this is a very important story the important story in the midst of covet 19 it's an historic opportunity to look at the facts of the world as it is and then to focus on the solutions to some of our greatest problems in the 75 years since the united nations was founded the human race has never had to face a set of challenges like we do right now but together we can overcome [Music] them it's a myth that each and every one of us doesn't have the ability to change the world dramatically and quickly there have
been enormous shifts in power and behavior to the benefit of all humanity and it can happen again nelson mandela said it always seems impossible until it's done these are some of the things that must be done [Music] grace how sweet the sound [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i once was lost [Music] i see september 2020 the world is still in the grip of a global pandemic there have been more than 27 million confirmed cases and more than 900 000 people have died billions of people have been in lockdown for months lives and livelihoods have been threatened and
lost but as some lockdowns are easing people are emerging into a different uncertain world with a new appetite for change today we feel the weight of history on our shoulders the kovy 19 pandemic the channel of fred drive do all a microscopic virus has put us on our knees and that fragility should make us humble covert 19 has been likened to an x-ray exposing fractures in the skeleton of the societies we have built a world with great inequality which must be righted and a world which must win the battle against climate catastrophe the whole planet
is at stake so this is a moment to recognize that the way we have been moving leads nowhere and that we need to change course the lockdowns also showed that our environment itself can change in the punjab for the first time in generations the himalayas are visible once again lions have reclaimed the roads in kruger national park in venice the canals run clear once more and across italy dolphins have returned if you look at the response of people to cover 19 people dramatically change their lives but people have shown an enormous capacity to adapt to
new circumstances and enormous capacity to change the way they live the way they work the way they organize themselves so change is possible the problem is political will it is so decided on the 25th of september 2015 all united nations member states signed up to the sustainable development goals a set of solutions for the biggest problems the world faces [Music] we're going to look at the four key areas where we must take urgent action starting with climate and our planet next door's on fire oh my god okay i'm scared you're at risk leaving now is
the safest option so leave now towards the beach and shelter in place oh my god my name is house okay come on clay we need to go oh my god [Music] this is a real nightmare i can't believe this is real i can't see anything this is literally not real this is not real oh my freaking god [Music] all i want is my family pictures and stories continue to file out from australia about the devastating fires this one a satellite image from nasa and as you can see [Music] rising fastest evacuation in indonesia and what
a strong way to jakarta follow the heaviest downpour in more than two decades it's the worst plague of locusts to affect the region the damage to pastures and crops could create severe consequences for the region where nearly 12 million people are it could be the worst the area has seen in 20 years this is a double whammy you know we're dealing with the cyclone and with the exposure to covers well the fire is raging in northern california have now become some of the largest in state history more than 12 000 firefighters are currently battling the
places that have the san francisco bay area smothered by some of the worst air quality on the planet valley reaches an all-time high of a hundred yeah [Music] [Applause] i think this is the most important issue that we need to be talking about climate change is here now and it is killing people right now the people who are looking at it right in the face [Music] the next 8 to 10 years is going to determine the quality of life for the next 100 to 200 years we all watched with amazement when exactly one year ago
young people from all over the world took to the streets to express their feeling that we're not doing enough about climate change that we're not treating it like the emergency it is it's a year later now have we done enough no we have not and climate change is only part of this story our rain forests are disappearing at an extraordinary rate one football field of rainforest is destroyed every six seconds one million plant and animal species are on the brink of extinction by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish and so
climate change and our treatment of the natural world are colliding and exacerbating each other to create a perfect storm this cannot go on you know it i know it and we know what we need to do we need to reduce global emissions by 50 by 2030. to do this we need a rapid but just transition to renewable energy that means an end to the building of new coal power stations and an end to subsidizing of fossil fuels government should also shift the tax burden from payrolls to carbon taxing carbon rather than people will increase output
and employment while reducing emissions and we need to stop deforestation in its tracks planting trees instead of chopping them down we need to think about what we eat and how we produce food embracing healthy nutritious diets sustainable farming methods and reducing food waste the climate crisis is an opportunity renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels thousands of businesses are working to go carbon neutral and the opportunity to generate clean safe and decent jobs is enormous the passion for protests can turn into a passion for changing all of our behavior to create a better safer just
