Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022: Covid-19 pandemic pushed 93 million more people into extreme poverty in 2020: UN SDGs report

Source: The post is based on the article “Covid-19 pandemic pushed 93 million more people into extreme poverty in 2020: UN SDGs report” published in TOI on 8th July 2022.

What is the News?

The United Nations has released a report titled “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022”.

What is the purpose of the report?

The report provides a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, using the latest available data and estimates. It tracks the global and regional progress toward the 17 Goals with in-depth analyses of selected indicators for each Goal.

What are the key findings of the report?

3Cs: SDGs are in grave jeopardy due to multiple, cascading and intersecting crises predominated by COVID-19, Climate Change and Conflict.

Hunger: About one in every 10 persons worldwide is suffering from hunger as geopolitical conflicts, combined with the effects of the pandemic and climate change are converging to undermine food security worldwide.

Deaths due to Covid-19: Deaths, directly and indirectly, attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic reached 15 million by the end of 2021.

Impact of Covid-19 on SDGs: The pandemic wiped out more than four years of progress on poverty eradication and pushed 93 million more people into extreme poverty in 2020.

– Disrupted essential health services resulted in a drop in immunization coverage for the first time in a decade and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis and malaria.

– More than 24 million learners, from pre-primary to university level, are at risk of never returning to school.

On Climate Change: The report repeats the “code red warning” on climate change earlier issued by the IPCC, highlighting that rising global temperatures continue unabated leading to more extreme weather events around the world and that energy-related emissions have increased 6% in 2021 reaching the highest level ever.

– To avoid the worst effects of climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 and then decline by 43% by 2030, falling to net-zero by 2050.

-However, under current voluntary National Commitments(NDCs) to climate action, greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise nearly 14% over the next decade.

Conflicts: The war in Ukraine is creating one of the largest refugee crises of modern time. In addition, it is causing food, fuel and fertilizer prices to skyrocket and fueling a threat of a global food crisis.

What are the positive trends highlighted by the report?

Electricity: Around 91% of the world population gained access to electricity, leaving 733 million people in the dark in 2020 compared to 1.2 billion in 2010.

Clean Water and Sanitation: On goals pertaining to clean water and sanitation, the report noted progress saying the proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 70% in 2015 to 74% in 2020. 

— Moreover, over the same period, the population practising open defecation decreased by a third, from 739 million people to 494 million. Hence, the world is on track to eliminate open defecation by 2030.