18.2.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 81/25 Wednesday 23 June 2021
57.
Recalls that private sector investment could play an important role in contributing to economic recovery and the attainment of the SDGs, given the heightened needs generated by the pandemic; calls for the role of the private sector and blended finance to be further explored as part of recovery and resilience building efforts;
58.
Points out that pandemics are often of zoonotic origin; underlines, therefore, the need to support education programmes regarding the dangers of hunting and trading in wild animals as well as the stricter protection and restoration of ecosystems and habitats, and to address challenges posed by industrial farming; calls for increased support for partner countries in preventing poaching and the trafficking of wild animals, ensuring in particular that local communities are involved in wildlife protection; considers that more EU funds need to be granted to anticipatory research on the links between human health, animal health and ecosystems in order to increase the readiness to respond to future health crises created by virus mutations of zoonotic origin;
59.
Is of the opinion that resilience against future public health crises must also be built upon research into diseases that cause deadly outbreaks in developing countries on a regular basis; regrets that there is currently not enough research into the development of vaccines that effectively prevent diseases that are recurrent in developing countries, such as malaria or zika; calls on the EU and its Member States to fund more research with a view to developing vaccines that prevent future outbreaks of such diseases;
60.
Points out that, even in times of crisis, food production and distribution must be an absolute priority; considers that dependence on external sources of food, plants, seeds and fertilisers should be reduced, while local and diversified agricultural production should be increased; welcomes, in this regard, the EU’s support for agroecology, which needs to be further strengthened; calls for support for the sharing of knowledge about new, old and more resilient agro-ecological seeds;
61.
Recalls that developing countries are historically vulnerable to external shocks owing to narrow export bases and less diversified economies; stresses, therefore, that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification and to shift from an a export-oriented production model towards development based on domestic and regional markets; to this end, emphasises the crucial role of regional economic cooperation, domestic industrial policy and investment promotion to increase national or regional autonomy in the production of essential goods and services; finds it essential, against this background, to harness financing and business practises, with a view to promoting the integration of sustainability standards along the entire investment chain; reiterates that mandatory corporate due diligence on human rights and the environment is a necessary condition in order to prevent and mitigate future crises and ensure sustainable value chains;
62.
Underlines that investments in recovery actions need to be responsible, in line with the CFS’ Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security and its Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, to mitigate climate change and foster the resilience of vulnerable populations;
63.
Calls on the EU to better mainstream children’s rights in the fight against climate change and in its actions to promote resilience and disaster preparedness directly in social sectors such as education, health, WASH, nutrition, and social and child protection;
Humanitarian-development-peace nexus
64.
Underlines that implementation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus has to be a priority in the programming of the NDICI-Global Europe in fragile countries; calls on the Commission’s DG ECHO, DG INTPA and DG NEAR to implement complementary programmes suited to local contexts and local opportunities, whenever possible, in order to mutually reinforce the different aspects of the nexus;
65.
Underlines the need to work alongside local communities and CSOs in the definition and implementation of the response to the COVID-19 crisis; emphasises the role of the European Solidarity Corps in supporting CSOs on the ground which provide assistance to people in need;