Onward to the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030: Will COVID-19 Leave Many Behind?

Onward to the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030: Will COVID-19 leave many behind? | ORF: This paper analyses the impact of the pandemic on the SDGs at a global level and highlights India’s experience. 

The multiple ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns imposed by countries as a response, are being felt in sectors ranging from agriculture to healthcare, SOUMYA BHOWMICK writes for New Delhi-based OBSERVER RESEARCH FOUNDATION. 

The global community must now hurdle massive obstacles to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To correctly assess the impact of the pandemic on global sustainability-driven concerns, it is important to understand not only the inter-linkages between the SDGs, but their trade-offs as well. 

This paper analyses the impact of the pandemic on the SDGs at a global level and highlights India’s experience. It outlines the economic fallout of the pandemic across various sectors while underlining the cross-linkages between those sectors and the SDGs. The paper argues that such an understanding can guide the formulation of development policy resolutions.

Soumya Bhowmick, “Onward to the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030: Will COVID-19 leave many behind?” ORF Occasional Paper No. 301, February 2021, Observer Research Foundation.