Abstract
The recent confluence of crises – the COVID-19 pandemic, violent conflicts, and climate change – has caused severe setbacks to central objectives of social development, such as poverty eradication, employment generation, inequality reduction, and building inclusive societies. People and societies in vulnerable situations have been hit the hardest by the converging crises. There are indications that shocks and crises are becoming ever more frequent, severe, and far-reaching – driven by the worsening effects of climate change, the growing probability of pandemics, growing geopolitical tensions, and increasingly dense global networks of trade, finance and transport. The effects of these converging crises can be severe and long-lasting, as they may exhaust public and private response capacities, cause economic scarring, and trap people in a cycle of poverty. The World Social Report (WSR 2024) estimates that the potential cumulative global economic output loss could be over $50 trillion in the 2020–2030 period, an indication of lost opportunities for social development. National social protection mechanisms can help to protect and further advance social development. These mechanisms, by limiting the adverse impacts of shocks and crises, especially on people in vulnerable situations, and by supporting short-term recovery, enhance longer-term resilience and foster sustainable and inclusive growth. Yet only 47 per cent of the global population and as few as 13 per cent in low-income countries, are estimated to have access to at least one social protection benefit. At the same time, converging crises may increase the cost of providing adequate and universal social protection, while also depleting public financial resources. As a result, many developing countries, including most low- and lower-middle-income countries, would find it difficult to achieve universal social protection by 2030 without additional international support
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