38th Annual Plenary Meeting
Beijing Statement:
Together for the Future of the Planet, People and Peace
Advancing a Safe and Liveable, Flourishing and Harmonious World for All
9th October 2024
Beijing, People’s Republic of China
The InterAction Council convened in Beijing, China from the 8-9th October 2024 for its 38th Annual Plenary Meeting. The meeting was chaired by The Hon. Mr. Bertie Ahern and H.E. President Olusegun Obasanjo, co-chairs of the InterAction Council, and kindly hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). The meeting covered a range of significant challenges facing the world today, including the continued and escalating threats from conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine; the climate and environmental crisis and their impacts upon the determinants of life; the risks of further pandemics and the potential threats from emerging technologies. Without acting together, these risks can be seen as an interacting polycrisis that threatens the very existence of humanity, which a new governance board for Global Existential Security Threats, aims to address.
In today’s rapidly changing world, the InterAction Council continues to strive for greater global security, to give hope for the future and to build a sustainable and prosperous world for all, through strengthened multilateral governance that matches the size and scale of the challenges we face to the future of humanity. In this context, the InterAction Council supports the recently agreed United Nations’ Pact for the Future, including the governance reforms to the UN and UN Security Council, and the ambitions laid out in the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. Drawing upon the wisdom of former leaders and expert meetings, the InterAction Council has taken this a step further through the establishment of a Global Existential Security Threats Board, that aims to proactively prevent and reduce risks to the future of humanity.
In particular, the InterAction Council commends the actions taken by Chinese leaders to forge harmonious regional relationships through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as with Africa, which contributes to a balance of global powers and ultimately provides a solid foundation for peace and security. Moreover, as a global leader, China has the capacity to scale up the green renewable energy transition that is required to avert the climate crisis by rapidly transforming the basis of economic growth around the world. World leaders can learn from what has successfully averted conflicts, brought about the end of wars and created sustainable pathways to peace and apply this to emerging and current conflicts. This provides the world with the potential to create enduring security as a foundation for our longer-term well-being.
Looking to our future, the InterAction Council welcomes the active engagement of young people, including the recent establishment of the Global Youth Security Council for Existential Threats, in partnership with One Young World, and wishes to encourage and enable young leaders further in shaping a world that is truly sustainable for everyone to flourish.
At this significant juncture in human history, with the spirit of the renewed energy and the values and wisdom required to strategically address our critical global security challenges, the InterAction Council commits to working with the international community, countries and partners to advance the following recommendations.
Recommendations for the Future of the Planet, People and Peace:
- Governance: strengthen multilateral governance for a safer and sustainable world, that prevents and reduces risks to the future of humanity and life on our planet; and advance the global Existential Security Threats – EXIST Board, combined with the Global Youth Security Council for Existential Threats. At the 38th Annual Plenary Meeting, the InterAction Council established a young leaders committee to strengthen intergenerational governance processes.
- Leadership: build capacity with intergenerational programmes, for current and future leaders to be able to effectively assess risk, prioritise, plan, prepare and prevent catastrophic threats to the future of life and humanity; engage and empower young leaders in shaping policy and decision-making processes to actively design a safer world for their future, and that of further generations.
- Principles: apply the following principles and values to provide a foundation for decision making, especially when navigating uncertain futures:
- Future: focus on common goals for our collective survival and human future to orientate policy decisions
- Youth: actively engage young leaders in determining their future well-being
- Inclusion: respect and value all people to create a diverse and flourishing planet together
- Security: strengthen community safety and global security as a foundation for peace and sustainable development
- Resilience: nurture resilience across our life course, communities, and our planetary eco-systems
- Social Justice: for all and inspire dignity, hope, compassion, and well-being to nurture creative solutions
- Well-being: place indicators for the determinants of life to orientate our world for the creation of a flourishing planet and people
- Wisdom: enhance accessible and indigenous knowledge, research, innovation and digital solutions
- Planet: prevent tipping points from escalating and creating runaway climate change; create a strategic global emergency response to stabilise our essential determinants of life on this planet including temperature, air, water, land and food systems and to assist in recovery.
- People: prevent future pandemics – through enhanced global governance with regional and local coordination, create One Health systems for prevention, detection, early warning systems, preparedness and response; transform global health security as a global good with digital solutions.
- Peace: prevent violence within families and communities, and create inclusive and fair societies to promote a culture of peace; identify risks for conflicts for early prevention with diplomacy and development for pathways to peace including intercountry initiatives; advocate for and agree on common global rights and responsibilities, and implement controls for technologies and weapons of mass-destruction; adopt no first use policies, remove hair trigger alerts and pledge no use of nuclear weapons.
- Prosperity: scale renewable energy to underpin human security, sustainable development and growth; establish global governance for digital technology and AI to reduce risks and enhance beneficial solutions; promote open access health and education, research and innovation to create conditions for social development to benefit all.
- Plan: utilise strategic foresight to assess and prioritise risks to humanity, design effective and sustainable multi-disciplinary systems, with scalable initiatives that are informed by existing interventions combined with low risk, innovative solutions to address strategic gaps; develop a living and adaptable strategic plan (Strategy X-Exist), with experts and partners to create integrated plans for the planet, people and peace, supported by policy briefs and an advocacy campaign.
- Platform: build upon the recent launch of the Global Futures Platform for Planet, People and Peace, to leverage digital technologies and AI solutions to address global security threats and promote resilience and peace. Key initiatives include using AI for foresight and risk analysis to safeguard the planet, developing a pandemic app for early detection and intervention, and employing digital tools to prevent conflicts. Further solutions include enabling priority identification by strengthening governance through indicators and digital coordination; advocating for collective action using digital tools and providing news updates; and creating a global curriculum on existential threats and how to prevent and mitigate them to build the capacity of future leaders and enhance the abilities of governments to respond to existential threats.
- Partners: to advance recommendations, the InterAction Council welcomes and is committed to enabling collaborative partnerships that support multilateral governance and strategic initiatives to create a safer, harmonious and peaceful world for the future well-being of our planet and its people.
The InterAction Council is committed to strengthening multilateral mechanisms for global security to prevent violence and calls for ceasefires to enable negotiations to bring about the end of all wars. The Council recognises that no side can ever win, due to the deep human trauma caused by wars, which if left unresolved, creates further generations of conflict. It therefore promotes the resolution of conflicts through negotiation, understanding and respecting the rights of all peoples. The InterAction Council calls upon nations and the international community to seek common security with fair solutions and robust recovery plans that promote enduring peace to enable shared and sustainable prosperity.
The InterAction Council will convene further meetings in 2025 that draw upon our collective learning and wisdom to identify the key components required to plan for peace, that create pathways for enduring peace and security for the world, as a foundation for a shared, sustainable and prosperous planet.