Climate change threatens 80 million jobs globally – ILO
While climate change is already threatening to destroy 80 million jobs worldwide according to the International Labor Organization, Africa continues to suffer from delays in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
This is mainly due to the lack of funding and limited access to data crucially needed for the design and implementation of policies adapted to the region’s needs, participants at the African Regional Forum for Sustainable Development (ARFSD) have said.
A press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, after a High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) which presented the main conclusions of the Marrakech Declaration this week in New York indicated that African countries wish to consolidate South-South cooperation, share their experiences in addressing the multiple and complex challenges they are facing.
The Chair of the Bureau of the 5th Session of ARFSD and Secretary of State for Sustainable Development of the Kingdom of Morocco, Nezha El Ouafi, addressing the forum said, “They seek to build partnerships and multi-stakeholder action programmes at the regional and sub-regional levels in order to achieve the development needed to ensure no one is left behind.”
In addition, countries agreed on the need to intensify efforts to fight corruption and illicit financial flows and to ratify and implement the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
They also agreed to design national strategies and plans to improve productivity and achieve inclusive growth.
The ARFSD Chair echoed Africa’s call for the creation of a solidarity fund for stronger statistics within the region in order to strengthen countries’ capacity to design and implement fact-based policies and better monitor their implementation.
Some recommendations which include intensifying national and global mobilization for the implementation of Agenda 2030 and 2063, implementing the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration and implementing integrated processes for resource mobilization, budgeting and development planning were made by ARFSD.
They also stressed on the need to make education more inclusive as well as the need for an environment that encourages young people to innovate in support of Agenda 2030 and 2063.
The ARFSD provided countries and development organizations with an opportunity to identify the progress made in the implementation of Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063, the many challenges that slow down Africa’s development and how to face them.
HLPF is the main global, UN platform for the monitoring of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
This year’s edition of HLPF was held from July 9 to 18, 2019 on the theme, “Empowering people and ensuring inclusion and equality”.
The ARFSD forum was also held on April 16-18, 2019 in Marrakech, Morocco, on the same theme.
By Asabea Akonor