The majority of nations have plans in place to address the global challenge of sustainable development, but they lack the funding to support them. How far behind schedule are we in terms of the funding required to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, which range from clean water and climate action to high-quality education and healthcare?
Tony Maciulis of GZERO and Shari Spiegel, the director of the UN’s Financing for Sustainable Development Office, had a conversation this week at an IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings Global Stage event. She says that many poorer countries have regressed because of global challenges, which have caused the SDGs to go off course even before the pandemic.
The poorest countries, in particular, have seen a 30% decline in world output, and some, like the Small Island Developing States, have seen a 40% decline. “We actually started backtracking on many of these goals as countries were under enormous stress,” the speaker stated. The result has been a massive financial split, increasing the gaps in SDG financing and investment from $2 trillion a few years ago to about $4 trillion at this point.
How, therefore, can the UN help close this gap by reinforcing multilateralism? Check it out here.