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73. Increasing economic inequality is disruptive and highly detrimental to sustainable development. From a social perspective, inequality impedes trust and social cohesion, threatens public health, and marginalizes the poor and the middle class from political influence. Social sustainability, which can be understood as the capacity of a given society to promote innovation and adaptability under changing economic, social and environmental conditions in a manner respectful of human rights, is directly threatened by having a large — and potentially growing — sector of the population caught in “development traps”, living day-to-day without real prospects for a better future. 74. Growing inequality also reduces prospects for grappling with emerging environmental crises and rebalancing our economic growth with responsibility for the planet. It has been estimated that 11 per cent of the world’s population accounts for half of all emissions, yet it is the poorest segments of the population who are disproportionately affected by natural disasters due to climate change. 49 75. Given the enormous environmental costs of economic growth under the current development paradigm, the world simply cannot afford the current trajectories of wealth concentration while at the same time sustaining efforts to reduce poverty. Reductions in environmental impact necessary to achieve environmental sustainability only heighten this contradiction. 76. Finally, the social and health consequences of inequality and exclusion not only hinder the human rights-based development championed at the International Conference and Development, but they also have the potential to destabilize societies. In today’s globalized world, where information spreads throughout countries and the world in an instant, the increasing concentration of wealth and its links with unemployment, social injustice and powerlessness of millions have become a touchstone for political protests, conflict and instability. 77. States should accord the highest priority to poverty eradication by ensuring that all persons have equal opportunities to share in the fruits of economic and social development, to find productive employment, and to live in peace and dignity, free from discrimination, injustice, fear, want or disease. 78. As noted at the outset of this section, economic inequalities are both the cause and the consequence of other social inequalities, including those experienced because of gender, race, disability, age or other dimensions of identity and circumstance. Given the principal message of the International Conference, namely, that investments in individual capability, dignity and freedom are the foundation of shared human well-being and sustainable development, the ensuing parts of this section are devoted to a closer look at the extent to which dignity, human rights and well-being have, or have not, been advanced for women and girls, and for numerous population groups identified in the Programme of Action as experiencing longstanding vulnerability to stigma and discrimination.
B.
Women’s empowerment and gender equality 79. Discrimination against certain populations is common in many countries, but discrimination against women is universal. Many young women are not empowered in the course of childhood. Instead, they are socialized to embrace subordination to
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The Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible? (Washington, D.C., Island Press, 2013).
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