Sustainable Development Goals Report

In News

• Recently “Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2022” was released.
  • The report provides a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Key Findings

• Meeting the deadline:
  • The report states that urgent action is needed to achieve the 2030 deadline of  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Global issues affecting SGDs:
  • According to the report, all 17 SDGs, set at the UN General Assembly in 2015, are in jeopardy due to the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in the number of conflicts across the world.
  • The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have already led to lowering of global economic growth projections by 0.9 percentage point. 
    • It is harming in more ways than one:
      • Raising food and fuel prices
      • Hampering global supplies and trade
      • Roiling financial markets
• Impacted areas:
  • The “cascading and intersecting” issues impact the environment, food and nutrition, health, peace and security as well as education, according to a UN statement on the report.
  • Environment:
    • Greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise 14 percent over a decade, antithetical to the Paris Agreement plan — a 2025 peak followed by a 43 percent decline by 2030 and Net 2050. 
    • Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions shot up 6 percent, taking down gains due to COVID-19.
  • Economic shocks and poverty:
    • Economic shocks due to the worldwide health emergency pushed 93 million into poverty in 2020 alone, undoing “more than four years” work at alleviating poverty. 
  • Education and healthcare:
    • It also affected the education and healthcare services for millions. 
    • Immunisation, for example, has dropped for the first time in a decade even as deaths from malaria and TB have risen.
  • Cascading effect:
    • The report also flagged threats to food security and aids, rising unemployment (especially among women) and increases in child labour as well as child marriages. 
    • The burden was greater on least developed countries and vulnerable population groups.  
• Undoing progress:
  • The report details the reversal of years of progress in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, providing basic services, and much more.

India’s ranking in SDGs

• India’s SDG rank is 120 (out of 192 UN Nations) on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted as a part of the 2030 agenda.
• India’s recent overall Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) score was 66 out of 100.
• Comparing with South Asian Nations: 
  • With the latest rankings, India is now behind all south Asian nations except Pakistan. 
  • The south Asian countries ahead of India are Bhutan ranked 75, Sri Lanka at 87, Nepal at 96 and Bangladesh at 109.

India’s Indices on SDGs:

• SDG India Index:
  • The Index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) evaluates the progress of states and Union Territories (UTs) on various parameters including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment.
  • The index is developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India.
  • The index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in India. 
  • It has also fostered competition among the states and UTs by ranking them on the global goals.
  • The SDG India Index scores range between 0–100, higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance to the target achieved.
  • India’s performance:
    • The country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points — from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21 — on accounts of improvement in performance in providing facilities including clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy among others.
    • While Kerala retained its rank at the top with a score of 75, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu both took the second spot with a score of 74. Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam were the worst performing states in this year’s India index.
    • Chandigarh maintained its top spot among the UTs with a score of 79, followed by Delhi (68).
• SDG Urban Index:
  • NITI Aayog under the Indo-German Cooperation released the inaugural SDG Urban Index in 2021–22.
  • It ranks 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets of the SDG framework.
  • It will further strengthen SDG localization and institute robust SDG monitoring at the city level.
  • Performance of the urban areas in India:
    • Shimla tops the Index followed by Coimbatore and Chandigarh.

Way Ahead

• India’s progress towards achieving SDGs is both encouraging and challenging. 
• The country has made a sincere effort to prioritize and act on sustainable development with the development of indices and the involvement of the federal machinery in achieving SDGs. 
  • NITI Aayog has also made this mainstream on the national agenda.
• The pandemic and overall global situation have forced India along with other countries to regress on several developmental indicators.
• India should continue its efforts toward achieving SDGs with the given resources and involving civil societies and people.

Source: TH