The start of a "Decade of Action" to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has also marked beginning of an unprecedented period of overlapping crises.
The Covid-19 pandemic and crises of conflict, hunger, climate change and environmental degradation are mutually compounding, pushing millions into acute poverty as well as health and food insecurity. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further disrupted supply chains and prompted spikes in food and fuel prices.
A region at risk
The devastation caused by efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 across the Asia-Pacific region is well documented. At least 90 million people have likely fallen into extreme poverty, while more than 150 million now subsist on less than US$3.20 (116 baht) per day and 170 million on less than $5.50 a day.
The pandemic drove home the consequences of uneven progress on SDGs and exposed glaring gaps in social protection and healthcare systems. The dynamics of recovery in Asia-Pacific have been shaped by access to vaccination and diagnostics, as well as by the structure and efficacy of national economies and public health systems.
Yet for all the economic contraction, greenhouse gas emissions in the Asia-Pacific region continued largely unabated, and the long-burning climate crisis continues to rage.
The positive effects of producing less waste and air pollution, for example, have been short-lived. Action lags, even as many countries in the region have committed to scale up the ambition of their climate action and pursue a just energy transition. The political and economic drive to move away from fossil fuels remains weak, even with soaring oil and gas prices across the region.
As the Ukraine conflict drives greater uncertainty and exacerbates food and fuel shortages, leading to surging prices, security is increasingly at the centre of economic and political priorities.
This confluence of issues is adding to shocks already dealt with by the pandemic and triggering crises of governance in some parts of our region. Again, the poorest and most vulnerable groups are the most affected.
Price pressures on everyday necessities like food and fuel are straining household budgets, yet governments will find it more difficult to step in this time. Government responses to the previous succession of shocks have reduced fiscal space while leaving heightened national debt burdens in their wake.
It has never been more important to ensure that the integrated aspects of economic, social and environmental sustainability are built into our approaches to recovery.
Extraordinary times
All this is a sobering backdrop for achieving the ambitious agenda of the UN's SDGs. But these interlocking shocks are also the result of failures to make SDGs part of an integrated agenda.
We need unconventional responses and investments that fundamentally change what determines sustainable development outcomes. Rather than treating our current looming crises of energy, food and human security as distinct, we must address their interlinkages.
To illustrate, a determined focus on fiscal reforms that deliver environmental and social benefits can generate big wins. Asia-Pacific can lead with action on long-standing commitments to eliminate costly and environmentally harmful subsidies, including for fossil fuels.
Some countries took advantage of reduced fossil-fuel consumption during the Covid-19 lockdowns and mobility restrictions to increase taxes on fuel to raise funds for recovery programs and provide health insurance and social protection for those least protected.
There are also opportunities to repurpose the estimated $540 billion of yearly global agricultural subsidies to promote more sustainable food production.
Just transitions
For our part as UN agencies and multilateral organisations, we support countries in pursuing just transitions to rapid decarbonisation and climate resilience.
In the same light, the current food crisis must spur an urgent transition to more sustainable food production and markets.
SDG imperatives require us to address the difficult trade-offs of recovery. Yet we must ensure that by 2030 all people, not just a few, enjoy a greater level of peace and prosperity.
Armida Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Kanni Wignaraja is Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Woochong Um is Managing Director General of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
