Soka Gakkai International (SGI) issued its 40th annual peace proposal on 26 January 2022, marking the anniversary of the SGI’s founding in 1975. Titled “Transforming Human History: The Light of Peace and Dignity,” it offers concrete ideas for tackling the climate crisis, achieving inclusive education and nuclear disarmament.

Concerning humanity’s response to the pandemic, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, who authored the proposal, calls for solidarity built on awareness of our interconnectedness and states: “I believe firmly that the key factor determining the direction of history will prove not to have been the virus, but we humans ourselves.”

The proposal emphasizes the need to address the inequalities the pandemic has exposed, and that gender equality and women’s empowerment are key to overcoming the crisis and building a global society that sustains human dignity.

On environmental issues, Ikeda calls for more coordinated efforts in implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity and Convention to Combat Desertification, stating: “Climate change, biodiversity and desertification are deeply intertwined, and solutions are likewise interconnected.”

The proposal also suggests creating a youth council to advise the UN on the comprehensive protection of the “global commons,” the environmental resources essential to all humanity.

Concerned about the impact of disruptions to education, Ikeda suggests that the UN Transforming Education Summit planned for September focus on education in emergencies, inclusive education and learning for global citizenship.

Toward the first meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) slated for March, the peace proposal stresses the urgency of “detoxifying” ourselves from nuclear-dependent security doctrines and strongly calls for Japan, other nuclear-dependent states and the nuclear-weapon states to participate as observers.