10/07/2023
According to the draft of the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report, the world is far off track on achieving the SDGs at the halfway point on the 2030 Agenda.
Without urgent course correction and acceleration, humanity will face prolonged periods of crisis and uncertainty triggered by and reinforcing poverty, inequality, hunger, disease, conflict, and disaster.
In addition, recent crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, cost-of-living increases, armed conflict and natural disasters have wiped out years of progress on some SDGs including eradication of extreme poverty.
By the end of 2020, around two billion people were living in conflict-affected 296 countries. In 2021, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons was the highest on record at 89 million, and, for the first time, global military expenditure exceeded $2 trillion.
The current status indicates that the SDGs will remain out of reach by 2030, or even 2050. Gains would be made in key areas including extreme poverty reduction and global and national income convergence. However; progress would be minimal on targets relating to malnutrition and governance.
Likewise, regression would be noticed in air pollution and associated health impacts, agricultural water use, relative poverty rates, food waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity and nitrogen use.
2019 Report suggested deploying four ‘levers’ to bring about transformation in these entry points: governance, economy and finance, science and technology, and individual and collective action. This 2023 Report adds a fifth lever, ‘capacity building’, as the development and/or mobilisation of capacity is essential for the transformation process.
Your comments and observations are the most welcome.
