Getting Back on Track: Calls for More Localized Approaches and SDG Financing
Highlights From This Year’s High-Level Political Forum
By Alyson Marks
Photo by Kiara Worth on IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin
This year’s session of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) culminated earlier this week, with 44 countries presenting their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and hundreds of country delegates, leaders, and key stakeholders convening to discuss progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We review some of the key highlights discussed, including the importance of data infrastructure and timely, disaggregated data, the need for greater investments and financing for countries, and the value of localized and customized approaches to achieve the SDGs.
New Research, Datasets, and Tools
Several key research reports, datasets, and tools were released during the HLPF, providing timely insights on the state of global, regional, and national SDG and population data, as well as tools for stakeholders to improve evidence-based policymaking. These included:
The 2022 Sustainable Development Goals Report – Produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in collaboration with the UN Statistics Division, the report revealed a bleak picture of SDG progress, as the impact of multiple ‘cascading crises’ has been further realized this year, with every SDG acutely impacted. Just a few of the report’s stark highlights include that more than four years of progress against poverty have been erased, and the working poverty rate rose for the first time in two decades to 7.2%; nearly one in three people lack regular access to adequate food; over 85% of the wetlands have been lost, and nearly 100% of world’s population breathes polluted air. The report also highlighted considerable data challenges. For eight of the 17 SDGs, fewer than half of the 193 countries have internationally comparable data from 2015 or later. And disaggregation data dimensions, particularly related to disability status, gender, and age, are weak for many indicators. Financing for data and statistics also remains stagnant, with less than 0.4% of total ODA dedicated to this area, despite data collection costs rising for many National Statistics Offices. However, there have been some positive developments on the data front. Sizeable progress has been made in the availability of internationally comparable data for SDG monitoring, with the number of indicators included in the global SDG database up to 217 compared with 115 in 2016. And data use and uptake are on the rise, with 150 countries and territories reporting implementing a national statistical plan in 2021, up from 132 in the previous year.
The World Population Prospects – Population data remain critical for development planning, and the global population dataset released alongside the report is key for understanding demographic, fertility, birth, and mortality trends. Of note in the report, released by UN DESA, is that the global population is expected to surpass eight billion people this November 2022 for the first time, and not surprisingly, the pandemic has impacted nearly all aspects of population change, including fertility, mortality, and migration. In conjunction with the release of the report, Our World in Data debuted a new Population and Demography Data Explorer for users to explore the dataset in detail across countries.
Africa SDGs Progress Dashboard –The African Centre for Statistics of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) launched the Africa SDGs Progress Dashboard – an online tool, with the aim of accelerating evidence-based policymaking in Africa. The dashboard provides regional, sub-regional, and country-level data on progress made on each of the goals, targets, and indicators, as well as estimates of how likely they are to be achieved by 2030 based on the current rate of progress. Currently, the dashboard demonstrates that data are insufficient for nearly 120 indicators, with the most significant gaps reported for SDGs 5 (gender equality), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 14 (life below water), 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), and 17 (partnerships for the goals).
New OECD Knowledge Platform on Policy Coherence – Launched by the OECD, this new participatory web-based platform aims to bring together relevant knowledge resources on policy coherence for sustainable development from across the OECD and with partners from government, civil society, academia, and the private sector.
Localized Approaches to Address the SDGs
Many of the HLPF sessions also highlighted the importance of tailoring the SDGs to country circumstances, and that there is “no one size fits all” approach to addressing country needs. For instance, an event on ‘Financing for Sustainable Development in Vulnerable Countries,” co-hosted by SDSN, demonstrated how the Income per capita can be a misleading measure of the capacity to fund the SDGs for some countries, such as small island developing states (SIDS), given they face additional costs to make their societies resilient to climate events, and that we must tailor financing instruments based on countries’ individual drivers of vulnerability. As such, SDSN plans to release a multi-dimensional vulnerability index for SIDS later this year.
Moreover, the VNR process itself – in which member states "conduct regular and inclusive reviews of progress [on the 2030 Agenda] at the national and sub-national levels, which are country-led and country-driven” reinforces the value of localized approaches for the SDGs. This year, 11 countries presented their VNRs for the first time, and even cities, are joining the process. These included Amman in Jordan and Agadir in Morocco, with more cities planned to begin the process later in the year.
Looking Ahead
As UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated, “The aspirations set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are in jeopardy, [and] we need an urgent rescue effort for the SDGs.” As we reach the mid-point of the SDG cycle, there is not much time left to achieve them, and SDG financing is certain to remain a key challenge over the next several years. With the upcoming UN General Assembly, the Finance in Common Summit, the G20 Meetings, and the COP 27, all expected to take place over the next several months, we remain hopeful that these will help to keep up the momentum around this issue and move the needle on SDG financing (particularly for data) in the years ahead.