The goals in sight
The UN Sustainability Development Goals is the world’s action plan to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. The 17 goals were adopted by the UN in 2015, and the deadline for fulfilling the target is ten years away. A new, independent report measures how the different countries in the world are performing on the different targets. All countries are given a score between 0 and 100, 100 signifying that the SDG target is reached. Ten of the world’s countries score more than 80. They are Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Austria, Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Estonia. 73 countries have a score higher than 70, and the world as a whole has made progress since the SDGs were adopted five years ago, the report states.
The world scores 1,5 points better than in 2015. The countries that improved most, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Cambodia, have improved their score by almost 4 points, while some countries, like Venezuela, are moving in the wrong direction.
Progress also wary among the different SDG’s. SDG 1, to end poverty, has seen the most rapid progress. the percentage of people living in extreme poverty globally in 2018 had decreased by 1.5 percentage points from the adoption of the SDGs: from 10 percent in 2015 to 8.5 per cent in 2018. Following these trends, this figure was projected to reach 6 per cent by 2030, however Covid-19 now threatens to increase extreme poverty in many countries, the report says.
Sustainable development report 2020, published by Cambridge University Press 30 June, is written by a team of researchers led by the economist Jeffrey D. Sachs. The authors are pointing out that the countries in East and South Asia progressed the most on the SDG Index score since the adoption of the goals in 2015. “Most countries in the region also managed the Covid-19 outbreak more effectively than other parts of the world. While the situation is still evolving, the shift of the geopolitical and economic global center of gravity from the North Atlantic region to the Asia-Pacific region is likely to be accelerated by the crisis” the authors believe.
Did you know that....
...the United Nations was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, jointly with Kofi Annan, for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.
Every Friday at noon, the Nobel Peace Center will release a peace dove together with “The good news of the week.”The dove is released from a window at the Nobel Peace Center, situated on the City Hall Square. As the dove crosses the square, the John Lennon song Give Peace a Chance will play from the bell towers.
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