sustainable world the big question we have to ask ourselves now is this as a species are we going to be able to work together urgently to solve this the clock is ticking [Music] poverty and inequality are universal they undermine every society everywhere but poverty is not natural it is man-made so poverty is not inevitable it's an area where the world has made huge progress in the past few decades [Music] just 30 years ago there were 1.9 billion people living in extreme poverty but that number has been transformed in 2015 it fell to 734 million people
that's over a billion people lifted out of poverty billion people out of poverty is amazing it was across the world we lifted people out of poverty across the world more kids got into education as across the world maternal mortality was reduced across the world today not many people will be left without access to a mobile phone and what that has done to empower them to to access education to a livelihood is huge but still almost 10 of the human race is living unbelievably harsh lives this is largely determined by their circumstances at birth and these
high levels of inequality work against better opportunities for all opportunities that could change the [Music] world i want to tell you a story about 1999. i used to teach people how to write computer programs and i had a very you know plush office and everything and just outside of these offices there was this large sprawling urban slump full of children so one day i tried an experiment i made an opening in the boundary wall that separated my offices from the slum and then i fixed a computer so that from the other side of the wall
you could see the computer and a touch pad on the first day we saw this eight-year-old boy teaching a six-year-old girl how to surf [Music] how on earth did he figure that out how did he know what the computer was doing three months after i had first put their computer in the wall the children said they wanted a faster processor and a better mouse i asked them how on earth do you know these words where did you learn this from and they said well you you've left a machine here that speaks only in english so
we had no option but to learn the language easy isn't it i repeated the hole in the wall experiment for five years across the length and breadth of india in a village 300 miles away from delhi one girl is explaining to the other girl what a neuron is they're just 12 years old wow we have hope we have an enormous potential of what children can achieve together if we let them there is potential everywhere we just have to unlock it a huge amount depends on where public money is spent more of it must urgently go
into health into giving everyone a safety net there is a revolution that is happening in education connecting every school every person to the internet this can be done the recovery from covert must lead to an economy that works for everyone let's start with tax we have widespread tax concessions tax avoidance and tax evasion which means that there's so much less money for all the crucial things many developing countries are weighed down by historical debts spending more money on debt repayments than they are spending on health care and then there's the importance of global investment in
peace [Music] the peace dividend for the world is immeasurable and we must break the vicious cycle of corruption and increase the power of the people to keep check on the people in power a free independent media and responsible social media platforms that encourage healthy debate equality unleashes the potential of everyone to improve their own lives and contribute to the lives of everyone else whatever it is coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could our minds are still racing back and forth longing for a return to normality
trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture but the rupture exists and in the midst of this terrible despair it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves nothing could be worse than a return to normality [Music] historically pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew this one is no different it's a portal a gateway between one world and the next we could choose to walk through it dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred our avarice our
data banks and dead ideas we can walk through it lightly with little luggage ready to imagine another world and ready to fight for it after the genocide and destruction of the second world war the united nations was founded enshrined in its charter was the fact that all people are equal and entitled to the same respect justice and human rights this remains a simple truth and yet across the globe the struggle is still being fought there's a certain outrage for injustice right now i think that that is happening in every sphere i think we're at a
moment where covet perhaps has helped us realize that there is an intergenerational transition and that young people now waking up to the calls that we've had from my generation which have said look this is the opportunity you've got to make things change i mean they are rising up and that we are bringing young people to the table now not as a token but to help us shape and to take that batten to take up the gauntlet and to move forward people fighting for justice but fighting for your justice not just mine and to see that
without your justice mine won't be fulfilled either [Music] the world knows him as george but i called him perry [Music] yesterday we laid him to rest it was the hardest thing i ever had to do [Music] i'm the big brother now so it's my job to come for my brothers and my sisters perry's kids and everyone who loved him and that's a lot of people i couldn't take care of george that day he was killed but i can make sure that his death would not be in vain to make sure that he is more than
another face on a t-shirt more than another name on the list that won't stop growing george called for help and he was ignored please listen to the cow ringing out the streets across the world people of all backgrounds genders and races have come together to demand change [Music] the people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough [Applause] to the leaders the people elected you to speak for them to make positive change you have the opportunity to make your names mean something too if his death ends changing the world for the better and
