Short Notes: COP27, Inflation & Three Zero Agenda
COP27
The world's most significant summit on climate change is the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, otherwise known as COP. This conference is attended by representatives of the countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)- a treaty agreed in 1994. 2022 will see the 27th occurrence of the conference, which is referred to as COP27. The COP comes together to review the implementation of the UNFCCC, which has the ultimate goal of limiting human impact on our climate system. One key task is to monitor each country's progress towards their individual targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions. COP27 is due to take place in the coastal town of Sharm al-Sheikh, on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, from 6th-18th November 2022. It was originally planned to take place in 2021, but was pushed back a year due to the Covid -19 pandemic. There are those who hope that hosting COP27 in Egypt will give a more powerful voice to all African countries, who are among those most affected by climate change Among key focus areas will be the promise of innovation and clean technologies as well as the centrality of water and agriculture to the climate crisis. The role of science will also be highlighted in addition to biodiversity loss, energy transition, decarbonization efforts and finance.
Inflation
In a market economy, prices for goods and services can always change. Some prices rise, some prices fall. Inflation occurs when there is a broad increase in the prices of goods and services, not just of individual items; it means, we can buy less for Tk 1 today than we could yesterday. Long-lasting episodes of high inflation are often the result of lax monetary policy. If the money supply grows too big relative to the size of an economy, the unit value of the currency diminishes; in other words, its purchasing power falls and prices rise. Inflation as measured by the consumer price index reflects the annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services that may be fixed or changed at specified intervals, such as yearly. The Laspeyres formula is generally used. The annual inflation rate in Bangladesh eased to 9.10 percent in September of 2022 from 9.52 percent in the previous month. Prices rose at a softer pace for food but they increased faster for non-food products. According to IMF, the world inflation rate in 2021 was 4.7 percent, this year it may reach at 8.8 percent and the inflation rate is projected for 2023 is 6.5 percent. Inflation is perceived differently by everyone depending upon the kind of assets they possess. For someone with investments in real estate or stocked commodity, inflation means that the prices of their assets are set for a hike. For those who possess cash, they may be adversely affected by inflation as the value of their cash erodes.
Three Zero Agenda
In 2015, the international community made key commitments for the future of our planet. The 2030 Agenda, whose achievement is essential to the preservation of the environment and the dignity of every human being. To answer this call and make the Sustainable Development Goals understandable to everyone, three associations ACTED, Convergences and Gawad Kalinga - have started the 3Zero initiative. Its ambition: the co-construction of a future whose main challenges are based on three major pillars - the end of inequalities and discrimination, the urgent fight against climate change, and the eradication of extreme poverty. These imperatives are reflected in the 3Zero message Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty. It is both a modest and ambitious contribution, proposing a reading of the SDGs, and a unifying message calling for collective and individual action. At a time when the environmental and economic crises are pushing many people into precariousness and tending to exclude them from the social sphere, we invite you to seize this opportunity to reinvent a society on a human scale, a society in which the values of inclusion and solidarity will be paramount and will guide us towards the necessary change in our modes of consumption and production. Beyond international decision-makers, we must all work together, as citizens, local decision-makers, producers and consumers, to build a Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty world. Time is short it is urgent and necessary to act together to bring about change in our societies and push back the limits of our respective commitments.
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