KATHMANDU, Jan 24: Nepal has achieved only 41.7 percent progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target in eight years of implementing the program.
The National Planning Commission (NPC) on Thursday revealed the dismal progress that Nepal has achieved in this regard. According to the NPC, the achievements are based on the improvements seen in the 301 indicators defined by the SDGs.
The NPC has attributed various domestic and international incidents to the country’s slow progress in the SDGs. The government’s planning body has identified mobilization of adequate financial resources as the main challenge in this regard. “Impacts of Covid-19, global high inflation rate, hike in petroleum prices and economic slowdown prevailing in the domestic market, among others, have caused the crunch in financial resources, which has resulted in a shortfall in the achievements,” NPC officials told a press meet.
‘Nepal can achieve only 60 percent of SDGs targets by 2030 if t...
In a report unveiled last year, the NPC stated that Nepal would face an inadequacy of over Rs 1 trillion annually in the five-year period during 2026-2030. Nepal is facing a shortfall of around Rs 585 billion every year to make necessary investment.
According to the NPC, it has developed mechanisms to identify the needs, estimate costs and formulate financial strategies to make effective the SDGs related works. To expedite the implementation of the SDGs, the NPC has kept in priority the achievement of decent labor and social security, transformations in food system, health and education, and work on climate change.
Speaking at the program, NPC Vice-chairman Shiva Raj Adhikari said the government’s 16th periodic plan has focused on achieving not only economic growth but also the SDG targets to ensure social justice, inclusiveness and equity.
Time and again, the government has been criticized for failing to bring in effective programs to improve the overall economic conditions of the people in the country. According to a research report unveiled last year, with the weak implementation of the SDGs, Nepal is likely to secure only 60 percent achievements by 2030, the timeline for achieving the goals.
The United Nations launched the SDGs on January 1, 2016, envisioning achieving notable improvement in the economic and social sectors worldwide under 17 goals.
Nepal has implemented the SDGs with the aim to reduce extreme poverty to less than five percent by 2030. Similarly, the country has targeted to reduce undernourishment to three percent and underweight children under five to five percent within the given timeline.
Reducing maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births, ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all, ensuring gender parity at all levels of education and increasing the number of women in public decision-making positions in the civil service are among the set targets.
