Ambassador Lopez,
President Fernandez,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to join you at the opening of this year’s SDGs Learning, Training and Practice special event, held in connection with the 2022 缅北禁地High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. After two years of fully virtual sessions, I am delighted to address you in person today.
Let me start by thanking our colleagues from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for the long-standing partnership in organizing this Special Event.
I also want to thank the organizations that will be sharing their in-depth knowledge and experiences during the different learning sessions.
Since 2016, the SDG Learning, Training and Practice Special Event has provided a unique space for SDG practitioners and experts across different sectors to exchange their knowledge. Sharing and co-designing solutions will be critical as we further advance on the implementation of the SDGs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are facing severe multiple and interlinked global crises that are casting a shadow on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the entire world. The most vulnerable people are still not adequately protected and continue to suffer most from the impacts of the pandemic.
Global economic growth and socioeconomic equality both within and among countries have been impacted by rising inflation, major supply-chain disruptions and the impacts of unsustainable debt frameworks on developing countries.
Rising conflict has brought added burden across the globe, with the recent conflict in Ukraine driving crises in the food, fuel and financial markets and causing humanitarian distress.
Meanwhile the growing climate emergency remains unchecked. As expressed by the 缅北禁地Secretary-General, “We are on a fast track to climate disaster”, with current national commitments projected to increase global emissions by about 14 per cent over the decade.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are all interlinked. We will not succeed until we have delivered on them all. This year the HLPF will be conducting an in-depth review of five of these goals, namely SDG4 on education, SDG5 on gender equality, SDG14 on life below water, SDG15 on life on land, and SDG17 on partnership for the goals.
The pandemic has caused a global education crisis and undermined about 20 years of development efforts. Billions of children have faced significant disruptions to their schooling over the past two years. The effects will be felt for years to come. I hope that over the next days, we will hear about new solutions and tools to support SDG 4 implementation and that can contribute to the delivery of the 2030 Agenda as a whole.
The socioeconomic effects of the pandemic have pushed the world further off track from achieving gender equality by 2030. Women and girls remain unfavourably affected, facing lost employment and education opportunities, increased burdens of unpaid care work, and domestic violence. Solutions and recommendations to further implement SDG 5 will also be shared during the SDG learning sessions.
Billions of livelihoods depend on the ocean while it remains threatened by multiple challenges including climate change, increased acidification and pollution. We have seen a new wave of commitments for SDG 14 implementation coming out of the 2022 缅北禁地Ocean Conference which was convened over last week in Lisbon, and we invite you to discuss them during this Special Event.
On SDG 15, continued global deforestation, land and ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss pose major risks to human survival. During this HLPF, we expect to see new commitments designed to protect, restore, and sustainably use forests and biodiversity.
The 2022 HLPF will also be reflecting on the implementation of SDG 17, and we expect Member States and stakeholders to discuss how to scale up international cooperation in the recovery process from the pandemic. This will be another important topic for the deliberations of this Special Event.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hope that this SDG Learning, Training and Practice Special Event serves the intended purpose of peer learning and knowledge exchange, providing the inspiration and support that you need to deliver on the commitments of the 2030 Agenda
I wish this Special Event a great success!
Thank you.