Rahmi Aydemir
The world is struggling with an unprecedented situation in which coronavirus turns into a global pandemic in
less than 90 days. The new coronavirus continues to infect more than 3 million people in more than 200 countries, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands and stopping most economic activities. Epidemic has led to air travel bans, quarantines, curfews, temporary business closures, and many restrictions. Pandemic also had short-term gains. Environmental improvements are observed in cities, including a significant increase in air quality, low energy use and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of public personal hygiene awareness and public health, and has also made us face the consequences of a lack of resistance and preparation to cope with a pandemic shock.
The urgent priority for governments is to limit the spread of the coronavirus, facilitate economic recovery in order to provide tangible social benefits to individuals and to protect people. Unfortunately, this is not equal and fair
enough in the whole world. Poor people live in the lowest quality housing and regions of cities. These regions generally have higher levels of air pollution, poor quality or inaccessible services. We can take this opportunity
and learn from the past effects of epidemic diseases to improve the way we build, organize and use cities in the face of a pandemic, where the poor and ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable. The fact that even a simple and compulsory service such as cleaning goes first to the top group in the income distribution only reveals the importance of cities in spreading epidemics and the disadvantage of the poor population living in the cities. States exist for all segments of the people and the primary priority is to give priority to such disadvantaged groups. Speaking of the new order right here, we have a chance to turn the crisis into an opportunity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With SDG, we can prevent the epidemic diseases, especially the delivery of basic needs to everyone equally and fairly (access to clean water and food, shelter, health and transportation services, etc.), so that economies can overcome such processes with less damage.
Emergency Action Plans One Crisis – One Opportunity
Sustainability is a key word for societies that struggle with hunger and thirst or which are away from democracy. Today, it is a cultural understanding that can be a savior for the manufacturing industry, the food industry or even for a woman gardening at one end of the world or even for an unborn child. The reason why the world is weak and unsuccessful in the face of the pandemic today is that it is far from sustainable management.
The driving forces of biodiversity loss, such as climate change, water pollution, deforestation and illegal animal trafficking, increase the risk of vector diseases and also more epidemics along with it. A healthy ecosystem helps protect us from these diseases, and the biodiversity makes it difficult for the pathogens to spread rapidly. In this sense, turning to sustainable models to combat climate change and biodiversity loss will help not only our planet but also human health.
Global crises are suitable environments for the implementation of new models. Now it is the right time for renewable energy, smart housing, sustainable production and consumption; new lowcarbon investments and high-quality infrastructure, including those necessary to support the transition to the circular economy.
If policy makers can succeed in planning and adapting to climate change, they will have created a mechanism that covers and protects all segments of society through economic crises, epidemics or other difficult situations.
What happened in London in the 19th century was just one example of a situation for governments and their communities. The cholera epidemic that occurred in the 1850s could result in the loss of a healthy person on the
same day. The outbreak was thought to be caused by contaminated water and food. However, the government
was slow on this issue, until the smell reached the House of Commons… This event, called the “Awesome Smell”, activated the Parliament and ordered to build a new sewage system within 18 days. Thanks to the huge canals built, the sewage waters were cut off before reaching the river and then transported to the east of London; from there, sewage water was poured into the sea where the sea waters were drawn. As soon as all of London was connected to this new system, cholera epidemics were over. wol.jw.org/tr/