Friends’ days (Draugu dienos)
Unique summer camps for Ukrainian children:
Ukrainian children who had to leave their homes are trying to bring back the joy of the holidays for a short time – this summer, more than one artistic and creative camp is being organized for them . The “Strong Together” initiative contributed to the implementation of this idea by allocating all the necessary funding.
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Challenge
Many children came to Lithuania during the Russia invasion to Ukraine 2020 war. They were cut off from their surroundings, their friends, and they did not take with them and have nothing that seems simple and normal to every child.
Target group
Ukrainian children and their families
Solution
Lithuanian people, various generations of the family, volunteer in the organized day camps for Ukrainian children.
Innovation
Family volunteering, where several generations of a family get involved and experience the beauty of volunteering
Unique Selling Point
volunteering across generations – generations unite for volunteering
Impact
More than 3,500 wheeled gifts for Ukrainian children; hundreds of Ukrainian children, their mothers and grandmothers involved; Lithuanian families involved in volunteering.
11 - Sustainable Cities & Communities
As epicentres of the COVID-19 crisis, many cities have suffered from insufficiencies in public health systems, inadequate basic services, a lack of well-developed and integrated public transport systems and inadequate open public spaces, as well as from the economic consequences of lockdowns. As a result, the pandemic is likely to further increase the number of slum dwellers. In order to improve the lives of over 1 billion slum dwellers, there is an urgent need to focus on policies for improving health, affordable housing, basic services, sustainable mobility and connectivity.
Over the years, the number of slum dwellers has continued to grow and that number was over 1 billion in 2020. Slum dwellers are most prevalent in three regions, which are home to about 85 per cent of the world’s slum residents: Central and Southern Asia (359 million), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (306 million) and sub-Saharan Africa (230 million).
Data for 2020 from 1,510 cities around the world indicate that on average only about 37 per cent of their urban areas are served by public transport, measured as a walking distance of 500 m to low-capacity transport systems (such as buses and trams) and/or 1,000 m to high-capacity systems (such as trains and ferries). Given variations in population concentrations within those cities, this translates into only about 52 per cent of the world population having convenient access to public transport.
In 2022, the global average municipal solid waste collection rate in cities is at 82 per cent and the global average rate of municipal solid waste management in controlled facilities in cities is at 55 per cent. The municipal solid waste collection rates in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania are less than 60 per cent. Uncollected waste is the source of plastic pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and incubation for infections.
Data for 2020 from 1,072 cities point to a poor distribution of open public spaces in most regions. In these cities, only about 38 per cent of urban areas are loca ted within a walking distance of 400 m to an open public space, which translates into only about 45 per cent of the global urban population having convenient access to those spaces.
By March 2021, a total of 156 countries had developed national urban policies, with almost half (74) already in the implementation stage. A further breakdown shows that 40 per cent of the countries are in the early stages of developing their plans, while 12 per cent are monitoring and evaluating how well those plans are functioning.
By the end of 2021, a total of 98 countries had reported having local governments with disaster risk reduction strategies, an increase from 51 countries in 2015.
12 - Responsible Consumption & Production
Developing countries bear a large part of the climate, biodiversity and pollution impacts of resource-intensive production processes, without reaping their benefits. This situation has been made worse by the impacts of the pandemic. As part of sustainable global pandemic recovery strategies, the implementation of sustainable consumption and production will maximize the socioeconomic benefits of resource use while minimizing the impacts.
In 2021, 83 policy instruments supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production were reported by 26 countries, bringing the total number of policies developed, adopted and/or implemented up to 438 (as reported by 59 countries and the European Union for 2019–2021). However, the distribution of reported sustainable consumption and production policies has so far been uneven, with 79 per cent of policies reported by high-income and upper middle income countries, 0.5 per cent by low-income countries and only 7.7 per cent by least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
The global material footprint continues to grow, although the pace has slowed. The average annual growth rate of the global material footprint for 2015–2019 was 1.1 per cent, compared with 2.8 per cent for 2000–2014, indicating a slowdown in the growth of economic pressure on the environment.
The proportion of food lost globally after harvest on farm, transport, storage, wholesale and processing levels is estimated at 13.3 per cent in 2020, with no visible trend since 2016, suggesting that structural patterns of food losses have not changed. At the regional level, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of losses at 21.4 per cent, with food being lost in large quantities between the farm and retail levels.
