The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has become the centre of a renewed development framework for countries of the world to meet the changing development priorities and development gaps that previous strategies have been unable to close. Given the weight of the South Asian region in the world population, extent of poverty, hunger and other deprivations, global progress on the SDGs would depend on their achievement by South Asia. Additionally, their shared challenges, cultural and administrative frameworks and similar initial conditions could help South Asian countries benefit from subregional cooperation on SDG implementation. One particular instance of increased connectivity in the region can be in terms of knowledge creation and sharing. Since Future Earth aims to improve cross-sectoral collaboration and create knowledge-to-action pathways towards achieving the SDGs throughout the globe, its South Asia Regional Office can play an important role in enhancing knowledge connectivity in the region. An initial step in this process is to understand how far each member country has come towards achieving the SDGs, allowing us to initiate knowledge-sharing and identify key areas of intervention.
Towards this end, the Future Earth Global Secretariat Hub South Asia is conducted a Webinar titled: ‘Status of the Sustainable Development Goals in South Asia’ on 20 January 2022. Eminent academics, public officials and development experts from six countries discussed topics including the Macroeconomic Setting of South Asia; the Role of Governance and Institutions; Climate Change in Development Planning; Accounting for COVID-19 Impacts; Prioritizing Communities; and Socio-Environmental Impacts of Development Projects in the Region. The webinar also included a panel discussion on increasing knowledge connectivity in the region towards shared development goals.
OUR SPEAKERS
- Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh
- Khurshid Alam, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP-Bhutan
- Sanjeev K. Sobhee, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Applied Economics and Development Studies, University of Mauritius
- Prajal Pradhan, Senior Scientist, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- Chamindry Saparamadu, Director General, Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka
- Purna Prasad Chapagai, Lecturer, College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan
- Sundar Narayan Mishra, Adviser, Ernst & Young, and Head, SDG Unit, Govt. of Odisha, India