Goal of the Month Editorial | December 2022

“Unless we bridge the yawning chasm between the global haves and have-nots, we are setting ourselves up for an 8-billion-strong world filled with tensions and mistrust, crisis and conflict.”

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres

This edition focuses on Sustainable Development Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities).  The world’s population reached 8 billion in mid-November and is projected to approach 10 billion by 2050. As the human family grows, it is important to create a sustainable future and deliver on the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – to “leave no one behind”. 

In a recent statement, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described the growing population as “a testament to scientific breakthroughs and improvements in nutrition, public health and sanitation.” However, he noted that inequalities have also grown, pointing out that a handful of billionaires control as much wealth as the poorest half of the world.  

On top of these, the accelerating climate crisis and the unequal recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic are “turbocharging” inequalities while the war in Ukraine is adding to ongoing food, energy and finance crises, hitting developing economies hardest, the UN chief warned. These inequalities take their greatest toll on women and girls, and on marginalized groups that already suffer discrimination, he added. 

Why Goal 10 Matters

Inequalities based on income, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age, race, class, ethnicity, religion, and opportunity continue to persist across the world and cut across various aspects of life.  Goal 10 aims to reduce inequalities within and among countries. High levels of inequality can threaten long-term social and economic development, harm poverty reduction and destroy people’s sense of fulfilment and self-worth. This, in turn, can breed crime, disease and environmental degradation. Reducing inequalities and leaving no one behind is integral to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Climate and Water 

Disasters exacerbate existing inequalities by hitting the vulnerable hardest. Recent historic flooding in Pakistan is fresh on everyone’s mind. At the latest UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, the UN Secretary-General described his shock at the havoc caused by the floods: “There are moments in our life that become unforgettable and that mark us deeply. My last visit to Pakistan was one of these moments. To see an area flooded that is three times the size of my country, Portugal. To see the loss of life, the loss of crops, the loss of livelihoods.”  

He appealed for the provision of funding for countries, like Pakistan, that contribute less to climate change but bear the disproportionate brunt of its impacts. After intense negotiations at COP27, an agreement was reached to establish a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for ‘loss and damage’ from climate-induced disasters.     

-Read UN News article: COP27 closes with deal on loss and damage: ‘A step towards justice’, says UN chief 

More than 90 per cent of disasters are water related.  “The impacts of climate change are often felt through water – more intense and frequent droughts, more extreme flooding, more erratic seasonal rainfall and accelerated melting of glaciers – with cascading effects on economies, ecosystems and all aspects of our daily lives”, said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  “And yet, there is insufficient understanding of changes in the distribution, quantity, and quality of freshwater resources”. 

Hot off the press, The State of Global Water Resources, the agency’s first such report, aims to fill that knowledge gap and provide a concise overview of water availability in different parts of the world.  The report said that 3.6 billion people have inadequate access to water at least one month per year and that this is expected to increase to more than five billion by 2050.  The upcoming UN 2023 Water Conference will address the plight of billions of people who lack access to this life-saving resource.  

Lasting Impacts of COVID-19 

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed fragile healthcare systems in many countries, pointing to the need to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage – the idea that everyone, everywhere should have access to quality, affordable health care.  On 12 December, the United Nations will observe the International Universal Health Coverage Day, which aims to raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage. 

According to the Sustainable Development Progress Report 2022, the COVID-19 crisis continued to worsen existing inequalities and reverse progress seen before 2020. The pandemic has especially increased relative poverty in many countries, caused a rise in income inequality, and intensified structural and systemic discrimination, harming millions of people around the world. The Global Wage Report 2022-23: The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, just released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides an overview of how a severe inflationary crisis, combined with a global slowdown in economic growth, has affected real monthly wages in many countries. 

Gender Equality 

Violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Already heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, its prevalence is now being further increased by the intersecting crises of climate change, global conflict and economic instability. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, which kicked off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day, is an annual campaign to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.   

Also check out a new 10-part music podcast series called amplifyHER, which UN News launched last week to help address gender inequality.    

Food Crisis 

The ongoing war in Ukraine has disrupted the global supplies of food and fertilizers. Soaring prices are also contributing to a global cost-of-living crisis, the impacts of which are falling disproportionately on developing countries. Already vulnerable households are paying the highest price. The UN is “continuing intense diplomatic efforts with all parties to ensure the unimpeded exports of critical food and fertilizers from Ukraine and the Russian Federation, exempt from sanction regimes, to the world markets,” said a UN spokesperson in a 29 November statement, reporting that the first shipment of fertilizer donated by Russian producers, has left the Netherlands bound for Malawi.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye to reintroduce vital food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world, also continues to play an essential role in preventing hunger and famine.  As of 17 November, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports reached 11,186,228 million metric tons. A total of 941 voyages (470 inbound and 471 outbound) have been enabled so far. 

Read latest UN articles. 

• UN chief welcomes renewal of Black Sea Grain Initiative 
• UN News interview with the top WFP official in the Horn of Africa region  

At the recent G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the UN Secretary-General urged the world’s most powerful economies to adopt an SDG stimulus package that will provide developing countries with investments and liquidity and offer them debt relief and restructuring. “The SDG Stimulus is a minimal and necessary step to ease the food and energy crises and prevent further suffering and hardship down the line,” he said.  

Bridging Digital Divide 

Of the 8 billion people on the Earth, a staggering 2.7 billion – many in developing and least developed countries – lack meaningful Internet connectivity. The 17th Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which is under way in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, charts a way forward for universal connectivity.  “With the right policies in place, digital technology can give an unprecedented boost to sustainable development, particularly for the poorest countries,” said UN Secretary-General.  The Global Digital Compact he has proposed is anchored in human rights and aims to deliver on universal connectivity; a human-centred digital space that protects free speech and privacy; and the safe and responsible use of data.  He expects the Compact to be agreed on at the Summit of the Future in 2024. 

Transforming Education 

In September, the Secretary-General convened world leaders for the Transforming Education Summit.  Among the key outcomes were several global initiatives, including the International Financing Facility for Education, which will enhance funding for education around the world, and the “Gateways to Public Digital Learning”, aimed at transforming digital learning resources into freely available, open, public goods. It’s also time to follow up on six calls to action that have also been announced during the Summit, including a call to advance gender equality and girls’ and women’s empowerment in and through education.  

Persons with Disabilities 

Disability inclusion is an essential condition to upholding human rights, sustainable development, and peace and security. It is also central to the promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind.  Observed annually on December 3, the International Day of Person with Disabilities will focus on innovation and transformative solutions for inclusive development.  Launching the Disability Inclusion Strategy in 2019, the UN Secretary-General vowed to make the Organization an employer of choice for persons with disabilities.  In line with the strategy, the disability-inclusive communication guidelines were also rolled out in 2022.  

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