‘SDGs hit ground but global environment not supportive’

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), has said the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have hit the ground running and countries have already geared up to implement the 2030 Agenda, reports UNB.
“This is good news,” he said while speaking at the opening plenary of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the top body of the United Nations which monitors the implementation of the SDGs. The session was held on Monday in New York.
Debapriya, who is also the chair of Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Goals, a network of 49 think tanks drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America, also spoke at the first annual review by the United Nation as regards progress in implementation of the SDGs.
The agenda was adopted by the United Nations nearly a year back in September 2015.
However, the economist said the bad news is the current global policy environment is a drag on the effective implementation of the agenda at country level, said a CPD press release on Tuesday.
He pointed out that most countries have already integrated the SDGs in respective national plans, but they are facing challenges in the areas of institutional capacity, availability of financial resources and access to necessary data and information.
Besides, the global economy is presently experiencing faltering growth, rising inequality, new pandemics and dearth of peace and security.
Debapriya emphasised the need for improving the global economic governance to bolster SDG delivery at national level.
Earlier, Wu Hongbo, UN Under Secretary General (USG) for Economic and Social Affairs, presented the 2016 SDG Progress Report on behalf of the UN Secretary General. Presenting the report, Hongbo pointed out the importance of political leadership in delivering the new global agenda.
Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCC), the other panelist at the session, underscored the need for having a strong baseline for kick-starting the 2030 Agenda.
The session was chaired by Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the UN and President of Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

SDGs hit ground but global environment not supportive

Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), has said the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have hit the ground running and countries have already geared up to implement the 2030 Agenda, reports UNB. This is good news, he said while speaking at the opening plenary of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the top body of the United Nations which monitors the implementation of the SDGs. The session was held on Monday in New York. Debapriya, who is also the chair of Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Goals, a network of 49 think tanks drawn from Asia, Africa and Latin America, also spoke at the first annual review by the United Nation as regards progress in implementation of the SDGs. The agenda was adopted by the United Nations nearly a year back in September 2015. However, the economist said the bad news is the current global policy environment is a drag on the effective implementation of the agenda at country level, said a CPD press release on Tuesday. He pointed out that most countries have already integrated the SDGs in respective national plans, but they are facing challenges in the areas of institutional capacity, availability of financial resources and access to necessary data and information. Besides, the global economy is presently experiencing faltering growth, rising inequality, new pandemics and dearth of peace and security. Debapriya emphasised the need for improving the global economic governance to bolster SDG delivery at national level. Earlier, Wu Hongbo, UN Under Secretary General (USG) for Economic and Social Affairs, presented the 2016 SDG Progress Report on behalf of the UN Secretary General. Presenting the report, Hongbo pointed out the importance of political leadership in delivering the new global agenda. Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCC), the other panelist at the session, underscored the need for having a strong baseline for kick-starting the 2030 Agenda. The session was chaired by Oh Joon, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the UN and President of Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).