What a great tagline! Four great dimensions to the world’s aspirations.
And how’s this for some supporting fine print? Improving lives around the world.
The organization behind both? The United Nations, now eighty years old.
Given the highly visible ructions of this past September’s General Assembly, some might be tempted to question the United Nation’s effectiveness. Some have done just that, even some of the speakers during the High-Level Week. And a few of those have questioned its effectiveness even while they’ve been beaverlike undermining its work. Worldwide, we find that crises abound, inequity and injustice persist, seemingly unabated.
But take a look at the scale. The United Nations annual budget is a shade less than $4B US dollars. Its corresponding peacekeeping budget is less than $6B. Compare with world GDP, put at about $100 trillion dollars, which is greater by a factor of 10,000. The world’s eight-billion population outnumbers some130,000 UN employees[1] by a factor of 60,000-to-1. These contrasts make clear that the United Nations cannot by itself solve any world problem of any size that matters. Those responsibilities rest, as they always have, with the efforts of the 193 UN member states and their peoples.
The most that the United Nations can do is lightly guide a world conversation towards needed consensus. And, again, given the scale, it’s easy for that conversation to be drowned out by the current global turmoil – the wars, terrorism, famine, disease, the natural and manmade disasters, and general upheaval; and the accompanying hubbub – the yelling, screaming, sobbing, disputes.
How, then, can the United Nations claim any contribution to improving lives around the world? At least three ways come to mind (readers can easily see others).
Peacekeeping. Conflicts, whether between nations, or in-country, between warring tribal factions, or in failed states, ultimately must be resolved by the combatants. But in some cases, a cooling-off period is needed, and in some of those cases, UN peacekeeping forces can help.
Such efforts, by their nature, are reactive. (Hence the separate, ad hoc financing.)
Providing a venue for quiet, structured, sustained discussion. The resolution of big, complex issues starts with thought and conversation. Again, that effort and any resulting agreement lies in the hands of the parties involved. But where stakes are large and feelings run high it can help to have a disinterested party provide neutral ground for such conversation, a systematic structure to bound and support it, and the staying power needed to keep the discussion going and to arrive at a useful outcome.
By helping the world set agendas and goals. There’s a saying in the management/leadership world that goes like this: Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
On the world scene, much of the pervasive disagreement centers on whether the states are behaving well. The United Nations finds itself embedded in a great deal of this. But it’s at its best when it’s helping the world focus on doing the right things. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and their predecessors, the Millennial Development Goals (MDG’s) are good examples of this. They make the UN tagline concrete and progress measurable.
These venue-providing/goal-setting portfolios are more proactive.
Closer to home for most LOTRW readers, here are some specific areas where there is reason for cheer.
Climate change. The IPCC efforts of the last three decades is a good example. Most recently, it’s become clear that the promise of the Paris agreement has largely failed to materialize. Moreover, there’s an emerging sense that worldwide political enthusiasm for dealing with the issue is starting to cool. But progress is being made, notably with respect to development and use of renewable energy sources. What’s more, this is happening in response to abiding economic realities versus fickle political support.
Law of the sea. Last month saw Morocco become the 60th nation to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty, putting it into effect. The groundwork took two decades, but nations are now establishing extensive marine conservation zones in order to maintain ocean biodiversity. Meanwhile the United Nations is continuing to help nations work through more contentious issues relating to ocean mining outside territorial waters.
Plastics. Talk about setbacks! The United Nations began negotiations on a global plastic-pollution treaty in 2022. Most nations participating in the talks favor some form of curb on plastic production. But ten days of debate this past summer failed to reach an agreement after pushback from plastic- and petrochemical-producing nations. Yet here’s the thing. Most likely this is only success delayed, not success denied. Although no firm date has been set, the talks are scheduled to resume. The problem is not going away, but neither is the UN.
Such perseverance in the face of opposition is a signature feature of the UN and a major contributor to its value proposition. The UN keeps the world talking about the right things. If the UN didn’t exist, it would have to be invented. (And imagine the difficulty of trying to do that in today’s political climate!)
A closing comment. Science non-profits and professional associations such as the American Meteorological Society should see parallels and much to learn from the UN example. Like the UN, NGO staffs are negligible in size and reach compared with the communities they serve. That applies not just to financial resources and infrastructure, but also intellect. Sheer numbers dictate that the brainpower needed to solve societal problems lies in the larger community. What science societies can contribute – where they can and do punch above their weight – lies in their convening power. Peer-reviewed journals and scientific meetings are the means by which scientists get together, hash out the pros, the cons, and the implications of their work, and accelerate their contributions to the larger society. NGO’s also provide means and opportunity for institutions – government agencies, corporations, etc. – to pause organizational infighting and competing views and conflicting objectives, and seek and develop common ground.
All this, in ways large and small, contributing to peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet.
[1] The UN secretariat proper is smaller, numbering only some 37,000.
