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Home Events Economic and Environmental Impacts of COVID-19 and their implications for security
Events

Economic and Environmental Impacts of COVID-19 and their implications for security

When

29 April 2020, 15:00 - 17:00

Where

VTC

Organized by

Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA)
(OSCE)

Due to the impact of COVID-19 the global outlook is dire. The ILO’s estimates on global unemployment – a record spike of 195 million job losses – the WTO’s predictions on trade worldwide – an expected decline between 13 and 32 percent - are likely to hit hard on the current economic and social architecture. To respond adequately, concerted actions will be needed more than ever.

The OSCE commitments in the Economic and Environmental Dimension call for a collective effort towards a sustainable, environmentally respectful, human-centered approach to development. Such commitments continue offering a relevant source of reflection on how to address the sheer challenges that the participating States, the private sector and all segments of societies will be confronted with in the post-pandemic scenario in the OSCE region.

Experts elaborated on how the OSCE could support its participating States in coping with and recovering from the crisis.

  • Ms. Wenyan Yang, Chief, Global Dialogue for Social Development Branch, Division for Inclusive Social Development, UNDESA
  • Prof. Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
  • Ms. Helen Mountford, Vice President, World Resources Institute

Recommendations 

Following an interesting discussion attended by more than 130 participants a number of recommendations were made:

  • Need to internationally co-operate. OSCE is well-positioned to providing a platform for dialogue, where participating States can contribute and learn from each other.
  • OSCE could promote co-ordinated actions and support co-operation mechanisms among its participating States to sustain an economic, social and environmental transformation by focusing, inter alia, on ‘Connectivity 2.0’, building up resilience of economies, societies and public administrative institutions.
  • OSCE could help in contributing to a global resource mobilization, e.g. regarding public health initatives or direct technical and financial support to participating States in vulnerable situations.
  • OSCE could play an important role to combat misinformation and discrimination to promote mutual understanding and trust in the OSCE region.