Portugal has come closer to most of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals since 2015, except in terms of sustainable consumption and production, in which most of the indicators had an “unfavourable evolution”, announced this Friday the National Institute of Statistics ( INE).
For most goals, there have been “favorable developments” since 2015 or more than half of the goals have been achievedleast in objectives 5 (Gender and Equality), 12 (Sustainable production and consumption), 14 (conservation of the oceans) and 15 (protection of terrestrial ecosystems).
“Only in SDG 12 do we observe a majority of indicators with an unfavorable evolution”, highlights the INE in the summary published this Friday.
Among the factors contributing to this evolution is the increase in internal consumption of materials per unit of Gross Domestic Product —more was consumed to produce wealth—, which increased in 2020 compared to 2015, which is associated with a “significant reduction in GDP” in 2020.
Sectoral hazardous waste “per capita” also increased compared to 2015, but the INE points to a “favorable trend” in the proportion of urban waste for recycling and reuse, whose quantity decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 but remained above the values from 2015.
In objective 3, which refers to health, the INE highlights that The “full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic” is not yet reflected in his assessment, but there are improvements in almost all areassuch as a reduction in infant and neonatal mortality, a reduction in reported HIV cases, or a reduction in the number of smokers.
In the opposite direction, maternal mortality increased in 2020, although below the threshold of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births defined in the goals, an increase in the mortality rate “attributed to unsafe water sources” or a decrease in aid development officer for medical research and basic health sectors.
In the analysis of objective 5, the INE points out that in 2022 more women were elected to parliament than in 2015, but fewer than in 2019. There is also a reduction in the number of female mayors in 2021 compared to the 2017 elections.
On the other hand, the proportion of women with managerial positions in the Public Administration and of directors of farms on their own increased, but even so, the INE concludes that “the gender situation is still far from parity in these areas”.
As for climate action, Portugal has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32.9% since 2005 But “further progress will be needed to reach the 55% reduction target by 2030.”
With data available from different years for each indicator, the INE evaluates the evolution “through the rate of change between the last year available and the first year available since 2015”.
About half of the 163 indicators with information available for Portugal have information for 2020, while 21% refer to 2021, 10.4% to 2019 and 20.2% to other years.
Of the indicators analyzed, 66 (40%) have already reached the goal or evolved favorablywhile 37 “evolved in the opposite direction to the desirable expressed by the goal where they are inserted”.
The INE points out that in relation to the indicators with 2020 results, the variations compared to 2019 are “strongly influenced by the effects of the pandemic” and that it is premature to draw conclusions about whether there is a change in the trends that occurred in previous years. . years.
The analysis also highlights the interconnection between indicators, in which the evolution of one influences others, such as poverty reduction, which has reflections on the improvement of health conditions or the fact that progress in some indicators is not necessarily favorable for others: for example, improving social conditions due to economic growth may not improve environmental conditions.
The SDGs were defined in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and constitute the so-called 2030 Agenda. They include areas such as education, inequality, work, industry or peace and justice.
Source: Observadora
