Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals – Explained, pointwise

Introduction

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015. There are specific targets for each goal, along with indicators that are used to measure progress toward each target. The UN monitors the progress of the SDGs and publishes the findings in an annual report. The Report is made by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with the UN Statistical System. This year’s (2022) report ‘paints a particularly bleak picture’ of the 2030 Agenda. The report shows ‘how the agenda is being seriously jeopardized’ by multiple intersecting crises, wiping out years of progress on the SDGs and pushing millions into hunger and poverty. The Report calls for an ‘urgent action’ if the SDGs are to be rescued and the 2030 deadline is to be met.

About the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. There are total 17 interlinked goals; interlinked because they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

They were adopted by an UN General Assembly Resolution in September 2015 (Agenda 2030). Through the resolution, the global leaders pledged to set the world on a new trajectory to deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet through domestic actions in the next 15 years.

Source: UNDP

The 17 Goals have 169 targets ranging from eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, to providing basic services such as drinking water by 2030. 

What are the key findings of the Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2022?

The Report observes that a series of global crises have hampered the progress on the SDGs.

SDG 1 (No Poverty): Between 657 and 676 million people are currently projected to live in extreme poverty in 2022, compared to the pre-pandemic projection of 581 million. 

SDG 2 (Zero Hunger): About 1 in 10 people are suffering from hunger worldwide, with 161 million additional people having slid into chronic hunger in 2020 alone.

SDG 3 (Good Health and Well being): The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening decades of progress in global health, decreasing global life expectancy and basic immunization coverage. The pandemic also increased the prevalence of anxiety and depression among people.

SDG 4 (Quality Education): 147 million children have missed over half of in-person instruction in 2020-2021, and 24 million learners may never return to school. 

SDG 5 (Gender Equality): Women accounted for 39% of total employment in 2019 but 45% of global employment losses in 2020. Many women are increasingly burdened with unpaid care work. Domestic violence has also intensified.

SDG 6 (Clear Water and Sanitation): Meeting drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene targets by 2030 requires a 4-fold increase in the pace of progress.

SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): Progress on electrification has slowed, with 679 million projected to have no electricity access in 2030.

SDG 8 (Decent work and Economic Growth): 1 in 10 children are engaged in child labor worldwide – a total of 160 million in 2020.

SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure): Global manufacturing has rebounded from the pandemic but least developed countries (LDCs) are left behind.

SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): The pandemic has intensified income inequalities between countries and people.

SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities): Leaving no one behind will require an intensified focus on 1 billion slum dwellers.

SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): 13.3% of the world’s food is lost after harvesting and before reaching retail markets, and 17% of total food is wasted at the consumer level.

SDG 13 (Climate Action): Energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased 6% in 2021 reaching their highest level ever, taking down gains due to the COVID-19. 

SDG 14 (Life Below Water): In 2021, more than 17 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean – a number projected to double or triple by 2040.

SDG 15 (Life on Land): The report found that 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have also shown ‘stagnant progress’ under the goal. The proportion of forests fell from 31.9% of total land area in 2000 to 31.2% in 2020, representing a net loss of almost 100 million hectares.

SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions): While global homicide rate declined 5.2% between 2015-2020, a quarter of the global population lives in conflict-affected countries.

SDG 17 (Partnership for Goals): Net official direct assistance (ODA) reached a new high of USD 177.6 billion, largely due to COVID-19-related aid, but ODA for SDG data declined by more than 18% (2020).

(For more observations of the Report, refer graphics at the end of the article).

What are some areas of progress as per the SDG Report, 2022?

SDG 6: The proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased to 74% in 2020.

SDG 15: Many countries are sustainably managing their forests, protecting sites critical to biodiversity, and enacting national conservation legislation and policies.

SDG 17: There has been progress in implementing frameworks for the sustainable use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, especially the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It provides a transparent legal framework  for the implementation of fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources.

What are the reasons behind poor performance on the SDGs?

The Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2022 attributes the poor progress to 3 major Cs – COVID-19, Climate Change and Conflicts. However, there are several other factors as well.

COVID-19: The pandemic put a severe brake on the progress. It pushed the countries to impose lockdowns that brought all progressive work towards SDG attainment to a standstill. 

As per the SDG report 2022, more than 4 years of progress in alleviating poverty have been wiped out due to the pandemic, pushing 93 million more people worldwide into extreme poverty in 2020. Further, the global “excess deaths” directly and indirectly attributable to COVID-19 had reached 15 million by the end of 2021.

It also affected education and healthcare services for millions. Immunization, for example, has dropped for the first time in a decade even as deaths from malaria and TB have risen. 

Climate Change: As per SDG 2022 report, global temperatures have been rising unabated. The world is facing a major climate catastrophe due to increased heatwaves, drought and apocalyptic wildfires and floods which are affecting billions of people around the globe. The associated losses and economic costs are impairing the capacity of the countries to work towards SDG attainment.

Geopolitical Conflicts: The Russia-Ukraine crisis has caused food, fuel and fertilizer prices to skyrocket. It also disturbed global trade supplies and caused the financial markets to tumble. Projected economic growth for 2022 was cut by 0.9% due to the Ukraine war and potential new waves of the pandemic.

It has added to the already worsening refugee crisis. As of May 2022, over 100 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes (due to war and other conflicts). 

Diversion of Land for Economic Activities: 10 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year, with almost 90% of global deforestation due to agricultural expansion. This includes crop-land expansion (49.6 percent) and livestock grazing (38.5 percent) thereby impeding attainment of Goal 15.

Data Gaps: The Report also notes that despite some progress, serious data gaps exist in SDG monitoring. This includes data in terms of geographic coverage, timeliness and level of disaggregation. 

This makes it difficult to fully comprehend the pace of progress towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda, differences across regions and who is being left behind. Less than half of the 193 countries have internationally comparable data available from 2015 or later for eight of the 17 SDGs. Further, only around 20 percent of countries have data for SDG 13 (climate action).

What can be done going ahead?

First, addressing Climate Change has become the most urgent requirement. All nations, and especially the developed countries, must fulfil their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Further, there is need to enhance the emission target cuts as well as improve the climate finance and technology sharing to help the developing countries.

In addition, the developed countries must come forward to support the developing nations in terms of finance, technology and other key resources in order for timely attainment of SDGs.

Second, innovative methods like organic farming, vertical farming etc. must be promoted for minimizing land degradation and diversion of forests for agriculture.

Third, efforts must be made to end armed conflicts and embark on a path of diplomacy and peace. For this, the Western and Eastren blocs must reach a compromise and end the miseries of the Ukrainian people. 

Fourth, the experiences during the pandemic wherein use of ICT technologies was enhanced, can be used to augment data infrastructure. The National Statistical Organization should focus on deployment of new collaboration software, new equipment to staff, and new remote access tools such as virtual private network (VPN), Virtual Desktop and Mobile Office.

Conclusion

The Sustainable Development Goals Report outlines a three-step “road map for survival”. First, end armed conflicts and embark on a path of diplomacy and peace. Second, adopt low-carbon, resilient, and inclusive development pathways. Third, comprehensively transform the international financial and debt architecture. It also calls for collective action to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and planet by 2030. The window to achieve the SDGs by 2030 is narrowing down. Sustained and focus efforts are required from the national Governments to achieve the targets.

Source: Down to Earth, Down to Earth, The Times of India, UNEP