HIGH LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM(HLPF) AND ACHIEVEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS(SDGS) DURING COVID-19 CRISIS

Abstract

The research paper entitled “High Level Political Forum(HLPF) and Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) during COVID-19 Crisis” is an attempt to study the unique and prominent role of the HLPF adopted by the United Nations for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) amidst the insurmountable global COVID-19 crisis which has posed a serious challenge to the policy makers at the global level not only in prescribing policy prescriptions to mitigate and overcome the crisis, but also to the global administrators, political scientists, environmentalists, international organizations etc., to adopt measures to control the dimensions of the crisis so that the global goal of achieving the SDGs slated by UN by the turn of 2030 is achievable. The role of the HLPF and the United Nations assumes utmost and paramount importance to establish the interface and the linkages of the HLPF Forum of United Nations in achieving the SDGs in a sustainable and time bound manner through adoption of VNRs of the various national economies/country programmes effectively. It is perceived that though the COVID-19 pandemic is not only a global health crisis, but also a humanitarian crisis which has posed a serious threat to the global community in terms of loss of human lives, distortions of the economies, societal degradation, political upheaval, inequalities of income and wealth distribution amongst the various countries affected by the crisis, environmental and climate change issues, disruption of global peace and security etc., The various aspects/issues covered in the study include keeping the focus on the SDGs while combating COVID-19, building back better after COVID-19 and acting where we will have the greatest impact on the SDGs, protecting and advancing human well-being and ending poverty, ending hunger and achieving food security, transformative pathways to realize the 2030 Agenda: A whole of society approach taking into account the impact of COVID-19, a stakeholder perspective approach, responding to the economic shock, relaunching growth, sharing economic benefits and addressing developing countries‟ financing challenges, mobilizing international solidarity, accelerating action and embarking on new pathways to realize the 2030 Agenda and the SAMOA Pathway: Small Island Developing States, protecting the planet and building resilience, sustaining efforts to ensure access to sustainable energy, bolstering local action to control the pandemic and accelerate implementation, mobilizing international solidarity, accelerating action and embarking on new pathways to realize the 2030 Agenda and respond to COVID-19: African countries, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries, means of implementation to match the scope of the crisis and the breadth of our ambition for 2030 : Mobilizing well directed financing, science, technology, innovation, visions and scenarios for the future of the SDGs following the COVID-19 crisis, UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund etc., among others

The most important conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that the role of United Nations assumes critical and paramount importance in the wake and aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis which seems to be a long-term crisis as the entire global community which have been more of less affected by the global virus have to withstand the global crisis of such serious proportions and to adopt ways and means to adapt to and live with the crisis in the long-term. Hence, there need to be a striking and effective balance in terms of saving the global economies on the one hand and to take adequate preventive and mitigation measures to reduce/suppress the spread of the virus and to combat the global crisis. These measures would definitely go a long way in achieving the SDGs slated by the UN by 2030