Abstract

This article examines the links between Covid-19, lockdowns, massive job losses and the rise in poverty, all of which are rooted in the negative externalities of human behaviour or the downside of the Anthropocene. The rise in the number of the poor due to the pandemic is a setback for global efforts to achieve SDG1 or “end poverty in all its forms everywhere” by 2030. This article proposes that efforts to end poverty must be understood in the context of its dynamic nature as well as the processes and factors causing movement into and out of it. Since “humans are the main driver of planetary change” in the Anthropocene, unless “human systems” are “targeted to do something about it”, achievement of SDG1 is likely to remain elusive.