Asia-Pacific SDGs need doubling efforts, UN report says

This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows a group of homeless people waiting to sleep next to their pushcart outside an abandoned building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. PHOTO AFP BANGKOK - The progress towards achieving sustainable development goals in the Asia-Pacific is lagging and requires doubling the efforts to catch up, said a UN report released on Wednesday.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific warned in its latest report that the region will take 42 years to reach all goals, despite the fact that it only achieved 14.4 percent of the progress required.

The 17 SDGs were adopted by the UN in 2015 as part of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The progress towards climate action Goal 13 needs to be prioritized to reverse the negative trend, it was highlighted by the fact that progress towards climate action goal 13 continues to regress. The report calls for collective efforts in the region to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The report found that there are data gaps in certain goals, with less than 30 percent of the data available.

ESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana stressed the need for timely, granular, high-quality information to monitor and review progress towards the SDGs.