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Sustainable Development is not an Option, It is an Imperative.

We have inherited Planet Earth from our ancestors while concomitantly borrowing it from our children, and we must sustainably safeguard it and ensure that it is healthy and habitable for future generations of all species.

We stand at a defining moment in time and unless governments, businesses, and civil society commit to implementing actions for sustainable development, the very survival of future generations will be put at risk.

Sustainable development challenges transcend nation-states and international partnerships are essential to confronting the environmental crisis of climate change and extreme events, extinction of species, atmospheric and oceanic pollution, land degradation and water scarcity, and pests and diseases. As all of these issues do not recognize political or geographic borders, and genuine international development partnerships, with developed countries sharing their knowledge and safe sustainability enhancing technologies, are essential to empower the developing countries to develop sustainably.

The worldwide adoption of unhealthy and polluting modern lifestyles, driven by materialism, greed, and “throwaway” culture, is resulting in a human health crisis of endemic diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer, for which there is no medical cure thus far. These lifestyles are also a source of escalating waste that invariably ends up in the seas and oceans which regulate climate and weather and are home to millions of species.

Women, accounting for half the world’s population, in many countries have yet to break free from the societal, environmental, economic, and religious conditions that keep them discriminated, suppressed, and unable to participate as equals in making our world sustainable. For decades the mantra of “We” must commit to women’s empowerment and equality. Who is “We”? The “We” here should be today’s political and corporate leaders, who for example, comprise some 85% of Heads of State, 75% of Members of National Parliaments, and 90% of Corporate Leaders.

It is time to realize that women themselves must take the future into their hands and enhance their self-awareness, self-education, self-development, and self-empowerment. Women are naturally caring, conscious, understanding, and compassionate as they give birth and nourish the next generation. Women and men together need to realize the importance of what it will take to nurture Mother Earth with patience, understanding, and care for a sustainable world in harmony with Nature.

The women and youth have the potential to force change in our gridlocked world of Political Leaders focussed on the short term perspectives of their re-election, Businesses driven by short-term shareholder profits, Scientists dependant on public and private sector funding constrained from discussing the implications and impacts of their research and people’s priority to earn a livelihood for the care of their families, precludes them from taking a stand on unsustainable policies in their places of work.

The youth and women, with the power of their votes and wallets, must be empowered to be the conscious, committed, and compassionate action-oriented leaders within the next decade to put our world on the pathway to protect nature and realize a sustainable world for all.

The Earth Odyssey 2020 -2022 Project puts forward a rationale and a plan of action to revive the implementation of the Agenda 21 comprehensive plan of actions for sustainable development, taking into account our experiences of the last three decades, for example mobilizing women and youth to take center stage in the decision making for sustainable development actions. Let us all commit the next three years to 2022 such that we begin the journey of assurance of a healthy and habitable planet for generations of all species.