COVID-19 Pandemic as a Challenge and Opportunity for Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (original) (raw)

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic which started in 2019, has a dramatic influence on the global economic activity – disrupting of industrial production, decrease of merchandise trade and services, derailing economic growth, financial market volatility, shrinking of the global supply chains, limiting the traveling and last but not least, reduction of income of people and rising insecurity. The slowdown of the world economy has a direct impact on the sustainable development and reaching the goals of the Agenda 2030. The pandemic presents both an enormous challenge and new opportunities, it may affect positively or delay the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to recover from this crisis stronger and launch a new path towards economic revival the international organizations have undertaken a number of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The UN has mobilized the full capacity of the UN system through its 131 country teams serving 162 countries and territories, to support national authorities in developing public health preparedness and response plans to the COVID-19 crisis. The UN estimates that “a multilateral response of about 10% of global GDP will be needed”. The economic policy of the governments of the affected countries has been directed to mitigation of the negative effects and adoption of fiscal and monetary stimuli. The EU and the US have already announced tremendous financial packages to help the economies of their countries, and many other developed nations are following similar steps. The governments of many countries undertook unpopular measures which appeared to be “the new normality”. However, developing countries may not afford financial stimuli due to their very high debt levels. Rich and poor, the pandemic has forced all the people to reconsider almost every aspect of their life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on achieving the SDGs. It examines its implications in a global economic context and answers the question whether it is a threat or a chance for reaching the SDGs. The attention is focused on the response of the UN and the measures for combating the coronavirus pandemic. The authors assign priority to the key messages from the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2020 of the UN and the targeted areas and actions to promote stability. The opportunities and mechanisms for a green recovery of the economy have been discussed. An emphasis is put on the EU Green Deal as a roadmap to sustainable development. The paper has a standard structure, the methodology is based on desk research, i.e. a survey of specialized literature, papers and documents of the UN, UNDP, UNIDO, OECD, EC, as well as quantitative evaluation of statistical information and analysis of the current world trends. Key words: COVID-19, sustainable development, SDGs, Green Deal, green recovery

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (20)

  1. Bogetić, S., Đorđević, D., Ćočkalo, D., Đorđe- vić, L. and Bakator, M. (2021). The circular ec- onomy and global market challenge, Ecologica, 28(101), 65-71.
  2. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2021). Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2021 (Adv- ance Estimate), April 29, 2021. Available at: https://www.bea.gov/news/2021/gross- domestic-product-first-quarter-2021-advance- estimate
  3. Center for Responsible Business & Leadership (2020), The Impact of COVID-19 on the Sustainable development, CATOLICA-LISBON, Available at: https://www.clsbe.lisboa.ucp.pt/research-note- the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-sustainable- development-agenda-a-business-opportunity- to-reframe-the-future-
  4. DW (2021). Deutsche Welle News, 10.02.2021, available at https://www.dw.com/en/european- parliament-passes-6725-billion-covid- recovery-fund/a-56528327
  5. EC (2020). Circular Economy Action Plan: The European Green Deal, EU, Available at https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular- economy/pdf/new_circular_economy_action_p lan.pdf
  6. EU (2020), The EU Green Deal -a roadmap to sustainable economies, Available at: https://www.switchtogreen.eu/the-eu-green- deal-promoting-a-green-notable-circular- economy/
  7. International Monetary Fund (2021). COVID-19 Recovery Contributions, available at https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/SPROLLs/ covid19-special-notes
  8. International Monetary Fund (2020). World Economic Outlook. October 2020: A Long and Difficult Ascent. Washington DC.
  9. International Organization for Migration (2020), How the COVID-19 affect the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda, Available at: https://rosanjose.iom.int/site/en/blog/how-will- covid-19-affect-achievement-goals-2030- agenda
  10. Ivanović, O.M. and Vujić, M. (2021), Posledice delovanja COVID-19 na ekonomski sektor i životnu sredinu, Ecologica, 28(101), 118-124.
  11. Marx, A. (2019). PPPs for Sustainable Devel- opment: Exploring Their Design and Its Impact on Effectiveness, Sustainability, 11, 1-9
  12. Pedamon, C. and Vassileva, R. (2021). Contractual Performance in COVID-19 Times: Does Anglo-French History Repeat Itself?, European Review of Private Law, No.1, 3-38.
  13. Sumner, A., Hoy, C. and Ortiz-Juarez, E. (2020). Estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty. WIDER Working Paper 2020/43. United Nations University, World Inst- itute for Development Economics Research.
  14. United Nations (2020). Available at: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/p resscenter/pressreleases/2020/COVID19_Cris is_in_developing_countries_threatens_devast ate_economies.html
  15. UNCTAD (2020a). Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development. Tran- sition to a New Normal, Geneva, Available at: https://unctad.org/system/files/official- document/osg2020d1_en.pdf
  16. UNCTAD (2020b). UN calls for $2.5 trillion support package for developing countries to deal with coronavirus shock, Available at: https://unctad.org/press-material/un-calls-25- trillion-support-package-developing-countries- deal-coronavirus-shock
  17. UNDP (2017). The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015, UNDP, available at: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/li brarypage/mdg/the-millennium-development- goals-report-2015.html
  18. UNDP (2020). Brief#2: Putting the UN Fram- ework for Socio-economic Response to COVID-19 into Action: Insights, Available at: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/c ovid-19-pandemic-response/socio-economic- impact-of-covid-19.html
  19. Vassileva, A., Simić, M. and Stevanović, M. (2020). Implications of COVID-19 for Internat- ional Business, Ecologica, 27(100), 589-596.
  20. WBCSD (2020), Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) 2020 summary for business, Geneva, Available at: https://docs.wbcsd.org/2020/11/WBCSD\_Circ ular_Economy_Action_Plan_2020%E2%80%9 3Summary_for_business.pdf.