The world is way off track on most of the sustainable development targets agreed upon in 2015, such as tackling poverty and hunger, says a United Nations report, which blamed funding shortfalls, geopolitical tensions and the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
UN’s yearly Sustainable Development Report ranking of the performance of its 193 member states in implementing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), found that none of the goals were on course to be met by 2030, with most targets showing “limited or a reversal of progress”.
The SDGs also include improving access to education and health care, providing clean energy and protecting biodiversity.
Urging countries to address chronic funding shortfalls and revamp the UN system, Vice President at the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and lead author of the report, Guillaume Lafortune, added: “What this report is showing is that even before the pandemic hit, progress was already too slow. Once the pandemic hit, along with other crises, including military conflicts, then it is a story of stagnation.”
The report identified the tackling of hunger, creation of sustainable cities and the protection of biodiversity on land and water as particular areas of weakness.
Political goals like press freedom have also seen a “reversal of progress”.
It said Finland, Sweden and Denmark ranked at the top of the list of countries, and China also made faster-than-average progress, but the world’s poorest countries fell further behind.
Lafortune said developing countries needed more access to international finance, adding that institutions like credit rating agencies should be encouraged to take a country’s long-term environmental and economic well-being into consideration, rather than just its short-term liquidity.
The report also assessed countries on their willingness to cooperate globally through UN institutions.
The United States was ranked in the last place.
“A large majority of countries are supportive of collaborating, but there are many great powers that do not play by the rules of the game,” said Lafortune.
