United States of America has expressed dissatisfaction over dwindling performance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stressing that a 2030 target could be elusive, unless urgent steps are taken to remedy the situation.
According to the United States government, the SDGs – a shared blueprint and document set in 2015 to bring peace and prosperity to people and the planet – has only recorded 12 per cent progress.
U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, made the observation, yesterday, while addressing the ‘AI for Accelerating Progress on SDGs’ event, held at the New York Public Library, New York City, at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Summit in the United States.
“But here’s the reality: we are falling short. We’re halfway to 2030 – the deadline that we gave ourselves for hitting these targets, and yet we are on track to achieve just 12 per cent of the SDGs. Our progress seems to have plateaued on half the goals that we set.
“We’re actually moving backward; we’re regressing. That should simply be unacceptable. And it is. And that’s why we have to use every tool at our disposal, including artificial intelligence, to get the SDGs back on track,” he said.
He said artificial intelligence would immensely improve the standards of living and human lives. According to him, “experts estimate that AI could advance progress on nearly 80 per cent of the SDGs and their targets. Already, we’ve got AI systems being deployed to forecast extreme weather events and the impacts that they have; to improve agricultural productivity to fight global hunger; to predict, to prepare for, and respond to outbreaks of disease and new viruses; to build the clean energy infrastructure for a healthier future.”
Blinken, who also emphasised the need for robust partnership to drive the goal, said the new era of AI is “vastly increasing the capacity of machines not just to process information, but to create original content, to perform complicated tasks, to solve the most vexing problems.”
This came as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, briefed President Bola Tinubu on her ministry’s resource mobilisation and advocacy action plan towards realisation of the SDGs.
At a meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA, she called for collaboration between the UN and the government of Nigeria to provide durable solutions to humanitarian crises and emergencies in the country. She also sought support for the Presidential Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund.
