The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, undermining decades of development efforts. In 2020, over 100 million people were pushed back into poverty and hunger; an equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs were lost; and an additional 101 million children and youth fell below the minimum reading proficiency level, wiping out the education gains achieved over the last two decades. Violence against women and girls has intensified and child marriage is also expected to increase. The economic slowdown associated with COVID-19 has done little to slow the climate crisis. Instead it has reinforced and exacerbated existing inequalities and threatened the achievements of the SDGs.
At the same time, the pandemic led to scientific breakthroughs with the development of effective vaccines, demonstrating the power of science, innovation, and public-private partnerships. Yet, developing countries’ equitable access to vaccines remains a major challenge due to political, technical and logistical hurdles. This has elicited strong calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be a global public good. Vaccine equity remains a prerequisite for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 everywhere.
Countries are still struggling to find the appropriate response to the pandemic and its social and economic impacts. While important stimulus packages have been implemented, the measures taken so far have often fallen short of the response required to overcome the Impacts of the pandemic and move to a track to realize the SDGs. They have not boosted long-term investments in the SDGs, nor created new jobs or sufficiently supported transitions to carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability and supported the furthest behind.
Economic resilience with new fiscal and debt sustainability frameworks, societal resilience with universal social protection schemes and climate resilience with greater investments in sustainable development overall, including in sustainable infrastructure, are key building blocks of a resilient recovery. Such efforts need to be bolstered by international solidarity and universal access to the vaccine so that the world can move to the trajectory of sustainable development.
The HLPF reviews shall take into account the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across all Sustainable Development Goals, consider progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda in its entirety and address the interlinkages between Goals, to promote integrated actions cutting across economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It will thus discuss actions that can create co-benefits, address synergies and trade-offs and meet multiple objectives in a coherent manner, leaving no one behind. The review shall also cover the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals with a 2020 timeline.
The pandemic has put a spotlight on the poor and most vulnerable, including women, older people, young people, children, low-wage earners, informal workers, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, people in situations of conflict, refugees and migrants. Countries need to enhance social protection and access to essential services for the poor and most vulnerable to ensure an inclusive recovery and that no one will be left behind.
Achieving the SDGs will depend on the collective response over the coming 18 months; whether the COVID-19 crisis serves as a much-needed wake-up call that spurs a decade of truly transformative action that delivers for people and planet is still to be seen. Countries in special situations, including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, as well as middle-income countries, would require a tailored approach that takes into account their needs and priorities. The 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs is still the best available blueprint for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to profoundly improve the lives of all and transform our world for the better.Proposed guiding questions:
Followed by a townhall style meeting
Followed by interventions of Member States