Are We Losing the Race to Achieve the UN's SDGs?
Contributed by Euphrates’ Staff Issah Shamsoo
In September 2015, world leaders gathered at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York to approve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 goals to be achieved to realize a more equitable, peaceful, and sustainable world by 2030.
The world has made great progress towards sustainable development over the last twenty years. Yet today, we are not on track to deliver the SDGs, with large gaps in progress. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world's shared vision for peace, prosperity, and the well-being of people and the planet. Yet, they are receding further into the distance.
The onset of COVID-19, devastating earthquakes, intensifying violent conflicts, and climate-induced disasters has rolled back decades of our collective advancement on the SDGs. These crises have deepened existing inequalities, worsened poverty, displaced millions of individuals, and strained fragile peace processes worldwide.
The impacts are overwhelming:
• Poverty around the globe is on the rise. According to the World Bank, in the year 2022, approximately 713 million people were living in extreme poverty, with many more at risk due to inflation, violent conflicts, and climate shocks.
• Food insecurity is increasing. The Global Report on Food Crises (2023) reports that approximately 258 million people in 58 countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2022, a significant increase from pre-pandemic years.
• Violent conflicts continue to be on the rise. The 2023 Global Peace Index reported that the world is less peaceful for the ninth consecutive year. The same report (2023 Global Peace Index) stated that the economic value of violence across the world increased by 17% to $17.5 trillion in 2022, which is equivalent to 13% of the world GDP.
With less than six years remaining until 2030, concerted efforts should be made to reverse these alarming trends. Without decisive action, inequalities will only widen, humanitarian crises will further worsen, and the planet will be placed at growing danger of irreversible climate disaster.
To accelerate progress towards the SDGs, we require a whole-of-society effort. Here are actions to consider to get us back on track:
1. Re-commit to SDG Financing: Member states must invest in sustainable development, climate resilience, and social protection programs. Furthermore, the estimated $4 trillion annual SDG financing gap must be closed through a combination of public, private, and innovative financing mechanism through multilateral institutions.
2. Employ Diplomacy and Invest in Peacebuilding: Diplomatic efforts must be prioritized to prevent escalation and resolve long-standing conflicts. Increased support for peacebuilding initiatives, especially those led by women and young people, is crucial.
3. Accelerate Climate Action: A coordinated climate action is necessary to minimize carbon emissions and transition to renewable energy. In the same vein, the international community must guarantee support to vulnerable nations and communities to build adaptation and resilience.
4. Enhance Accountability and Peer Review Mechanisms: Periodic reviews of SDG progress by member states on a regular basis should be maintained, and reporting transparency at all levels should be assured. Governments must demonstrate their commitment to the SDGs through actions and ensure that recently made commitments at the Summit of the Future are honoured.
5. Empower Local Communities and Youth Leadership: It is time to believe in young people to innovate and develop solutions to our most pressing challenges. To do this, young people need to be included in decision-making spaces, have access to credit and green financing, and an enabling environment to thrive. Similarly, grassroots initiatives need to be empowered to drive bottom-up solutions without facing unfair competition with big and international organizations.
We can still act!
If we fail to achieve the SDGs, the consequences will be disastrous: climate change will accelerate, there will be more violent conflicts over scarce resources, and criminality will become the norm. This is not a worst-case scenario—it is the future we will have if we don't act now. No country can save itself from these realities; therefore, we must unite together and act in unison as a collective.
This is indeed the time to move from words to real action!