Behavioural change remains our biggest challenge

THE world is fast changing. Technology drives change. Businesses which fail to embrace disruptive technological shifts risk losing out.

Those which stay ahead of technological change are more business sustainable. The world is replete with evidence documenting cases of those resisting change.

One often cited is what is referred to as the “Kodak moment”.

Most are familiar with the story of how the company, Kodak, failed to capitalise on the imminent change in photography technology. They could not foresee that digital photography would eventually revolutionise the photo business.

The sad part of it all is that Kodak was the first to make the research and development breakthrough on digital photography. The rest is history.

Let’s touch on climate change, one major global concern that can derail the sustainability agenda of the world. In fact, climate change is the rationale behind the formulation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The high net emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is the central factor behind global warming which drives climate change.

Since energy is the prime source of GHG emissions, changing the energy mix towards more renewables can reduce emissions.

Experts have suggested phasing out fossil fuels, a non-renewable energy, as a way to mitigate climate change. This would necessarily involve a paradigm shift and entail changing behaviour.

But, mankind has long been comfortable in depending on fossil energy that changing to renewables is a big challenge.

As GHG measurement creeps up to worrying levels, fossil loyalists may eventually buckle up and change.

The pandemic has also revealed examples of how behavioural change proved to be a major challenge. There are still many who resist the wearing of face masks and ensuring physical distancing.

In fact in some countries, especially the more developed economies, there are those who take to the streets to protest the change, which can sometimes be violent.

The spread of fake claims through social media has also encouraged such groups to resist change.

The world has, of course, become familiar with the anti-vaccination movement, which are mostly influenced by the fake news linking the pandemic to all kinds of conspiracy theories.

This has not helped the world in achieving herd immunity. Worse still, it has made the situation a fertile ground for the development of new variants, which pose more problems.

It is no secret that behavioural change is also the biggest obstacle to the effective management of non-communicable diseases.

I recently moderated a panel discussion on the findings of a country study on the management of hypertension among the B40 group.

The internationally funded RESPOND study looked at the issues of hypertension in the country.

The parameters studied include access to health information, health system support, diagnosis and treatment dynamics for the B40 group in both urban and rural areas.

The results showed that they have reasonably good access to information and diagnosis. Apparently, there is not much difference between the urban and rural populations either.

This is testimony to the good healthcare system in the country. But, much of the problem lies with the behavioural change needed in treatment.

Behavioural change to mitigate pollution is another big challenge.

A good example is the worrying transboundary plastics pollution now threatening not only the world’s oceans, but also our own food systems. The microplastics that get lodged in marine fish are making our seafood less safe.

Sadly, plastic wastes, made up of mainly single-use plastics, are indiscriminately disposed without a care for the consequences.

Few would disagree that much of the global problems can be effectively addressed through behavioural and mindset change.

However, motivating behavioural change remains the biggest challenge.