Shahidullah Shahid
WHILE planting a tree on the bank of a canal in Mardan amid tree plantation drive initiated by Prime Minister Imran Khan, an idea struck my mind to write an inclusive article on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets. Pursuing excitedly one of the targets “Climate Change” tangibly with the intent to make Pakistan clean and green, I made firm resolve to ink down on this front. It’s high time to reflect on the hits and misses in global goals. As the world is fighting with the deadly Corona virus pandemic and uneven progress across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the SDG Movement set out a vision for a decade of Action and recovering better from COVID-19. Convened by the UN Secretary General, the first SDG Movement of the Decade of Action was held virtually on Friday, 18 September 2020 this year. As the government has been grappled with the pandemic challenge since March and seemed to be managing the spread and mortality rate better than others. It, however, did not stop the country from slipping four positions to rank 134th on the global SDG index this year, from 130th in 2019, out of the 193 countries. It is worth mentioning that the said report traces, tracks and reports the nation’s performance on 17 goals. The 2030 Agenda is the most transformative and ambitious plan ever crafted by the global community with 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators that balance the economic, social and environmental pillars of development. Sadly, Pakistan was graded the worst performer in South Asia with Sri Lanka ranking 94th, Nepal 96th, Bangladesh 109th and India 117th. Tangible progress could be made in six out of 17 goals during the year, with climate change being the only goal where progress is said to be perfectly on the track.
Pakistan’s downward trajectory on key indicators especially food security, health and sanitation has been a matter of serious concern. In the past five years, it has slipped at least 19 notches on the UN Sustainable Development Goals Index. The country ranked 115th in 2016, went down to 117th in 2017, 122nd in 2018, 130th in 2019 before reaching 134th spot in 2020. Sadly, considering the strained economy, poor governance and high inflation, the living conditions of millions of Pakistanis will only get worse. It is ironic that Pakistan was among the first countries that translated the Millennium Development Goals into national goals and came up with a detailed framework for achieving them. However, it has missed several major goals over the course. In the latest Human Development Report, Pakistan is ranked at 152, marginally below all other South Asian countries, not least because of the complexity of the developmental challenges it faces and its poor response to them. A suppressed growth rate, lack of focus and inter-provincial coordination, exclusion of corporate entities from the development matrix and low public awareness about global goals are translating into a slow pace of progress. What we lack are proper resources, political will, competent personnel and empowered local governments, while red tapism, corruption and mismanagement have worsened matters. Unfortunately, development to policymakers is an ‘outside’ problem to be tackled by academics and development agencies. What seems to be missing is the realization that development indicators also expose ineffective governance. To nudge the corporate sector towards the desired direction, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) needs to recast the CSR Voluntary Guidelines 2013 as businessmen can’t think beyond philanthropy when talking about social responsibility. Likewise, the government needs discussion with all stakeholders for coordinating and strengthening efforts at federal and provincial levels to achieve Pakistan’s sustainable development and poverty reduction targets. The consultation process should emphasize the need for national categorization of SDGs, improved data collection and enforcement of monitoring mechanisms.
As of today, Pakistan has covered the difficult phase of creating the legal framework to facilitate SDGs. In partnership with the UNDP, it is working with aligned departments and other stakeholders to provide coordination, knowledge and technical support to integrate policies, plans and budget with the 2030 Agenda. The challenges for the present government are enormous. But solutions might be simpler than expected — if the decision — makers are willing to make amends. It will be better if the government puts its act together and strives harder to revive growth without which development is not going to come about. There are six key transformations needed to achieve the SDGs in a manageable way based on the major drivers of societal change including human capacity through improvement of education and health-care, responsible consumption and production of resources, de-carbonization of the energy system providing clean and affordable energy for all, achieving access to nutritional food and clean water for all, smart infrastructure by transforming our settlement patterns and the digital revolution. In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lies the solution to Pakistan’s three central challenges: development, democracy and defence. Implementing the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development, if realized as an integrated policy package, will lead to long-term economic prosperity, human and environmental growth. Delivering on these goals will also help enhancing Pakistan’s ability to emerge as one of the world’s leading economies and while doing so, strengthen national security.
—The writer is Assistant Commissioner serving in government of KP.
