Do you think the world is going to be a better place in the next decade? Can we end poverty, hunger, achieve equality, put a stop to climate change? Well, according to the governments of the world- Yes, we can!
In 2015, the world’s leaders gathered in the United Nations General Assembly and agreed to a set of global goals for the development of the world until the year 2030. The 193 member countries, including India, set an agenda for Sustainable Development by drafting a list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) aimed at achieving this by 2030. These goals required efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities, and tackle climate change while ensuring no one is left behind.
But the question is- Are our efforts paying off? We aimed to achieve such a huge goal in 15 years. The year 2020 is going on; five years have already elapsed.
A significant amount of effort had been made by countries worldwide to achieve these goals. Some nations were showing substantial progress towards achieving them. But then at the start of this year, the Coronavirus pandemic struck the world. The world is now dealing with a crisis of monumental proportions. The pandemic has turned our lives upside down. The pandemic cost of loss of human lives is painful, but its effects on the global economy and sustainable development goals are also worrying.
Sadly, this pandemic hit when the SDGs was gaining speed, and most of the countries were making good progress. As the world is on the lockdown, the states are rescheduling their priorities and reallocating resources to deal with the pandemic. This certainly is the right thing to do because the priority now is to save lives.
That is why we must all support the United Nations’ call and follow the guidelines given by our government to suppress the transmission of the virus, end the pandemic, and focus on people, particularly senior citizens, low-wage workers, and vulnerable groups already at risk. Working together, we can save lives, restore livelihoods, and bring the global economy back on track.
India was one of the first countries to respond to the WHO(World Health Organization). It took commendable steps to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus by imposing the complete lockdown. India’s timely efforts were praised all over the world and have helped significantly in containing the virus till now.
In these challenging times, it is crucial for all the governments around the world to focus on the well being of their citizens. This means investing more in the health sector, which, as a result, will push other things, including the Sustainable Development Goals down in the priority list. Not only will this affect the world economy further, but push millions of people into poverty.
But we cannot deny the fact that this crisis is teaching us to be each other’s helpers, in leaving no one behind, and working together as global citizens. And we will emerge from this pandemic as winners. Yes, we will have a lot of things to fix, but that is what we humans do. We fight, we fall, but always learn to pick ourselves up. So when we defeat this pandemic, it is up to us not to slow down instead of speed up our efforts towards achieving the SDGs and build a healthier, safer, and more prosperous world.
About the author: Aaditya is an inquisitive XII grade science student from Eastwood International School, Doomwali, Punjab. He is a nature lover. And has a youtube channel-‘The Viking Sho