Key Highlights From the Launch of the 2020 Global Human Report by UNDP Kenya

The United Nations Development Programme - Kenya (UNDP) in collaboration with the National Treasury and planning on Wednesday launched the Global Human Report 2020 at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). 

Among the key speakers who graced the event include; Dr Chris K. Kiptoo, CBS Principal Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry,  Hon. Nelson Gaichuhie, Chief Administrative Secretary, National Treasury & Planning, Prof Stephen Gitahi Kiama, Vice-Chancellor, University of Nairobi and Mr Walid Badawi, Resident Representative of UNDP Kenya. 

The launch of #HDR2020 at KICC 

The 2020 Human Development Report (HDR) was anchored on Human Development and the Anthropocene, expanding human freedoms in balance with the planet.   

Mr. Badawi highlighted the strain many societies are facing due to environmental degradation while acknowledging the incredible improvement humans have made in health and education, the same actions due to dependence on fuel and material consumption, are fast driving climate change hence destabilising the very systems we rely on at an unprecedented rate. 

"For the first time in our history, instead of the planet shaping humans, humans are shaping the planet. The pressures are so great that scientists have argued if we are in a new geological age, the Anthropocene, the age of humans," Mr Badawi stated. 

On the same note, UoN VC Prof Gitahi emphasized the need for universities to work with key partners in ensuring the knowledge they generate reaches the community. He also noted the need for values and ethics in the quest of balancing human activities and taking care of the planet.  

 UoN VC Prof. Kiama during the launch of #HDR2020 

"Knowledge alone is not sufficient to help humanity, it has to go hand in hand with the right values and ethics. The evidence in this report shows that we must find a balance between our human freedoms, ambition, and taking care of the planet," Kiama noted. 

On his part, CAS in the National Treasury & Planning Gaichuhie noted, "While growth in national production is absolutely necessary to meet all essential human objectives, what’s important is to study how this growth translates - or fails to translate - into a balance in human development and environmental conservation" 

In analysing and giving a summary of the report, UNDP Chief Economist Rogers Dhliwayo noted that identified three building blocks to create real, lasting change: working with – not against – nature, improving incentives, and changing social norms 

Rogers noted that the environment, society and economy have to work in sink as well as empowering local communities.