Sustainable Development Goals

Globally, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty dropped from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. However, the pace of change is slowing down, and the COVID-19 crisis poses a risk of reversing decades of progress in poverty alleviation.
A new study published by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research warns of the economic ramifications resulting from the global pandemic that could increase global poverty by up to half a billion people or 8% of the total population. This will be the first time that global poverty has increased in thirty years, since 1990.

While significant progress has been made in increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation, billions of people – most of them in rural areas– still lack these essential services. Globally, one in every three people does not have access to safe drinking water, and two out of every five people lack basic facilities for handwashing with soap and water. Moreover, more than 673 million people practice open defecation.

Education enables social and economic mobility and is a crucial means to escape poverty. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made towards facilitating access to education and school enrollment rates at all levels, especially for girls. However, about 260 million children were still out of school in 2018 – they represent approximately one-fifth of the world's population in this age group. Additionally, more than half of children and adolescents around the world do not meet the minimum standards of proficiency in reading and mathematics.

A comprehensive and sustainable orientation to manufacturing, coupled with innovation and infrastructure development, can unleash dynamic and competitive economic forces that generate employment and income opportunities. It plays a key role in introducing and promoting new technologies, facilitating international trade, and enabling the efficient use of resources.
However, the world still has a long way to go to take full advantage of this potential. The least developed countries, in particular, need to accelerate the development of the manufacturing sector if they want to achieve the 2030 target, and increase investment.

2019 was the second warmest year on record and the end of the warmest decade (2010- 2019) ever recorded.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to new records in 2019.
Climate change is affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, and weather events are becoming more extreme.

The nature of the oceans includes global systems that make the Earth habitable for humans. They provide and regulate rainfall, drinking water, weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe through the seas.
Thus, carefully managing these essential global resources is a key feature of a sustainable future. However, currently, there is continuous degradation of coastal waters due to pollution, and ocean acidification has an adverse impact on ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, negatively affecting small-scale fisheries as well.

Nature is critical to our survival: nature provides us with our oxygen, regulates our weather patterns, pollinates our crops, produces our food, feed and fibre. But it is under increasing stress. Human activity has altered almost 75 per cent of the earth’s surface, squeezing wildlife and nature into an ever-smaller corner of the planet.
Around 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction – many within decades – according to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service.

Conflict, insecurity, weak institutions and limited access to justice remain a great threat to sustainable development. The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million in 2018, the highest level recorded by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in almost 70 years.
In 2019, the United Nations tracked 357 killings and 30 enforced disappearances of human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists in 47 countries.

A successful development agenda requires inclusive partnerships — at the global, regional, national and local levels — built upon principles and values, and upon a shared vision and shared goals placing people and the planet at the center.
Many countries require Official Development Assistance to encourage growth and trade. Yet, aid levels are falling and donor countries have not lived up to their pledge to ramp up development finance.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply, by 3 per cent, in 2020, experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression.
Strong international cooperation is needed now more than ever to ensure that countries have the means to recover from the pandemic, build back better and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.