Policy brief calls for increasing SDG progress and maintaining current environmental gains
NEW YORK, June 22, 2020: Countries will be better able to recover from the human and economic devastation caused by COVID-19 by accelerating efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a policy report issued by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) today.
While it is not yet clear what the final effect of the coronavirus will be, initial assessments are sobering, with huge losses of life and livelihoods. The death toll, close to half a million, continues to rise.
Initial evaluations show that there are immense risks for not acting quickly and in a coordinated manner. Global GDP is expected to contract by 5.2% in 2020, the largest contraction in economic activity since the Great Depression, and far worse than the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. In 2020 alone, millions of people – estimates range from 35 to 60 million – could be pushed into extreme poverty, reversing the global downward trend of the past twenty years. An estimated 1.6 billion people working in the informal sector, including the gig economy, are at risk of losing their livelihoods, many of whom lack access to any form of social protection.
Another 10 million children in the world could face acute malnutrition, and the number of people facing acute food insecurity could almost double compared to 2019, reaching 265 million. School closures have affected more than 90 percent of the world’s student population: 1.6 billion children and young people. More detailed data on global sustainable development efforts will be announced on July 7 in the 2020 Sustainable Development Goals Progress Report.
Decisions made now about whether to return to the pre-pandemic world or one that is more sustainable and equitable will help shape future outcomes. The policy report warns that if coronavirus responses are ad-hoc, underfunded, and without a vision of long-term goals, decades of progress toward sustainable development will be reversed.
Alternatively, as countries begin to move toward recovery, the report states that “thoughtful and targeted actions can put the world on a solid path toward achieving the SDGs.”
Past progress toward meeting many of the goals is one factor in lessening the severity of impacts on lives and economies. For example, achieving SDG 6 (access to clean water) is necessary to allow people to wash their hands regularly, which is one of the main virus repellent strategies recommended by the World Health Organization. SDG 11, which calls for sustainable cities and communities, has proven critical in reducing exposure to the virus for those living in crowded places or without access to basic services. And SDG 3 addresses the need to address pre-existing health conditions, such as noncommunicable diseases, which have been identified as a major factor in the most severe cases of COVID.
Past progress in promoting decent work (SDG 8), increasing access to quality health care (SDG 3), and ensuring Internet access for school and work (SDG 9) help mitigate the severity of adverse impacts.
The policy report argues that the key concern of the SDGs, leaving no one behind, must be central to planners and decision makers when developing COVID-19 recovery policies. These policies should be created with the aim of protecting vulnerable groups, including young people facing unemployment, children who do not have access to online learning opportunities and women, who face a disproportionate increase in the burden of care work and an increased risk of domestic work. violence.
The SDGs can serve as preventive medicine against future shocks, but responses will have to drift away from business as usual, using this pause to adopt more equitable and sustainable ways forward.
For example, with oil prices at record lows and employment in the sector declining, we can initiate a just transition for workers to the green economy while canceling fuel subsidies and introducing carbon taxes. This could lay the foundation for achieving the more ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change while also achieving the SDGs.
To avoid the worst effects of COVID-19, countries should prioritize action in three areas: protecting the progress already made towards the SDGs, accelerating the universal provision of quality basic services, and maintaining the environmental gains of this period to reverse trends. in the degradation of nature.
The report concludes that it is still possible to achieve global goals, but that greater coherence and coordination of national actions is required, as well as a stronger global partnership for development. Furthermore, the UN system must be prepared to facilitate progress in all of these areas.
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More information:
UN DESA COVID-19 policy briefs can be found at bit.ly/UNDESACovid.
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Media Contacts:
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
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SOURCE: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2020/06/recovery/