Call to accelerate development to meet 2030 targets
Review highlights progress, risks for Jamaica
Published:Tuesday | October 25, 2022 | 12:09 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
With eight years left to achieve the targets of the 2030 Agenda, Jamaica’s poverty prevalence has declined from 19.3 per cent in 2017 to 11 per cent in 2019, with rural areas recording the highest rates.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 – one of 17 established by the United Nations – calls for the end of poverty in all forms.
But the country faces new and lingering challenges borne out of the effects of past crises and emerging national and global issues impacting development.
The findings are contained in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) Report on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, which was launched on Monday during UN Day celebrations at the International Seabed Authority.
“These challenges have the potential to compound the effects of systemic issues such as low labour productivity, high debt levels, poverty and inequality, and limited access to development financing,” reads a section of the report.
A decline in population growth, geopolitical risks and risk of reshoring are among the challenges outlined in the review.
The VNR explained that the declining population growth trend will present medium to long-term challenges in the form of increased economic pressure on the working-age population, which is likely to result in reduced resources to care for the elderly.
NEW CHALLENGES
Further, in the global sphere, the rising geopolitical threats have presented new challenges in terms of disrupted supply chains and have contributed to a high inflationary environment.
“At the macro level, the inflationary environment increases the cost of borrowing for Government, which can stymie recovery efforts in the short to medium term, therefore worsening the ability to protect the economy from any further shocks,” the report reads in part.
The document recommended that the way forward will require further efforts at economic diversification, especially in the trade of goods and services. It explained that the dependence on mineral exports in merchandise goods trade and tourism in services trade results in vulnerability that needs to be offset by exploring other industries and products in new and existing markets.
Additionally, corporate social responsibility has been recommended as a means of supporting domestic resource mobilisation for the SDGs, through alignment with the Vision 2030 Jamaica development plan.
“An increasingly competitive global economy, rapid technological change, income inequalities, the plight of vulnerable populations, and concerns for the environment present evolving challenges as well as opportunities for the public and private sectors, especially in small island developing states like Jamaica that seek to achieve sustainability in development while solving urgent national problems,” the report says.
BENEFIT OF PLANNING
Dr Wayne Henry, director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), said the review process has highlighted the benefit of long-term development planning, which will enable Jamaica to programme responses to crises and mitigate the impact of threats through coordinated systems and actions.
“The experience and outcome of the 2022 VNR project stand as a reminder of the progress on the achievement of the goals as well as a call to action for domestic and international partnership in the recovery efforts and accelerating development in line with our 2030 target,” Henry said.
Meanwhile, UN resident coordinator Dr Garry Conille said the central and recurring theme from the report is that with commitment, the right policies, investment and strong partnerships, Jamaica can make significant progress towards the SDGs.
“The VNR is pointing us back to our common compass, the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and, of course, Jamaica’s Vision 2030 for national development. The world has and will continue to throw shocks at us – climate change, conflicts and pandemics – but the common compass remains relevant. This is no time for us to lose sight of what is important. Now is the time to stay on course,” Conille charged.
Other SDG highlights
• Decline in food poverty prevalence to 4% in 2019 from 5.4% in 2017.
• Decline in infant mortality rate from 16.7 per 1,000 in 2014 to 15.2 per 1,000 in 2019 but there are inadequate financing service for delivery and wellness programmes.
• Increase in marine protected areas to 15% and a decline in marine water quality. coral reef index and mangroves.
• Reduction in debt to GDP ratio from 135.3% in 2013 to 94.6% in 2019.
• 13% of electricity generated from renewable sources in 2021, up from 12.1% in 2018.