By Jeff Kapembwa
South Africa, the current chair of the G-20 group of rich countries has noted with concern the gravity of climate-induced damage to the planet and that complacency will be more costly to redress the costs of recovery and rebuilding.
Cyril Ramaphosa notes with dismay at the slow rate of response by concerned countries under the Multilateral cooperation, warning that the increasing rate of climate-induced natural disasters is disproportionately affecting countries that can least afford the costs of recovery and rebuilding.
Addressing the first Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ meeting under South Africa’s G20 Presidency, President Ramaphosa warned against the laxity approach towards redressing the unabated disasters which calls for repeated innovative financing and insurance mechanisms to be initiated by the global community.
The global community including international financial institutions, development banks and the private sector should join forces and initiate a grand approach to the impasse by scaling up funding for disaster prevention and post-disaster reconstruction and save the world and the fledgling economies now at risk, lest posterity judge this generation.
He calls for joint collaboration among the G-20 countries and prioritizing climate action to strengthen disaster resilience and response to insulate against the climate impasse.
“We are not moving quickly enough or boldly enough to address these global challenges.” President Ramaphosa told the meeting Tuesday, arguing:
“When repeated disasters lead to widespread damage to infrastructure, economic activity is disrupted, and livelihoods are destroyed.”
Multilateral cooperation remains the hope for overcoming unprecedented challenges, including slow and uneven growth, rising debt burdens, persistent poverty and inequality, and the existential threat of climate change.
There is a greater need to collectively target a step-change to improve the lives of all of our people, fight inequality within and between countries to protect future generations.
The pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goal on reducing inequality is as much of an economic imperative as a social imperative.
As the G20, Ramaphosa called for deliberate and coordinated efforts to focus on inclusive growth based on responsive trade and investment to grow the incomes of poor nations and the poorest in society, chiefly the women and young people.
For nations to flourish, equality and prosperity must be available to everyone – regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs or economic status. The pursuit of equality is an imperative for wealthy and poor countries alike.
The first meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors hosted by South Africa was arguably to provide further substance and strategic direction in advancing this collective responsibility. The G20 Finance Track has been playing this vital role for 25 years. It attracted President of the Swiss Confederation, Karin Keller-Sutter, Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors of G20 Member States, Representatives of International Organisations and Regional Economic Communities, among other dignitaries.
The just ended meeting of G-20 comes on the heels of the G20 Foreign Ministers that met in Johannesburg to share perspectives on the global geopolitical environment and outline the priorities and tasks of the G20 Sherpa Track for 2025.
The earlier meeting reaffirmed the role of the G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.
It underscored the collective responsibility of the G20 for the effective stewardship of the global economy, fostering the conditions for sustainable, resilient and inclusive global growth, as a critical element of the broader multilateral system.