We are faced with a development paradox. Even though people are on average living longer, healthier and wealthier lives, these advances have not succeeded in increasing people’s sense of security. This holds true for countries all around the world and was taking hold even before the uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has increased this uncertainty. It has imperiled every dimension of our wellbeing and amplified a sense of fear across the globe. This, in tandem with rising geopolitical tensions, growing inequalities, democratic backsliding and devastating climate change-related weather events, threatens to reverse decades of development gains, throw progress on the Sustainable Development Goals even further off track, and delay the urgent need for a greener, more inclusive and just transition.

Against this backdrop, I welcome the Special Report on New threats to human security in the Anthropocene: Demanding greater solidarity, produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report explains this paradox, highlighting the strong association between declining levels of trust and increased feelings of insecurity.

It suggests that during the Anthropocene—a term proposed to describe the era in which humans have become central drivers of planetary change, radically altering the earth’s biosphere—people have good reason to feel insecure. Multiple threats from COVID-19, digital technology, climate change, and biodiversity loss, have become more prominent or taken new forms in recent years.

In short, humankind is making the world an increasingly insecure and precarious place. The report links these new threats with the disconnect between people and planet,