MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic reversed most of the Philippines' gains in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
"Progress towards the achievement of the SDGs remains a big challenge in the Philippines, as most of the country's gains in the past have been reversed by the COVID-19 pandemic," PSA head Dennis Mapa said in a report.
Based on the current status index (CSI), the PSA said that Goals 2, 8, 11, and 13 regressed since 2000.
These areas include food safety, economic growth, employment, and combating climate change, among others.
The PSA said progress was observed in Goals 1, 3, 4, and 14 since 2000, "although still short compared to the expected gain for 2022."
These areas include poverty eradication, healthy lives, equitable education, and marine conservation, among others.
The PSA noted that only Goal 17 surpassed the 2022 line among the goals. Goal 17 is about strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
"This pace of progress, however, was only based on one out of the 13 indicators under this goal, which may not be sufficient to conclude the pace of progress for Goal 17," the PSA said.
Based on the findings of the Anticipated Progress Index, the PSA said that 16.7 percent of targets with measurable progress are currently on track.
Furthermore, 42.9 percent of these targets require accelerated endeavors to catch up, while 40.5 percent require exponential acceleration in pace to reverse the current downtrend to achieve the goal in 2030.
The SDGs are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ■
