Follow-up and Review

Throughout Asia and the Pacific, Governments are striving towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ambitious objectives of reaching the furthest behind first, but the progress is insufficient and has in fact, decelerated. The challenge of achieving the goals has been magnified in recent years by an increase in the frequency and intensity of humanmade crises and natural disasters, as well as the challenges of responding to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Is your country on the right track towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? As you well know the Sustainable Development Goals are complex, with 17 goals and 231 indicators. Measuring, reporting and monitoring progress on the SDGs requires time, resources and capacity.

This report analyses progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific and its five subregions as well as the availability of data. It assesses gaps which must be closed to achieve the goals by 2030. This assessment is designed to ensure the region’s actions remain on target and shortcomings are addressed as they arise. It is a resource for all stakeholders involved in prioritization, planning, implementation and follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific.

The global community is at a critical moment in its pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than a year into the global pandemic, millions of lives have been lost, the human and economic toll has been unprecedented, and recovery efforts so far have been uneven, inequitable and insufficiently geared towards achieving sustainable development. The current crisis is threatening decades of development gains, further delaying the urgent transition to greener, more inclusive economies, and throwing progress on the SDGs even further off track.

ESCAP Methodology for SDG Progress Assessment