Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Dr Kearrin Sims attended the 10th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD). Held 27-30 March, the APFSD is an annual, inclusive intergovernmental forum to support follow-up and review of progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the regional level, while serving as a regional preparatory meeting to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF). The Forum provides brings governments, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders together to support regional efforts to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, the theme was “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels in Asia and the Pacific.”

Acceleration is much needed.

As stated in UNESCAP’s 2023 Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report, released a week prior to the APFSD: “‘At the midpoint towards the 2030 target year, the region should have made 50 per cent of the progress needed to achieve the goals, yet the overall progress has reached only 14.4 per cent. Based on current trends, achieving the SDGs in the Asia-Pacific region will take several more decades. At the current pace, the Asia-Pacific region will miss 90 per cent of the 118 measurable SDG targets by 2030 unless efforts are multiplied. One in five SDG targets are regressing and need a complete trend reversal.”

The SDGs are so far “off-track” in Asia and the Pacific that current progression would not see them realised until 2065. COVID-19 has contributed to substantial setbacks on the Goals, but there are also systemic challenges that need to be addressed is any acceleration is to occur. Indeed, without major reforms to political and economic systems within and beyond the region (including reforms to development cooperation and financing) it is unlikely that the Goals will be achieved by 2065.

Exploring, and findings to respond to, systemic barriers to the realisation of the SDGs is the theme of the 2023 JCU Research
for Ethical Development Group (JCU RED) Symposium.

For more details on this event, including submission of abstracts, please email Dr Sims at: kearrin.sims@jcu.edu.au