Santiago de Chile, (EFE).- Latin America and the Caribbean has met or is in the process of meeting only 22% of the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) urged this Tuesday to press the accelerator and implement policies that allow the 2030 Agenda to be achieved.
More than a thousand representatives of international organizations, governments and civil society will meet until April 18 in Santiago de Chile at the seventh meeting of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Developmentin which the progress and challenges for the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda in the region will be analyzed.
“Latin America and the Caribbean is on track to achieve only 22% of the SDG targets, a trend we see around the world. But the SDGs were born in this region and, with clear focus, commitment and catalytic action, the region can rise up and deliver.”said Amina Mohammed, Vice President General of the United Nations (UN), at the inauguration.
The SDGs are 17 goals acquired in 2015 by 193 countries, which constitute the global social agenda until 2030 and propose global policies aimed at eradicating poverty, hunger and inequality, as well as strengthening education, health, culture, gender equality and environmental protection.
“Unfortunately, it is estimated that only 22% of the goals are already met or on track to be met, just over three quarters of the goals are outside the path of compliance,”
For his part, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive secretary of ECLAC, indicated.
The organization, the UN arm in the region, analyzed in a special report progress on five specific SDGs: 1 (end poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 13 (climate action), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships to achieve the goals).
In all of them, Salazar-Xirinachs pointed out, “lights and darks are observed”, such as for example in the goal related to the eradication of poverty, where “there are lags in the reduction of income poverty, but progress in other dimensions of multidimensional poverty, such as access to services.”
For this year, ECLAC expects regional GDP to grow 1.9%, which will maintain the low growth dynamics registered in 2023, when it expanded by 1.4%.
In a context of unexpected shocks, headwinds and diminished expectations about the advancement of the SDGs, we must assume the energetic call that the Secretary General has made to the world Antonio Guterres to redouble our efforts”
The executive secretary of ECLAC concluded.
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