My experience at the Stockholm +50 Conference

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Compiled by Kimberley Gudhlanga

On the 2nd and 3rd of June 2022 I was in attendance at the Stockholm conference  as a member of the ZELA Youth Forum alongside the Director of the organisation Mr Mutuso Dhliwayo in Sweden. Eager and highly expectant to learn . As I had anticipated,  the whole event proved to be nothing  short of spectacular.

 Despite efforts that have been made and ground breaking resolutions developed since the last Stockholm Conference which was held half a century ago ,the fate of our  planet still hangs in the balance !  It was brought to my attention that with the emergence of “the three crises’ ‘ which are Climate , Covid and Conflict , we as a global family need to come together and build the momentum towards bolder climate action , environmental protection and world peace.

 Below are the key points I got from the sessions I attended during the Conference.

*Global Equity for a healthy planet.- It has been noted that Africa suffers disproportionately from the effects of climate change. Hence there is much need for climate finance to prioritise people in the Global south as well as coming up with transformative food initiatives in Africa.

*The need to bring path breaking resolution to the menace of plastic pollution.

*Healthy diets for a healthy planet- It was discovered that the food refining industry does not only contribute to climate change but also is the major cause of food shortages world wide. An example of grain was given. The testa (seed coat ) accounts for nearly 30% of the nutritional value of a whole grain yet the whole aim of refining grain is to get rid of that seed coat.  That simply means that 30% of the food produced world wide goes to waste during refining processes. Not only that but also more fuel energy is used in refining and more emissions are  made as an outcome.  The point of this explanation was to bring emphasis on the fact that if the whole world was to desist from unnecessary food refinement we would increase our Agricultural produce by 30% and also improve our diet and food systems in the process in line with achieving SDG 1. This would significantly decrease the amount of fuel consumed and emissions ultimately produced.

*Filling information gaps by first being able to identify them.

*The need to heighten young people’s participation in environmental governance and climate action. – World leaders should ensure green jobs and nurture employability skills in young people. They should engage young people more on issues to do with the environment, by putting the narrative in palatable words for the younger generation to understand.

*Data and measurement for accountability. -Governments should be able to give a full account for how tax money is spent. Young people should be granted the platform to ask such questions  and the government should be found answerable.

*Incentivising climate action.

*Extension of producer responsibility. – This means a producer should not only be held accountable for a product during its manufacturing but will rather be responsible for its whole life cycle. The implications of such will be that even if the waste or residue of their products is to negatively affect the environment even after use by the consumer the producer will still be held accountable for the outcome. This mechanism aims to foster responsible investment and environmentally friendly products .

Overall ,nations were being encouraged to foster a Culture  of collective responsibility, end the senseless suicidal war against nature,tax the bads and subside the goods,shift to a circular economy and ultimately “Convene Converge and Catalyse “

Key words from the Leadership Dialogue

# Resilience

# Accountability

# Policy coherence

# Equity

# Respect human rights

# Transform the system.

I must say in conclusion that we must activate ambition with accountability in order to achieve the sustainable development goals in this wonderful blue green planet we were all meant to share.

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