DEVC 202

TMA 1: SOCIETAL PROBLEMS

CONTENTS OF THE SCRAPBOOK OF ALISHA JANA MORALES

AS OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

No. Item Description Date

1 Digital Image Poverty Poor Feeding Program 19 May 2022

Photo from
Rappler: Stagnation unlikely in
Philippines, but brace for rising poverty

2 News Article 222 million crisis-hit children currently 21 Jun 2022

require educational support

3 News Article Philippine agricultural sector face crisis 21 Jun 2022

4 Website Pages The World #InequalityReport 2022, an 17 Sep 2022

executive summary the most
up-to-date- and complete data on
inequality worldwide

5 Blog 10 World Hunger Facts you need to 17 Sep 2022

know

6 News Article Malnutrition and food insecurity 09 Aug 2022

worsens across Sri Lanka, as
Bangladesh erupts in protests

7 News Article / World population to reach 8 billion on 14 Sep 2022

Report 15 November 2022

8 News Article Climate Change in South East Asia: 02 June

Where are we and what are we bound 2022
for?

9 News Article Teacher group calls for K-12 ‘overhaul’ 19 July 2022
as DepEd review underway

10 Opinion Article / At halfway mark, are we close to 15 Sep 2022

Blog sustainability by 2030?
Poverty Poor Feeding Program May 2022
Source: Rappler
[OPINION] At halfway mark, are we close to
sustainability by 2030?

Sep 15, 2022

Author: John Leo C. Algo

'It is no surprise that the world is not making any progress'

This September marks the seventh year since the UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) were adopted. It also means we are nearly halfway between then and 2030, the
target deadline for achieving the 17 goals indicating peace and prosperity for peoples
and our planet, where no one is left behind.

Yet it seems like the world takes one step forward and two steps back in its pursuit of
sustainable development, with a new threat emerging every year that further hinders
progress. This year, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has fueled increases in prices of
petroleum oil, electricity, and food products worldwide that places even more burden on
the poorest and most vulnerable nations, including the Philippines.

‘Net-zero’ progress
It is evident that crises such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic
have diverted the focus and resources of governments away from strategies aimed at
attaining long-term goals, including the SDGs themselves. These have also erased
years of progress in addressing some of the biggest social, economic, and
environmental issues of today.

The UN reports that COVID-19 alone wiped out more than four years of poverty
eradication (SDG1) and pushed 93 million people into extreme poverty in 2020. The
resulting lockdowns also disrupted systems related to public health (SDG3) and quality
education (SDG4), resulting in a decrease in immunization coverage and placing up to
24 million students at risk, respectively.

Even with the severity of impacts by COVID-19, the climate crisis remains the more
dangerous threat. Floods, typhoons, heat waves, droughts, and other familiar hazards
are affecting billions worldwide and worsening vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic.

Despite this reality and 26 annual global negotiations on solving this crisis, current
national solutions would collectively result in a 14% increase in greenhouse gas
emissions by 2030. This assures a more extreme version of the impacts we are already
experiencing, which would disproportionately affect developing countries and the
poorest sectors.

It is no surprise that the world is not making any progress on realizing the SDGs, per
another report. The Philippines is no exception to this, remaining below-average among
more than 160 countries as it has in recent years, in terms of progress in achieving
sustainable development.

The nation faces major challenges on half of the goals including on zero hunger
(SDG2), decent work and economic growth (SDG8), reducing inequalities (SDG10), and
environmental conservation (SDGs 14 and 15). Furthermore, the country is on track to
meet only three of the targets: on clean water and sanitation (SDG6), responsible
consumption and production (SDG12), and climate action (SDG13).

Achieving sustainable development must become a priority of current and future

administrations, aided by a more coherent approach. Currently, the Philippines is rated
as having only a moderate SDG commitment, which it shares with ASEAN neighbors
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

While the SDGs are incorporated into the country’s sectoral action plans, there is a lack
of emphasis on the goals in either its national budget or COVID-19 recovery strategies.
Monitoring progress on their attainment must also be improved to include establishing a
national monitoring and data management system and more indicators being tracked.

The financial agenda

Attracting investments has always been one of the main calls of the Philippine
government, no matter who sits as president. Attaining the SDGs must be a main part of
its investment agenda, especially for building physical and social infrastructures
necessary to transform our nation into a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and socially-just
Philippines.

This includes the development of a global plan to fund the SDGs, which by definition
covers multiple aspects of development from poverty eradication to establishing peace
and justice. Filipinos need to see its government join other developing nations in
pressuring developed countries to make stronger commitments for SDG finance, similar
to the current set-up of global climate negotiations.

These modes of finance could occur in the form of investments, official development
assistance, philanthropy, and canceling certain debts, among others. Developed nations
must also increase their contributions to multilateral development banks, which would
enable more accessibility to modes of support for developing countries.

It is important that any SDG-related financial flow should be established such that it
does not place more burden on developing countries by having resources diverted from
implementing development programs. Doing so only sets nations like the Philippines
further away from realizing these goals. And as we have seen with recent crises, our
world would feel the impacts, in one way or another.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government can implement domestic measures to further

progress on the SDGs. Among these is addressing long-running governance issues
ranging from reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies to strengthening partnerships with
non-government stakeholders to maximize opportunities for implementing its designated
programs.
Halfway through our road to sustainable development, our country, our world has either
taken the wrong turns or ran into speedbumps of our own making. For better or worse,
we must work together with the leaders and resources we have to achieve the SDGs.

Otherwise, the goals would remain nothing more than just another lip-service of a
dream. – Rappler.com