LOFTY GOALS ELUSIVE
Pandemic exposes how fragile many societies in Asia still are, despite pockets of progres in reaching UN Sustainable Development Goals
Currently, 60% of the region is without social protection. This is a call to reduce inequalities across the region, which continue to widen
UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of Escap
At the close of the last millennium, leaders from around the globe gathered at the United Nations to endorse the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — an agenda to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. They agreed to achieve the eight goals by 2015.
Even though not every goal was met with overwhelming success, the results were still striking in some areas. Poverty reduction was the most noteworthy achievement, with the number of people living in extreme poverty declining by more than half over 15 years.
As well, the proportion of undernourished people in developing regions has fallen by almost half, while primary school enrollment rates reached 91%, with many more girls now in school.
However, the mission was not finished, and world leaders agreed to continue the effort by introducing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. The new Agenda 2030 comprises 17 goals with 169 targets aimed at guiding policy and funding toward a common sustainable development dream, with eradicating poverty the overarching ambition.
But today the world risks losing the benefits of some of the progress already made, and the devastating economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is further complicating the task.
Asia Pacific has had an uneven record, according to the Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2020, which measures whether the region is on track to achieve the 2030 agenda based on 232 indicators of progress. Without accelerated action, it said, Asia Pacific will not achieve most of the goals.
The world cannot adopt a “business as usual” mindset when it comes to progress on SDGs, said the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), which commissioned the report. “Doing so risks not being able to provide adequate social protection for the most vulnerable population groups.”
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the UN Under-Secretary-General and executive secretary of Escap, stressed that none of the 17 goals will be met by 2030 if the region does not pick up the pace.
“This report is the region’s yearly pulse check, and the reading is clear: if we continue business as usual, we will miss the ambitions of the SDGs by 2030,” Ms Alisjahbana told Asia Focus at the launch of the report.
If the region continues on its current course, she said, it will not be able to provide enough social protection for its most vulnerable population groups, especially victims of trafficking and migrants.
“This response is especially timely as we are battling the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, which will hit the poorest the hardest,” she said. “Currently, 60% of the region is without social protection. This is a call to reduce inequalities across the region, which continue to widen.”
The pandemic, she pointed out, has placed a new roadblock in the way of the sustainable development effort, particularly in the area of financing.
Erna Solberg, the prime minister of Norway and co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s SDG Advocates, says the world cannot disregard the importance of the goals — and the need for adequate funding to meet them.
But even though Covid-19 has forced countries to reset their priorities and reallocate resources to deal with the crisis — which is sensible — she urges the global community not to shift resources away from SDG actions.
“Achieving the SDGs will put us on a firm path to dealing with global health risks and emerging infectious diseases,” she wrote in an article urging the world to “recover better”.
Ms Solberg also explained that the same spirit of global response to the Covid-19 crisis, where trillions of dollars have been raised to support efforts to combat the impact of the pandemic, can be channeled into achieving the SDGs. This includes the fight against poverty, hunger and climate change.
In its 2020 Financing for Sustainable Development Report, the UN urged policymakers to take immediate steps and develop coordinated responses to address the challenges brought about by the pandemic, to ensure that finance is channeled to support the progress of the SDGs and countries most challenged by the current situation.
The report suggests a coordinated stimulus package that could reverse the decline in aid and increase concessional finance. Poor countries, it adds, must be allowed to suspend debt payments while debt sustainability needs to be reassessed beyond the crisis.
Governments and monetary authorities are also advised to continue stabilising the financial markets by injecting liquidity. It also recommends that governments partner with private financial institutions to roll over debts for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals alike.
Lastly, policymakers need to focus on sustainable development by building resilient infrastructure and strengthening social protection systems, with increased investment in crisis prevention.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGRESSION
More alarmingly, lack of progress on environmental sustainability in Asia Pacific is striking and urgent action is needed to protect the environment, said Ms Alisjahbana.
Asia Pacific struggled the most and is not even moving in the right direction in the area of responsible consumption and production (Goal 12) and climate action (Goal 13).
“Environment-related goals are not on track and even regressing,” she said. “The region must accelerate action and reverse current trends on climate action and sustainable consumption and production. We need integrated policies that couple human progress with a healthy environment.”
Top priorities include increasing energy efficiency and producing renewable and clean energy.
The share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption in Asia Pacific has dropped from 23% in 2000 to 16% in 2016, one of the lowest rates among world regions, she said. This partly reflects the huge increase in overall energy consumption in the region over that time span, especially in large economies such as China.
Ms Alisjahbana urged the region to continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saying that given the global share of emissions commanded by Asia Pacific, the battle against climate change will be won or lost in the region.
“Finally, we must inform decision-making by using data to fight climate change, protect the ocean and sustainably manage natural resources,” she said.
