SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The world is badly off track on most of the sustainable development goals agreed in 2015, including eradicating poverty and hunger, due to a lack of funding, geopolitical tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, a United Nations report said.
The UN's annual Sustainable Development Report ranks the performance of 193 member states in implementing 17 broad “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs), including improving access to education and health care, providing clean energy and protecting biodiversity.
The report found that none of the 17 goals are on track to be achieved by 2030, with most seeing “limited progress or reversal.” It called on countries to address chronic funding shortfalls and reform the UN system itself.
“This report shows that even before the pandemic hit, progress was already too slow,” said Guillaume Lafortune, Deputy Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and lead author of the report.
“When a pandemic hits and other crises occur, including military conflicts, it becomes a story of stagnation.”
The report said fighting hunger, building sustainable cities and protecting biodiversity on land and in water were particular weak areas, and there had also been a “setback in progress” on political objectives such as press freedom.
The report found that Finland, Sweden and Denmark rank at the top of the country rankings, and China has also made above-average progress, but the world's poorest countries lag further behind.
Developing countries need greater access to international finance, Lafortune said, adding that institutions such as credit ratings agencies should be encouraged to consider a country's long-term environmental and economic health, not just short-term liquidity.
The report also assessed countries' willingness to cooperate globally through UN agencies, with the US coming in last.
“The majority of countries are in favor of cooperation, but there are many big powers that don't play by the rules of the game,” Lafortune said.
(Reporting by David Stanway and Michael Perry Editing)
