The global community is at a critical moment in its pursuit of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021, launched on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York, shows the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on the 2030 Agenda.
The report begins by stressing that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, SDG progress was not on track. Progress towards the Goals was not occurring fast enough for achievement by 2030, and was even stalled or moving backwards in some areas. According to the report, the world’s collective response in the next 18 months will determine whether the pandemic turns out to be a “much-needed wake-up call.” Among other lessons, it has confirmed that “by threatening biodiversity, humanity threatens its own survival.”
According to the 2021 report, besides causing the death of over 3 million people, Covid pushed around 119-124 million people back into poverty last year. An estimated 255 million people, it added, lost their full-time jobs due to the Covid crisis across the world.
The report also noted that, in 2020, the global extreme poverty rate rose for the first time since 1998, to 9.5 per cent from 8.4 per cent in 2019.
Moreover, disruptions to essential health services have threatened years of progress in improving maternal and child health, increasing immunization coverage, and reducing communicable and non-communicable diseases. Around 90% of countries are still reporting one or more significant disruptions to essential health services.
The report also sought to point out a disconnect between the economic slowdown in 2020 and the climate crisis, saying concentrations of major greenhouse gases continued to increase while the global average temperature was about 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels, extremely close to the 1.5°C limit set in the Paris Agreement.
Further, it added, global flows of foreign direct investment fell by 40 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also adversely affected progress towards gender equality. Violence against women and girls has intensified, child marriage is expected to increase, and women have suffered a disproportionate share of job losses and increased care responsibilities at home, the report indicates.
The authors suggest that an appropriate response would:
Provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, to strengthen the financial position of developing countries and embrace a recovery that is guided by the 2030 Agenda;
Use the recovery to adopt low-carbon, resilient and inclusive development pathways that will reduce carbon emissions, conserve natural resources, create better jobs, advance gender equality and tackle growing inequities;
Improve availability of internationally comparable data on SDGs to fill gaps related to geographic coverage, timeliness and the level of disaggregation, to help identify differences across regions and who is being left behind; and put clean and sustainable energy “at the heart of the COVID-19 response and fight against climate change.”
The 2030 Agenda, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 is the most comprehensive blueprint for eliminating extreme poverty, reducing inequality, and protecting the planet.