Goal of SDG’s : Sustainable Cities and Communities
Making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways.
 |
| Figure 1 |
The rapid growth of cities—a result of rising populations and increasing migration—has led to a boom in mega-cities, especially in the developing world, and slums are becoming a more significant feature of urban life.
More than half of us live in cities. By 2050, two-thirds of all humanity—6.5 billion people—will be urban. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces.
Facts and figures:
- In 2018, 4.2 billion people, 55 percent of the world’s population, lived in cities. By 2050, the urban population is expected to reach 6.5 billion.
- Cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land but account for 60 to 80 percent of energy consumption and at least 70 percent of carbon emissions.
- In 1990, there were 10 cities with 10 million people or more; by 2014, the number of mega-cities rose to 28, and was expected to reach 33 by 2018. In the future, 9 out of 10 mega-cities will be in the developing world.
- The economic role of cities is significant. They generate about 80 percent of the global GDP.
- In the coming decades, 90 percent of urban expansion will be in the developing world.
Goal Targets for " Sustainable Cities and Communities "
· By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.
· By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.
· By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.
· Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
· By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vlnerable situations.
· By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management.
· By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
· Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning.
· By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels.
· Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials
Figure 2
Voluntary National Review Report on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals:
1. While working towards revitalising the global partnership for the achievement of the SDGs, India reaffirms the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Despite significant efforts for domestic resource mobilisation, India is unlikely to gather sufficient revenues for achieving the SDGs. Therefore, India reiterates that the developed countries have an essential obligation to provide financial assistance to the developing countries, especially for global public goods such as climate change mitigation and control of pandemics, so that they can fully achieve the SDGs.
2. India also highlights the need for international cooperation for curbing illicit financial flows, defining aid unambiguously and establishing robust systems for monitoring commitments made by donor countries.
3. A path-breaking tax reform agenda is being readied in the country to optimise domestic resource mobilization. This includes direct tax reforms as well as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a uniform and simplified form of indirect taxation. An innovative tax like the Swachh Bharat Cess (Clean India Cess) has also been levied for mobilizing resources for the Clean India Mission. Additionally, implementation of the budget responsibility legislation is ensuring predictable and sustainable budgeting as well as long-term debt sustainability. Proactive policy reforms have boosted the FDI flows during the last three fiscal years to USD 156 billion including a record-breaking USD 56 billion in the latest fiscal year.
4. To enable the implementation of development interventions by sub-national governments, the fiscal devolution to states has been increased substantially (from 32 to 42 % of the central pool of tax proceeds). Initiatives are also being undertaken to enhance development cooperation with neighbouring and other countries of the global South. For instance, the South Asia Satellite was launched in May 2017 for sharing data with neighbours.
5. Lastly, efforts are underway at the national-level for finalizing the indicators that will enable monitoring of the progress made on the SDGs. The government is also considering setting up a high-level Committee headed by the Chief Statistician of India to oversee the monitoring framework for SDGs at the nationallevel. While national efforts are paramount, global technical support is important in various areas including developing methodologies for data collection as well as monitoring and evaluation.
Short-term impacts of Covid-19 on the Sustainable Development Goals:
- Rise in urban poverty and vulnerability
- Shut down of public transports
- Lower access to public / green spaces
- Movements of population that vary across countries
- Sharp short-term reduction in pollution levels
Performance of SDG's:
- Annual mean concentration of particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) (μg/m3) 90.9 2017
- Access to improved water source, piped (% of urban population) 67.9 2017
- Satisfaction with public transport (%) 71.9 2018
- The SDG Index score over time - India (61.9)
