ISLAMABAD: Asia and the Pacific region is expected to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2065 — more than three and a half decades behind the original goalpost, reveals a United Nations report released on Thursday.

Progress on 17 SDGs has tremendously slowed down and with each passing year, the goals are moving further out of reach for the region, says the ‘2022 Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Develop­ment Goals Progress Report’, prepared by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

The progress gap for achieving the SDGs, adopted in 2015, grows wider and the prospects of achieving the goals now extends decades beyond 2030.

In 2017, the estimated year to achieve the SDGs was 2052, and by 2021, the estimated year had increased to 2065, the report says.

The flagship annual publication, produced by UN-ESCAP in partnership with ten other UN agencies, says the challenges of achieving the SDGs in the region have been magnified in recent years by an increase in the frequency and intensity of human made crises and natural disasters, as well as the challenges of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the climate crisis has become more acute, alarmingly, the region has regressed on responsible consumption and production (Goal 12) and climate action (Goal 13). While headway has been made on some of the targets dealing with industry, innovation, and infrastructure (Goal 9) and affordable and clean energy (Goal 7), they still fall short of the pace required to meet the 2030 Agenda. Across the region, progress has been very slow or even stagnant on quality education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5), clean water and sanitation (Goal 6), decent work and economic growth (Goal 8), sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11), and life below water (Goal 14).

Pakistan experienced a negative growth rate of output per worker in 2019 when the report measured the pace of progress on decent work and economic growth (Goal 8). Income poverty in Pakistan was relatively low (3.9 per cent) and at the same time multidimensional poverty was high (38.3pc).

The report finds that average progress in the region disproportionately excludes some groups with distinct demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Those furthest behind, including women, persons with disabilities, rural populations and poorer households, are also facing increased vulnerabilities. For many vulnerable populations, food security, education and livelihoods have also deteriorated during the pandemic.

The inequity of progress towards the SDGs is evidenced in the lives of vulnerable population groups throughout Asia and the Pacific who are most at risk of being left behind. Slow progress, stagnation and regression against the SDG targets continue to place the greatest burden on those who are furthest behind, the report says.

Regional collaboration

The report emphasised that there is an urgent need for regional collaboration and partnerships to ensure that no one and no country in any of the Asia-Pacific subregions is left behind as SDG progress stagnates or regresses.

The analysis in the report shows that more must be done to expand social protection for vulnerable populations, including persons with severe disabilities, and to improve the labour market prospects of people with disabilities.

Average progress in Asia and the Pacific disproportionately excludes some groups with distinct demographic or socioeconomic characteristics. Those furthest behind, including women, rural populations and poorer households, generally face more vulnerabilities, it points out.

Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the top ten countries hosting the largest refugee populations. With 109 refugees per 100,000 populations as of mid-2021, the Asia Pacific region hosts 19pc of the world’s total refugee population. About 95pc of all child refugees in the region live in three countries — Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey.

The ESCAP analysis also shows that populations with lower scores on the Human Development Index are at increased risks from multiple natural and biological hazards under moderate and severe climate change scenarios.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022