‘The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene’

Tuesday, 15 December 2020
12:30pm EST/ 5:30pm GMT

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For the first time in a relationship spanning 300,000 years, instead of the planet shaping humans, humans are shaping the planet. This is the Anthropocene: the age of humans.

The new 2020 Human Development Report (HDR) – set to launch on 15 December – looks at how humanity can navigate this new age, unpacking the relationships between people and the planet and showing how our impacts on the Earth interact with inequalities across societies.

COVID-19 and its unprecedented effects on human development are a cautionary tale of the type of challenges we are likely to face in the Anthropocene, unless humans transform the way we interact with the planet. But the future is not set in stone– yet. We have a once-in-a-generation an opportunity to choose to change, and the 2020 HDR suggests a way forward.

Now in its 30th Anniversary, the report also introduces an experimental global index that casts human development progress in a new light; one that places an emphasis on both people and the planet.

Aiming to trigger a dynamic global discussion around the timely messages of the new report, this global launch event will feature a high-level segment, followed by an hour-long “Leaders Dialogue.”

12.30 pm | HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT - THE NEXT FRONTIER FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Opening Remarks
HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

Statements
Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden, co-host of the launch event
Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator
Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados

Report's Key Findings
Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office, UNDP

Video messages
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, actor, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador
Yemi Alade, Nigerian singer-songwriter, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador (TBC)
Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Envoy on Youth

Reflections
Peter Eriksson, Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme

1.30 pm | LEADERS DIALOGUE - EXPANDING HUMAN FREEDOM IN BALANCE WITH THE PLANET – MECHANISMS FOR CHANGE
55-minute Davos-style discussion with key stakeholders from around the globe that will allow delving further into the policy recommendations of the report – the so-called “three mechanisms of change” that the 2020 HDR outlines.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Singapore; Co-Chair of the 2020 HDR Advisory Board
Andrea Meza Murillo, Minster for Energy and the Environment, Costa Rica
Roberto Marques, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for Natura &Co
Belinda Reyers, Professor in Sustainability Science at Future Africa, University of Pretoria