Staff Reporter
The United Nations Information Centre, Accra, Ghana, organized the launch of Global Sustainable Development Report 2019, entitled “The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development”. On a special invitation from Dr. Eugene Owusu, Special Advisor to the President of Ghana on the SDGs, COMSATS’ delegation attended the event being held in the country holding its Chair, with the President of Ghana as its Chairperson. The delegation comprised Mr. Nisar Ahmad, Deputy Director (Systems) and Mr. Farhan Ansari, Senior Assistant Director (Programmes). Other participants of the ceremony included: officials from the Office and Representative of UNESCO; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; Office of the President of Ghana for SDGs; UN’s National Information Office; University of Ghana; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and Ministry of Planning, Ghana.
The report launched takes stock of progress towards the SDGs and emphasizes the need for necessary changes for improving chances of achieving SDGs. Study of inter-linkages among goals and targets was considered key to guiding actors towards the joint action. In particular, the report focuses on six entry points through which such action would have cascading effects across multiple goals and targets: human wellbeing, sustainable and just economies, food and nutrition, energy access and decarbonisation, sustainable urban and peri-urban development, and the environmental global commons.
The efforts being made by the Government of Ghana in achieving the SDGs targets were also highlighted. It was informed that President of Ghana, who is the Co-Chair of the UN SDG Advocates Group, has constituted a committee of 15 Ministers to provide political backing for the implementation of SDGs in Ghana. An implementation and evaluation committee for SDGs has also been formed. It was informed that Ghana presented the voluntary national review of SDGs during July 2019. The Ghanaian Government has announced prize money of US$ 10,000 for top five scientific innovations addressing SDGs.
