Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy at the Fifth South Asia Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals

Salutations to

H.E. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Policies and Plan implementation of Sri Lanka

H.E. Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

H.E. Mr. Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, Secretary-General of SAARC

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Aslam, Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Maldives

H.E. Mr. Asad Umar, Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Pakistan

H.E. Dr. Biswo Nath Poudel, Vice-Chairman, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal

Mr. Anusha Palpita, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Reforms & Plan Implementation of Sri Lanka

Mr. Adnan Aliani, Officer-in-Charge, ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi

Mr. Chaminda Udakumbura, Director, SDC

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning,

              Remarks

On behalf of the United Nations Country Team in Sri Lanka, let me reiterate the welcome to this Forum, those of you joining us in person and everyone with us online. Our focus during the next few days will be to discuss ‘inclusive, resilient and sustainable strategies towards COVID-19 recovery efforts and identify priorities to accelerate the Goals of the 2030 Agenda, with an emphasis on climate- and environment-responsive approaches to building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic[1]’. Indeed, this is very timely for us in in Sri Lanka - and the region -, even more so given the emphasis on climate- and environment-responsive approaches to building back better that we are here to talk about.

We know that COP26 which concluded this weekend was, as the Secretary General called it ‘a compromise, that reflects the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today’.   However, as he said, we must keep pushing forward[2]. 

Therefore, we must approach recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to press the reset button on our development trajectory. We can use our efforts to build back from the worst global crisis since World War II, to realign our economies on a green growth path. A path that can lock-in and expand development gains for all citizens, while protecting the environment, slowing climate change, and reducing the threat of future pandemics.

We are all familiar with the efforts of ESCAP to support the socio-economic response of its 53 members and 9 associate members to the COVID-19 pandemic. ESCAP supported efforts to build back better through integrated policy responses aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and covering the three areas of protecting people and enhancing resilience, supporting economic recovery, and restoring supply chains and supporting SMEs[3].

Science could not be clearer about the huge gains that pursuing a green path will bring. The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate has estimated that countries’ taking strong climate actions between 2018 and 2030 could, by 2030, generate over 65 million new low-carbon jobs, deliver at least $26 trillion in net global economic benefits, in addition to public health benefits including by avoiding 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution[4]. We also know that failure to take mitigating action to prevent climate change and natural disasters, will have a detrimental impact on our economic growth and consequently the livelihoods especially of the most vulnerable. The ‘World Bank Report on Contingent Liabilities from Natural Disasters: Sri Lanka’ estimates that natural disaster losses cost Sri Lanka’s economy US$ 313 million or 0.4% of 2020 GDP per year.

As reported by the UN this year[5] saw that during the pandemic many SDG indicators suffered considerable setbacks. The global extreme poverty rate rose for the first time in over 20 years, and 119 to 124 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty in 2020.

Facing this threat of a backslide on the progress made due to COVID-19, now is the time to double down on the commitments of Agenda 2030, and use them as our compass in building back - and forward - from the pandemic in a way that benefits both present and future generations.

In Sri Lanka, we are putting these principles into practice as we develop our new Cooperation Framework for 2023 to 2027, in which COVID-19 recovery, inclusive growth and the environment are integrated into one coherent strategy. In this, we are guided also by the ambitious net zero commitments made by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Our discussions today, I am confident, will outline the broader policy options ahead of us, and I look forward to the interventions to follow. Without taking too much of your time, let me quickly outline three points I believe will be important to consider in our discussions over the next few days – if we are to make a green-reset in our efforts to recover from COVID-19.

1. First, the importance of climate conscious agriculture, in which approximately 60 percent of South Asia’s 1.8 billion citizens are involved [6]. As we discussed during the recent World Food Systems Summit, we need to move to productive and regenerative agriculture.
2. Second, disaster resilience. Economic losses to disasters in Asia and the Pacific could exceed $160 billion annually by 2030[7]. Therefore, we need to look at incorporating disaster risk reduction into land use and infrastructure decisions, more sustainable urban planning practices and adopt low carbon development projects.  
3. Finally, the role of data. As we are now well into the Decade of Action, we need to clearly assess where we are, in order to effectively and accurately map the way forward. To do this we need accurate, timely and reliable data on which to act.  

These are just some thoughts for consideration over the next few days.

Thank you colleagues and I hope our discussions over the next few days help us foster a deepened and shared understanding of the opportunities for accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and recovery from COVID-19 in our region.

[1] The theme of the 2021 SASF is aligned with the theme of the 2022 HLPF and the APFSD, “Building back better from COVID-19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda”.

[2] Secretary-General's statement on the conclusion of the UN Climate Change Conference COP26. 13 November 2021.

[3] https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/knowledge-products/ESCAP%20COVID-19%20Framework%20Paper.pdf

[4] https://www.adb.org/news/features/green-economic-reset-will-deliver-inclusive-lasting-recovery-asia-and-pacific

[5] The SDGs Report 2021, UN DESA - https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2021/

[6] https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2021/01/10-things-south-asian-agriculture-needs-to-address-in-the-post-pandemic-era/

[7] https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/04/1008182