrow channels which may or may not be backed by science nor reflect global best practices and state of knowledge.

Fact-based information has to be contextualized empathetically and conveyed through a trusted source—not advocates, reports or through additional leadership dialogues. The world needs a new cohort of trusted emotional insiders – not elite, intellectual outsiders.

Finally, we must realize that safe, secure, and affordable energy services are a critical enabler of life. They support agriculture, clean water, education, mobility, communications, the internet, and manufacturing and delivery of food, clothing, and the goods for our well-being.

Focusing the energy transition only on addressing climate change is no longer enough. People – as individuals, members of social networks and organizations and institutions—are not only the enablers of this transition, but they must be at the center of it.

The authors convened several times throughout 2023 to identify key barriers to implementing climate solutions with speed and scale as part of the 17 Rooms Initiative, which is co-organized and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and Brookings Institute.

Douglas Arent, U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA; Emily Beagle, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Leonardo Beltran, Columbia University, NY, NY, USA; Simone Borghesi, European University Institute, Florence, Italy; Bankole Cardoso, Factor[e] Ventures, Nigeria; Sanya Carley, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Ashvin Dayal, The Rockefeller Foundation, NY, NY, USA; Peter du Pont, Asia Clean Energy Partners; Joisa Dutra, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil; Arunabha Ghosh, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India; Nicole Iseppi, Bezos Earth Fund, Washington DC, USA; Dan Kammen, University of California – Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Jennifer Layke, World Resources Institute, Washington DC, USA; Abraham Ngobeni, Innovation: Africa; Shonali Pachauri, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Austria; Kelly Twomey Sanders, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Benjamin Sovacool, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA; Anna Shpitsberg, United States Department of State, Washington DC, USA; Christie Ulman, Sequoia Climate Foundation, San Diego, CA, USA; Michael Webber

By Nneka Henry and Dudley Tarlton
GENEVA, Dec 1 2023 – Even as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic it will still face an epidemic on its roads, claiming over one million lives and injuring up to 50 million people annually. Against this head-spinning backdrop, making decisions that allow us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target of a 50% reduction in road deaths can feel like walking blindfolded.

All is not well, but all is not lost, either.

Road crashes cost the Zambian economy USD 910 million annually, equivalent to 4.7% of Zambia’s GDP. Yet the case for action is strong. By investing now in road safety, Zambia can avert more than 50,000 deaths, prevent more than 130,000 permanent disabilities, and avoid USD 12.8 billion in economic costs over 30 years

Data and analysis serve as a guiding light, providing a factual basis to drive effective strategies and investments. Whether it is tobacco control, alcohol consumption, or other non-communicable diseases like road traffic injuries, tapping into data helps us understand trends, identify patterns, and predict potential return on investment outcomes.

The United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) was created in 2018 in part to help low- and middle-income countries unlock sustainable sources of domestic road safety financing. In 2023, the year that the world declared the end of the global COVID-19 public health emergency, the UN has been scaling up its work to prevent road traffic deaths before they happen in the countries with some of the world’s highest road traffic fatality rates.

Specifically, UNRSF partners have been advocating that a powerful solution lies in making a robust investment case for road safety. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has recognized the significant gains to be made across the SDG agenda by reducing the harm from road crashes, a level of harm that is too often treated as acceptable. Guided by its health strategy, UNDP is working with Ministries of Transport to make the case to Ministries of Finance and Planning for increased and sustainable investments in road safety.

In Zambia, for the first-time ever, the government and UNDP, financed by UNRSF, have been working on a national road safety financing investment case. In Zambia, there are 24.7 road deaths per 100,000 population every year, which exceeds the global road fatality rate of 18.2 per 100,000 population. If current trends persist, Zambia will face 115,000 preventable deaths and more than 486,000 people will be permanently disabled over the next 30 years.

The investment case provides Zambian decision-makers with the nationally-based data and advocacy messaging that can help set priority actions and investment allocations for the ultimate public health outcome of saving as many lives as possible from preventable road traffic death.

The case found that road crashes cost the Zambian economy USD 910 million annually, equivalent to 4.7% of Zambia’s GDP. Yet the case for action is strong. By investing now in road safety, Zambia can avert more than 50,000 deaths, prevent more than 130,000 permanent disabilities, and avoid USD 12.8 billion in economic costs over 30 years.

The report highlights five key interventions – speed bumps, roadside pathways, road crossings, post-crash prehospital care, and alcohol breath testing – which collectively offer a significant return on investment. By investing in road safety measures, Zambia can expect a return-on-investment of 2.3:1 over 5 years and 9.6:1 over 30 years​​. This indicates a significant long-term financial benefit from these interventions.

UNDP has successfully used health investment cases before to help policymakers advocate for increased investment in the health interventions that yield the greatest health and economic returns. The cases have focused on health challenges such as non-communicable diseases, mental health, air pollution, tobacco control and now road safety.

This data-driven approach would likely yield similar or even greater outcomes for road safety, where many road deaths could be prevented with just a modest amount of catalytic and reliable funding. Primary responsibility rests with governments, which can ensure sustainability through state resource allocations, as well as road user charges, fuel taxes, levies on private sector insurance, traffic fines revenues, and loans.

UN Road Safety Fund partners remain committed to building roadmaps and capacities within governments through the use of investment cases and other sources of data and analysis – including the 2023 Global Status Report on Road Safety which will be launched on 13 December.

As we cross the halfway mark for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, a key funding priority for UNRSF partners will be to co-design and leverage compelling country investment cases for road safety, which can be used to build an investable pipeline of projects with a broader programmatic approach to road safety.

Investing in road safety is not just a financial decision – though the case for the economic benefits have been made – it is also a public health imperative that will save lives and reduce inequalities. By addressing the staggering human, economic, and societal costs of unsafe roads, a sustainable domestic financing framework can be unlocked, leading to a safer, more prosperous future for all.

Excerpt:

Nneka Henry is Head of UN Road Safety Fund and Dudley Tarlton is UNDP Programme Specialist-Health and Development