UNITED NATIONS (CMC):
The United Nations (UN) on Monday began a 10-day high-level political forum on sustainable development, discussing ways to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and turn the deadly crisis into an opportunity for a major shift towards a more sustainable global economy.
The UN said that the meeting, which is being attended by leading figures from government, business and civil society, will focus on the lessons, successes, shortcomings and plans to emerge from the unprecedented health crisis, and advocate for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the best way to build more inclusive, resilient and healthier societies.
“Countries will share and reflect the actions they have been taking to overcome the pandemic, to address its impacts, and to build back better”, said Munir Akram, president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which convened the forum.
“A core issue would be whether, and how, they are using the SDGs as the blueprint for their response to COVID-19.”
According to the UN, this year, 43 countries, including those from the Caribbean, will present actions they have taken to improve people’s standard of living, despite the impact of the pandemic. To date, 168 countries have presented their progress on the SDGs since the first forum in 2016.
“In the area of climate action, for example, Antigua and Barbuda is implementing a US$1.3-million project to improve its civil society access to climate financing. In Norway, measures to combat climate change have led to total greenhouse gas emissions dropping to the lowest level since 1993; and also, Angola’s decision to enact measures aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on oil,” the UN said in a statement.
It said that for many countries, the response to the pandemic has involved investing in their citizens, enhancing social protection systems and labour markets in order to help the most vulnerable populations.
But despite these welcome initiatives, ECOSOC warns that the pandemic has erased years of progress on some SDGs, and delegates will identify areas that need more attention, and policies likely to have maximum impacts on achieving the goals.
“Before the onset of the pandemic, progress was already being described as unsatisfactory, with pervasive inequalities, hunger, climate change, lack of access to education, growing unemployment, and extreme poverty,” the statement said.
It noted that by highlighting these ongoing issues, it is hoped that countries will chart a recovery path that is people-centered and underpinned by economic reform, digital transformation, vaccine equity and climate action.