<
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-is-the-world-really-doing-on-the-sdgs/>
"Any reader of the daily news could be forgiven for thinking the world is in
decline. Amid so many conflicts and societal strains, the United Nations
regularly warns that only 17% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—the
economic, social, and environmental targets all countries set in 2015—are on
track to be met by 2030, as agreed, leading many to wonder whether such goals
still serve any purpose. But rather than succumb to pessimism, we would do
better to examine where the world is making sound progress, where it seems
stuck on autopilot, and where things are indeed moving backwards or approaching
a tipping point for the worse.
This is what we set out to do in a recent study, with our colleague Odera
Onyechi, estimating country-level progress around the world. One of our topline
findings is that “business as usual” aptly describes many trends since 2015.
Yet the SDGs must be evaluated remembering the nature of their ambition. They
were not established merely to perpetuate longer-term patterns of progress
toward more prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable societies. Instead, they
sought to hasten such progress dramatically. SDG 5, for example, does not just
call for a secular continuation of the centuries-long journey toward gender
equality. It calls for rapid, transformational change to achieve full gender
equality by 2030—and rightly so.
Even if the pace of progress is not sufficient to achieve what 193 countries
committed to delivering, this does not mean everything is getting worse. Our
study examined 24 SDG-relevant, country-level indicators and started with a
basic question: Have things improved since 2015? We found humanity-wide
improvements for 18—ranging from the enlargement of marine protected areas to
expanded access to water and sanitation. Such gains do not minimize the pain of
backsliding on the six remaining measures, especially those linked to hunger
and food security, not to mention the horrendous health and educational
consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But they do show why we need to
differentiate progress toward the SDGs more systematically.
When we investigate which trends have changed since the SDG agreement in 2015,
the results are more muted. The clearest accelerations in progress are in HIV
incidence, antiretroviral coverage to treat AIDS, and access to electricity.
The AIDS-treatment data include extraordinary breakthroughs in low-income
countries with limited infrastructure, such as Sierra Leone and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. For a global issue that lacked any systematic policy
response in the early 2000s, this represents remarkable progress for humanity.
For eight indicators, however, we found no change in the long-term rate of
progress, and spotted signs of a slowdown in nine others. (For four indicators,
we did not have sufficient pre-2015 data to assess long-term changes.) The
takeaway is that there is no single overall story to tell about the SDGs. Most
countries are doing better on some issues and worse on others, suggesting that
the world needs a more balanced scorecard for cataloging successes and
failures."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/280-murderbot/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
