The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) convened its seventh regional forum on sustainable development (RFSD) in preparation for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July. Countries reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate the pace to meet the SDGs in the remaining six years and looked to the Summit of the Future as an opportunity to revitalize commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
According to the regional SDG progress report, the region is on track to achieve 22% of the SDG targets by 2030, 46% need acceleration, and 32% are not expected to be met within the allocated timeframe.
Opening the Forum, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs acknowledged that progress towards the Goals “has not stayed apace with the implacable passage of the days in the calendar” and highlighted “the urgency of picking up the pace.”
In her remarks, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed commended the region for its leadership in sustainable development and called for “concrete, ambitious, and transformative action that will put countries on the path to deliver on their climate and SDG commitments by 2030 and beyond.” To drive key transitions and investment pathways necessary to enable the achievement of the Goals, she identified four areas needing attention:
- Coupling climate action with delivering a just and sustainable energy transition;
- Addressing inequalities through food system transformation;
- Transforming education to secure a better future; and
- Advancing digital connectivity.
Mohammed highlighted the Summit of the Future (SoF) in September as a platform “to spur urgent and scaled-up actions, policies, and investments” and “create a step-change for the implementation of the SDGs,” with clear commitments to enable reform of the international financial architecture, ensure developing countries can access finance and technology, strengthen digital cooperation that drives development equitably, and support the New Agenda for Peace, which “takes a holistic approach to the drivers of conflict, recognizing the links between sustainable development, climate action, and peace.”
The Forum discussed in depth the five SDGs under HLPF review this year. With respect to SDG 1 (no poverty), participants highlighted that 29% of the total population in the region lacks sufficient income to meet their basic needs, poverty is multidimensional and has severe consequences both for individual trajectories as well as society as a whole, and there is a need to increase economic growth and productivity, create more quality jobs, and develop comprehensive, sustainable, and resilient universal social protection systems.
On SDG 2 (zero hunger), they stressed that as 6.5% of the region’s population faces hunger and 37% grapples with food insecurity, it is necessary to promote sustainable agrifood systems, address the climate crisis and disaster management, improve value chains, ensure fair prices for producers, and rediscover ancestral foods, among other measures.
Participants also reviewed progress towards SDG 13 (climate action), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and SDG 17 (partnerships for the Goals), highlighting, in particular, the challenges and priorities of Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS).
The Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development convened in Santiago, Chile, from 15-18 April 2024. It brought together representatives from 29 Latin American and Caribbean countries, UN agencies, regional and multilateral organizations, and civil society. The intergovernmentally agreed conclusions and recommendations from the Forum will inform the deliberations during the HLPF’s July session. [ECLAC Forum Curtain Raiser] [ECLAC Press Release on Forum’s Opening] [ECLAC’s Press Release on Forum’s Closing] [ECLAC News Story] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on UNECE RFSD 2024] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on ESCWA RFSD 2024] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on ESCAP RFSD 2024]