The United Nations (UN) has recently published a Report on the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to 2023 in which he warned that great efforts are needed to meet the goals proposed for the 2030 Agenda.
In the report, the organization highlights that the world is at risk of "failing miserably" in achieving the SDGs if serious measures are not taken and efforts are not redoubled for their implementation."Unless we act now, Agenda 2030 will become an epitaph for a world that could have been," stressed Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The SDGs are at risk
According to the report, the impacts of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, a weak global economy and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed weaknesses and hampered progress towards the Goals. It also warns that while the lack of progress is universal, it is the world’s poorest and most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst effects of these unprecedented global challenges.
Of the approximately 140 targets that were set to meet the Goals, half are far or very far from the desired trajectory. In addition, more than 30% of these targets have not seen any progress or, worse still, have experienced a regression compared to the situation in 2015. The report also points out areas that need urgent action to rescue the SDGs and achieve significant progress for people and the planet by 2030.
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Key facts from the report
- If current trends continue, an alarming 575 million people will still be trapped in extreme poverty by 2030, and an estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school.
- According to data collected in 2022 in 119 countries, 56% of countries lacked laws prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination against women.
- Given historical trends, only one-third of countries will have halved their national poverty rates by 2030 compared to 2015.
- Global warming has already reached 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels and is likely to reach or exceed the critical tipping point of 1.5°C by 2035.
- Nearly one in three (2.3 billion people) were experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021.
- Between 2015 and 2022, increasing access to safely managed drinking water, safely managed sanitation and basic hygiene resulted in 687 million, 911 million and 637 million more people having access to these essential services, respectively.
- In 2020, nearly 1.1 billion people lived in slums or similar conditions in urban areas.
Not all is lost
Despite the latest figures, the report also highlighted that not all is lost, and even highlighted some encouraging data showing that by working together, the goals proposed for the 2030 Agenda can be achieved:
- The proportion of the world's population with access to electricity has increased from 871 TP4T in 2015 to 911 TP4T in 2021, with nearly 800 million people having access to power.
- By 2021, 133 countries had already achieved the SDG target for under-5 mortality rate, and another 13 countries are expected to do so by 2030.
- Developing countries installed a record 268 watts of renewable energy generation capacity per capita in 2021.
- The number of people using the Internet has increased by 651% since 2015, reaching 5.3 billion people in the global population by 2022.
- Effective HIV treatment has significantly reduced AIDS-related deaths worldwide by 52% since 2010, and at least one neglected tropical disease has been eliminated in 47 countries.
- The number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies has doubled since 2015, indicating greater awareness and preparedness to manage and reduce the impact of disasters.
Conclusion
Different factors such as the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic, among others, have prevented us from fulfilling the historic promise that world leaders signed in 2015 to guarantee the rights and well-being of all people, agreed upon in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs.
However, if efforts are redoubled and governments, private companies and the population work together, and if available technologies, natural resources and knowledge are effectively used, the goals set for 2030 can be achieved, such as reducing poverty, improving gender equality, and lowering emissions to have a healthy and prosperous planet.
