It is our responsibility as citizens of the world

Environmental issues are truly not considered to be a top priority in the global arena and that is evident in the way that every initiative related to the environment creates a social media storm as it takes place, but is later forgotten. I believe that the foremost reason for this, is the lack of political will for change, not only from politicians but also the public. The truth is that we love to put the blame on others and most often, when the subject of the environment comes up, we like to put the blame on politicians, claiming that they don’t prioritise it. But are we, as individuals doing enough to push our wish through? It is important that we look into the underlying cause for the environment being ignored and not prioritised. According to the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), the main issue is that it is traditionally given a top-down priority because of a weak power base and I agree with that because what is far from sight is often far from the mind as well. It is unfortunate to witness the fact that poverty-environment linkages are not incorporated into national development processes and are therefore not tackled in the manner that they should be. We must change our strategies and truly include these issues and give them the significance that they deserve. We need to all take a stand, as citizens of the world. From Mr Mohanned Al Zubaidi Student based in Gothenburg, Sweden