i think it will [Music] then he died as he lived [Music] it is on you to make sure his death is not in vain perry look up at what you did big brother you changed the world i hope you can rest in peace with power [Music] i remember when i couldn't level up i was trying but i got the level up it was wrong stop feeling like i had enough then i contemplated giving up if you're feeling like you can't pull when you start feeling like you can't level up that's when you have to shut
the devil up i remember when i cut the level up no my money couldn't level up doing what i must i'm like there's always another level up that's why you always found me looking up but sometimes not my life you know my forever love my hair about my fights in the club every day may try never love coming striking i'm hard may go out until i get [Music] [Music] you have to fight [Music] inequality for women is one of the world's great injustices and it is an injustice that must be and will be swept away
75 of parliamentarians are men 73 percent of managerial decision makers are men 67 of climate negotiators are men [Music] and 87 of the people at the peace table are men even though we know that when peace settlements include women the negotiations and outcomes are more durable globally almost one in five women has experienced violence in the past 12 months at the hands of a man they know women and girls do three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men the global gender pay gap is stuck at 16 every year 12 million girls are
married before 18. all of this has to change it's time to stop trying to change women and start changing the systems that prevent them from achieving their potential [Music] and this is the battle that women in this century will not lose they are too strong and their voices will not be silenced [Music] i was named after a girl an afghani folk hero was killed in a battle just after i was born my father got our family tree it went back 300 years but not a single girl or woman's name appeared on it he decided to
make me the first he wrote malala that's me when her father's school was closed down by the taliban malala yousafzai began to campaign for the right of young girls across the country to go to school [Music] i have rights i have the right of education i have the right to play i have the right to sing i have the right to talk i have the right to go to market i have the right to speak up they shot her in the head she is still in critical condition [Music] she was airlifted to a military hospital
in peshawar where she had surgery as surgeons battled to save her life vigils took place throughout the [Music] in this world photo released today malala's eyes are open and cheap we have some really good news to report tonight walked out of a london hospital today [Music] today it is an honor for me to be speaking again after a long time they thought that the bullet would silence us but they failed [Music] my message right now is to young people we are living in a world where things are not the way we want we are getting
a system we are getting a world which is which is unequal which is sexist which is racist we have systems that are discriminating against people uh our climate or environment is at risk and there's so much that needs to be done but i hope that young people they stand up they raise their voices uh they start their activism right now let your age not stop you oftentimes we are told that you know you have to be 1450 to change the world i do not believe in that i think you can be a change maker right
now if you are 11 if you are 16 if you are you know 30 40 change is possible anytime and i want you to believe in yourself and make this world a fairer more equal and a better place for each and every one and once again there are positive solutions that can turn things around fast [Music] we need more women in positions of power at every level of government the time has come for quotas that make sure women are equally represented in every country it's time to make our laws equal so that every woman is
entitled to a job and a national identification card and to own property women must be able to live free from violence and have the right to make decisions over their bodies and lives especially in choosing if and when they marry we must guarantee full access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights we must provide the money to close the gap in girls education and there are important changes needed to achieve economic empowerment for women from equal access to finance to ending the gender pay gap to equal access to the digital world from mobile bank
accounts to digital payment systems and digital education it just doesn't make sense women are half of the population but society does not treat them as equals this is a legacy that needs to change here and now by changing our behaviors but also by changing laws and common practices across the world we must all make that happen now [Music] everyone can do their part to make it happen we can create and enjoy green jobs live healthier lives with cleaner air and better diets and in more equal societies all of us men and women can enjoy safer
and more productive lives there is power in every decision we make we can shape society and the future of our planet and people in every choice we make my final message is let's be humble let's recognize our fragilities and let's understand that only in unity and solidarity we will be able to address them it's true in each one of our countries it's true at global level and let's take profits of the 75th anniversary of the united nations to think together how better we can organize the international community to address climate change inequality pandemics like the
kovite 19 and so many other aspects that can only be solved if we join together and if we are able to have one common strategy one common project and one common determination in favor of peace of development and human rights in the world [Music] i wanna leave my footprints on this hand [Music] regret it's something to remember so they won't forget i was here i i was lived i did i've done everything that i wanted [Music] i was here it was [Music] did my best brought someone from [Music] [Applause] happiness [Music] i was here i
did i [Music] [Applause] you
