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Committee for Development Policy (CDP)’s input to the 2022 High-Level Political Forum
The CDP held its 24th plenary session on February 21-25, 2022. The submission below is based on the discussions held at the meeting and on the Committee’s intersessional work. The CDP’s consolidated recommendations to ECOSOC on the annual theme – “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – and on its other areas of work, notably least developed countries (LDCs) and voluntary national reviews (VNRS) will be contained in the report to ECOSOC on the 24th session (forthcoming).
The Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), advises the Council on a wide range of development issues. Among other activities, it submits annual contributions on the Council’s themes and is the body in charge of recommending the graduation of countries from the least developed countries (LDC) category. Its 24 members are nominated in their personal capacity by the Secretary-General. Membership is geared to reflect a wide range of development experience as well as geographical and gender balance. More information at https://cdp.un.org.
(a) Progress, experience, lessons learned, challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of SDGs 4, 5, 14, 15 and 17 from the vantage point of your intergovernmental body, bearing in mind the three dimensions of sustainable development and the interlinkages across the SDGs and targets, including policy implications of their synergies and trade-offs; and
(c) Actions and policy recommendations in areas requiring urgent attention in relation to the implementation of the SDGs under review.
The CDP has long advocated for the centrality of productive capacity in global efforts towards sustainable development, in LDCs and other developing countries. If we are serious about the SDGs and leaving no one
behind, we need to do more on this, domestically and as an international community. The crisis induced by COVID-19 added to the already serious pre-existing global crises of deep inequalities and persistent and
pervasive poverty, on top of rising challenges in relation to climate change and environmental distress. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to push for transformation towards equitable and sustainable
development. Without the development of productive capacities and significant movement towards structural transformation, the domestic resource mobilization referred to in target 17.1 will remain marginal compared to the needs of LDCs and many other developing countries. Industrial policies that take into account, at their core and not at the margin, precisely the issues covered in SDGs 4, 5, 14, 15 –education, gender and the environment – as well as climate change and inequality, can be instrumental in addressing the simultaneous crises.
SDG 5, 14, 15 and 17 in the CDP’s analysis of VNRs: The CDP’s analysis of the 2021 voluntary national reviews (VNRs) shows that treatment of gender issues in the VNRs has been superficial. For example, only around half of the reports recognize gender pay gaps, and only one in four reports refers to any policies or strategies to address this issue. Similarly, environmental issues such as those covered in SDG 14 and 15 are generally not treated in depth, and some targets and issues are absent from most reports. Interlinkages between environmental and other goals and targets can be further explored. Resource mobilization receives the most attention in the reporting of SDG 17, while other aspects of SDG 17 are not sufficiently reported on. The Committee is also concerned that targets, such as investment promotion and market access that specifically support the development of least developed countries, remain among the least reported targets overall. The importance of policy space is scarcely mentioned.
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