Off Track? Progress On The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN – 2021/06/02: Construction site guards wearing masks as a preventive measure against the spread of covid-19 walks past a sign advertising UN’s ‘Sustainable development goals’ in Ginza. The State of Emergency in Tokyo will last until end of June 2021. (Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization was quite clear in the release of its nutrition flagship report on Wednesday that it is far off from reaching the organization’s goal of ending world hunger by 2030. In fact, the subtarget of undernourishment and food insecurity is currently listed as backsliding by the UN, as its status is worse now then when the goals were adopted in 2015. This is sadly a reality for much of the 2030 SDG agenda, as a report on its progress shows.

Sticking with the example of hunger, the UN’s target number 2 out of 17, the inception of the Sustainable Development Goals came at a time when progress on the topic was good and only 552 million people in the world were estimated to be undernourished in 2014, down from 789 million in 2005. An end to world hunger might have seemed palatable at the time given these successes, but even when 2015 numbers were released the following year, world hunger had already risen due to conflicts intensifying in places like Syria, Sudan and Somalia as well as erratic El Niño climate patterns. Undernourishment took another leap up in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic shook the world and has been slow to recover since as global crises and instability persist.

Wars, political instability, climate change effects and economic woes have affected many of the UN’s SDG goals in the past years and progress on them is overall poor. Out of 167 subtargets, only 25 were listed as on track to reach their 2030 aims (or having already done so). These highlights include providing equal access to education for boys and girls, reducing death and illness due to pollution, supplying modern green energy tech to developing countries, giving people access to the internet, widespread emission target commitments and improving trash pickup and air quality in cities, among others. Overall, 15 percent of subtarget were expected to be reached, with some progress on around 40 percent and stagnation or backtracking for another 30 percent. The rest lacked data.

Progress was most advanced for target 7, Affordable and Clean Energy, with 40%—or two out of five—subtargets on track. This was followed by Responsible Consumption and Production (target 12) at 36%, as many programs on research and development as well as sustainable production and procurement were successfully implemented (four out of 10 subtargets). Industry Innovation, Climate Action, protecting ocean life, Sustainable Cities as well as Partnerships were on track to meet at least 20% of goals as of the latest report.

Backsliding On Many Goals

On the flipside, progress has been negative for many crucial targets aiming to save and improve the lives of people all over the world. The worst overall progress was attested to No Poverty, Clean Water and Sanitation as well as Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, with no subtargets on track. While data was sometimes missing, this included backsliding and stagnation on topics like discrimination and inclusivity, fair justice systems, increasing water treatment and government spending on essential services.

The most backsliding was conversely found on protecting ocean life, a matter where many measures are also on track, followed by Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth as well as Reduced Inequalities. The world is currently moving backwards on sustainable fishing, ocean acidification, food price stability, investment in agriculture, labor rights, policies of social protection and trade provisions for developing countries. Among many others, additional areas of major concern include debt sustainability, biodiversity, desertification, fossil fuel subsidies, food waste/loss, trash volumes and finding qualified teachers.

Charted by Statista