“Concrete, bold and implementable solutions” are needed to turn the tide on the many challenges the world is facing, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary-General António Guterres said on the biggest day so far for the UN’s key international forum on sustainable development.
While acknowledging that the planet was not on track last year to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, he told the start of the Ministerial Segment of the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) that today “our world is in turmoil”.
In addition to unacceptably high levels of poverty; a rapidly worsening climate emergency; persistent gender inequality; and massive gaps in financing, the UN chief called COVID-19 “another massive global challenge”.
Pointing to more than 12 million infections, 550,000 deaths, hundreds of millions of jobs lost and the sharpest decline in per capita income since 1870, the top UN official bemoaned that “some 265 million people could face acute food insecurity by year’s end – double the number at risk before the crisis”.
“The gravity of the crisis should not be lost on anyone”, he said, “and the impacts of this pandemic are falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable”.
The Secretary-General cited inequalities within and between countries; a lack of resiliency investments; and disregard for the natural environment as some of the reasons sparking the “devasting impacts” of the COVID-19 crisis.
And although “we have yet to take the SDGs seriously”, he maintained, that “we can turn this around”.
“With the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development], and the SDGs, we have an enduring and unifying vision; a framework to guide our decisions as we look to respond and recover better”, upheld the UN chief.
The world cannot go back to “the previous so-called normal”, Mr. Guterres acknowledged, stressing the need for SDG-inspired solutions.
“We must rise to meet the moment”, he said, urging the HLPF to “share experiences, understand what works and can replicated” and renew determination for multilateral responses to help turn the tide globally.
The HLPF aims to chart a clearer path for countries to better recover, share experiences and fend off challenges in pursuing the Global Goals while sharing strategies to tackle the pandemic and help countries meet their commitments by 2030.
Original source: UN News
Published on 14 July 2020
