Create Momentum That Builds towards Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Ambition Summits, Deputy Secretary-General Tells Latin American, Caribbean Forum

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the sixth Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, in Santiago today:

I wish to begin by thanking the Government of Argentina for presiding this year’s Regional Forum on Sustainable Development and for its leadership as Chair of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).  Please allow me to also extend warm greetings to José Manuel Salazar, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and thank him for hosting this years’ Forum.

We meet at a critical juncture for the Sustainable Development Goals.  We have reached the halfway point to the 2030 Agenda — and we are badly off track.  The sixth progress report on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean shows that our progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has faltered — and even backtracked on some important targets and Goals — leaving countless people behind.

In the region, and in the context of a post-COVID triple planetary crisis, low growth and deepening vulnerabilities to climate change, only 25 per cent of SDG targets are projected to be met in 2030.

The cost-of-living crisis and food prices are increasing the risk of food insecurity, and [preventing] access to a healthy diet.  Fiscal space and debt burdens are in many cases unsustainable for the region’s middle-income countries and small island developing States. Climate-related catastrophes, wildfires, droughts, flooding and other natural disasters, coupled with the loss of biodiversity are on the rise, further aggravating social-economic challenges and threatening the region’s sustainable development.

The current crises have also had disproportionate effects on migrants.  While the pandemic temporarily halted migration flows owing to border closures and mobility restrictions affecting borders, it has had a deleterious impact on migrants and increased their vulnerability, particularly for migrant women and unaccompanied migrant youth.

In the post-pandemic context, migration flows have resumed.  Although Europe has the highest level of intraregional migration in the world, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen the highest relative growth in intraregional migration between 2000 and 2020.

Unless we act now, all these factors could put the promise of the SDGs far out of reach.  Ambitious policies, with course corrections, are urgently needed to reinforce positive trends and reverse negative ones.

Amid these challenges, we should not overlook the achievements for sustainable development in this region.  Latin America and the Caribbean stands firm in its commitment to the 2030 Agenda.  Many countries are integrating the SDGs into national development plans and fostering participation of women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, to ensure a sustained implementation that leaves no one behind.

Local initiatives — for example in the context of the care society — serve as inspiring examples of transformation mobilizing a whole of society approach.  Efforts to advance ocean conservation and sustainable use, as well as to reverse the loss of terrestrial biodiversity, provide additional examples of regional collaboration.

The region has also been at the forefront of the intergovernmental dialogue on care systems prioritizing gender equality.  The current unfair organization of care is a key driver of inequality that cuts across the SDGs, with a particular impact on those most likely to be left behind.  We know that:  the gap in extreme income poverty between women and men increases to 22 per cent during women’s productive and reproductive ages; and that for women, two thirds of their time is spent on unpaid work and one third in the labour market — an inverse proportion to that of men.

Last year, the Buenos Aires Commitment was adopted at the fifteenth Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, under Argentina’s leadership, calling for the just social organization of care.

This Commitment is an ambitious and comprehensive road map that aims to move towards a “care society”, one which recognizes the interdependence between people, as well as between productive processes and society:  a society that places the sustainability of life and the planet at the heart of development.

We have since progressed with universalizing access to energy, and the renewable portion of the primary energy sector grew to one third — 33.2 per cent — in 2021.  However, gaps persist between high- and low-income groups.  And rural areas are still left behind.

ECLAC has identified transformative sectors that can help countries reactivate their productive systems and move towards low-carbon economies.  The region is rich in resources to benefit from the green energy transition and related industries, including critical minerals, green hydrogen, storage technology and electromobility.

In 2021, fixed broadband reached nearly 62 per cent of Latin American and Caribbean households on average, placing the region well below other regions such as North America and Europe.  A quarter of urban households and two thirds of rural households still need to be connected.

In this region, we have also seen important progress regarding accounting and capturing gender inequalities, including in coordination through the Statistical Conference of the Americas.

The region’s voices have been loud and clear to demand new models of international cooperation with middle-income countries; and to rethink concessional finance eligibility, including by building a multidimensional vulnerability index.

As we tackle the challenges ahead, these hopeful examples should serve as inspiration — and as evidence that with the right mobilization, policies and investments, we can turn the situation around.  Regional integration and cooperation are vital to accelerating this transformation.

This year will determine the future of the 2030 Agenda. We must achieve transformative change. World leaders will need to make a choice — to fulfil their commitment to a better future, or let it fall by the wayside.

The SDG Summit and the Climate Ambition Summit in September must result in concrete commitment by political leaders to invest in sustainable development, and to keep the 1.5°C limit alive.  The first step is here, at the sixth Latin American and Caribbean forum on Sustainable Development.

I call on you to create momentum for collaborative action that builds towards these two important summits, reaffirm the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and steer durable, inclusive peace and development.  Let us rise to the challenge and meet the needs of current and future generations.  Let us mobilize a new collective will to drive a sustainable, prosperous future for all.