The Escap chief added that the region needs to significantly accelerate its progress or reverse trends on most of the measurable environmental targets.
Among the priority targets are those related to climate action, including energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related hazards and natural disasters, air quality and waste management in cities, and the impact of human activities on marine and coastal ecosystems.
The report also pointed out that region needs to reverse the current trends of depleting and degrading environmental resources.
The region emits half of the world’s total greenhouse gas, and the number has doubled since 2000. Although the total forest area of the Asia Pacific region has increased slightly compared to 2000, 35% of countries continue to lose their forests.
EQUITABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH
On the bright side, the region is making progress on targets related to economic growth. For example, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth per capita in the region was more than double the world average in 2017, and many countries are experiencing less income inequality.
“There is a basis for optimism in several areas, like poverty reduction, sanitation services, quality education and access to clean energy. If we build on our past successes, use our resources efficiently and revisit our development priorities,” said Ms Alisjahbana.
The report, however, noted that to grow more sustainably and equitably, economic progress must be coupled with human well-being and a healthy environment. She recommended the region balance its fast-growing economy with measures to protect human well-being and promote a healthy environment.
One problem the report identifies is that economic growth is not proving adequate expansion of decent work. The evidence is that employment in the informal sector in some countries now exceeds 70% of total employment.
Vulnerable employment in the region also remains above the world average.
As well, income disparity between genders persists. In most of the countries with data, females are paid less than their male counterparts and the unemployment rate among females aged 15–24 is higher than that among males, the report notes.
And even though the region is on track to achieve its targets for eradicating income poverty, efforts to eradicate overall poverty and hunger and reduce inequality must respond to the “multiple dimensions of deprivation”, said the report.
The phrase refers to people deprived in two or more indicators such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, disempowerment, poor quality of work, and the threat of violence, among others.
The multi-dimensionally poor population was double the population of the extreme poor in 2017, according to the report. Despite a reduction from almost 33% of the population to 23% between 2008 and 2017, there are still more than 1.3 billion multi-dimensionally poor people in the world — almost half of them live in Asia and the Pacific. The majority of countries with multidimensional poverty exceeding 30% are least-developed countries (LDCs).
To lift these individuals out of poverty, the report urges governments to increase the resilience of vulnerable groups to adverse impacts of natural disasters and provide social protection for the poorest population groups.
Other suggested measures include increasing access to basic drinking water and sanitation services for rural populations, and reducing the prevalence of stunting and malnutrition among children under age 5.
Governments are also urged to encourage women’s participation in leadership and decision-making positions. Equal employment opportunities and equal compensation for men and women also need to be ensured, while efforts to close the income gaps need to be accelerated.
Also, the report urges international community to increase development assistance to poorer countries, especially to the LDCs.
MIXED PICTURE
Gemma Van Halderen, the supervisor of the report, said the snapshot presented shows a mixed picture of progress. It has been uneven across the region and collective actions are needed.
Improvements needed in the environmental aspect include safeguarding shared resources, creating resilience against disasters, and increasing shares of renewable and clean energy.
On the economic front, more work is needed to stimulate economic growth for LDCs, create productive and decent employment, and enhance sustainable transport and connectivity. Gender equality priorities include protecting rights of vulnerable groups, among others.
The report indicates that while the region has made progress in areas such as quality of education (Goal 4) and access to affordable and clean energy, Asia Pacific must accelerate all efforts on all SDGs in order to reach 2030 targets, by building on existing gains to sustain momentum for future progress.
For 20% of the indicators used to measure SDG progress, conditions in 2030 will be worse than they were in 2015 unless immediate actions are taken to reverse current trends.
The authors admit, however, that due to lack of data, more than half of the SDG targets are not measurable. Even though the availability of data is unbalanced and the results do not reflect the full picture of progress in all dimensions, the report still provides governments with a snapshot on where the region is heading and where acceleration is needed.
Ms Halderen emphasised the importance of data in sustainable development, saying that countries should invest in statistics so that they can measure what matters and monitor the progress.
Ms Alisjahbana, agreed that gaps in data availability are a problem, saying: “We are working with national statistical systems in the region to fill existing data gaps and improve the evidence base for our SDG monitoring.”
However, she acknowledged that data aggregation has improved significantly. The availability of data on SDG indicators in Asia Pacific has increased from 25% to 42% over the past four years.
To accelerate progress toward the SDGs, Ms Alisjahbana said the region needs to collectively move away from a short-sighted perspective on development and toward a long-term vision that protects the planet. Fostering cooperation is the key.
“The SDGs could still be within reach, [but] we cannot do this without strong political will and regional cooperation,” she said. “This means that revitalising partnerships at all levels and stakeholders will be essential, especially supporting least-developed countries, mobilising financing for development and leveraging existing cooperation mechanisms.”