In addition to food loss, it is estimated that 931 million tons of food, or 17 per cent of total food available to consumers in 2019, was wasted at the household, food service and retail levels. Subsequent evidence suggests that household food waste declined during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns but has since returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the global pollution crisis, in particular plastics pollution, making the effective implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants so much more urgent and important. The year 2021 was marked by the establishment of a new global regime for controlling trade of plastic wastes for better transparency and tracing, following the adoption of the plastic waste amendments to the Basel Convention in 2019.
A preliminary analysis from a sample of over 10,000 public companies around the world shows that over 60 per cent of large companies published sustainability reports in 2021, a twofold increase from 2016. The sustainability indicators that are most widely disclosed by companies include direct CO2 emissions, board diversity E/2022/55 22-06472 19/25 and number of board meetings, while the least disclosed indicators include ozone depleting substances, gender pay gap and bribery and fraud controversies.
15 - Life On Land
Continued global deforestation, land and ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss pose major risks to human survival and sustainable development. Even as efforts are made in the domain of sustainable forest and natural resource management, commitments and instruments designed to protect, restore and sustainably use forests and biodiversity need to be urgently implemented to ensure healthy, resilient societies.
The world’s forest area continues to decrease but at a slightly slower rate compared with previous decades. The proportion of forest area fell from 31.9 per cent of total land area in 2000 to 31.2 per cent of total land area in 2020. Despite the overall loss of forest, the world continues to progress towards sustainable forest management. Between 2010 and 2020, the share of forests under certification schemes, the proportion of forest within a protected area and the proportion of forests under a long-term management plan increased globally.
Safeguarding key biodiversity areas through the establishment of protected areas or other effective area-based conservation is an essential contribution towards Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15. Globally, this coverage of marine, terrestrial, freshwater, and mountain key biodiversity areas has increased from about one quarter of each site on average covered by protected areas 20 years ago to nearly half of each site covered in 2021.
Vegetation coverage of the world’s mountains remains roughly stable at approximately 73 per cent since 2015. Disaggregated data by mountain class shows that green cover tends to decrease with mountain elevation, evidencing the strong role of climate in mountain green cover patterns.
By February 2022, 129 countries had committed to setting their voluntary targets for achieving land degradation neutrality, and in 71 countries, Governments had already officially endorsed those targets. Overall, commitments to land restoration are estimated at 1 billion ha, out of which over 450 million ha are committed through land degradation neutrality targets.
The Red List Index shows continuing deterioration in terms of species extinction risk around the world, based on repeated assessments of the extinction risk of all amphibians, birds, mammals, corals and cycads, representing about 25,000 species in total. The index went from 0.80 in 2000 to 0.72 in 2022. The prevalence and rate of extinction risk are particularly severe in Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and small island developing States. COVID-19 pandemic impacts on species extinction risk are likely negative mainly because of reduced conservation capacity and resources, along with increased threats.
At the end of 2021, 68 countries had at least one legislative, administrative or policy measure in place to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in accordance with the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Furthermore, 79 countries reported measures in place to implement the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture…
17 - Partnership For The Goals
Despite a strong rebound of global foreign direct investment and remittance flows, many developing countries are left with competing priorities for limited fiscal space and are finding it harder than ever to recover economically. With the pandemic far from over and vaccine distribution grossly unequal across the globe, the re is a threat of a “two-tiered” COVID-19 pandemic recovery. With the global system facing a multitude of crises across the social, health, environmental and peace and security spectrum, there is an urgent need for scaled-up international cooperation focused on finding lasting solutions.
Finance
Based on most recent data, across approximately 130 economies, government revenue accounted for approximately 33 per cent of GDP on average in 2020. In addition, the average overall tax burden or revenue in the form of taxes was 25 per cent of GDP among advanced economies and 16 per cent of GDP among emerging market and developing economies.
Net official development assistance (ODA) flows amounted to $177.6 billion (current price) in 2021, a new peak, representing an increase of 3.3 per cent in real terms compared with 2020. This is equivalent to 0.33 per cent of Development Assistance Committee donors’ combined gross national income (GNI), up from 0.32 per cent in 2020 but below the target of 0.7 per cent of GNI for ODA. Since the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015, net ODA has increased by 20 per cent.
Global foreign direct investment flows showed a strong rebound in 2021, up 7 per cent to an estimated $1.65 trillion from less than $1 trillion in 2020 and surpassing their pre-pandemic level.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries were projected to have grown by a strong 7.3 per cent to reach $589 billion in 2021.
Information and communications technology
The latest data show that uptake of the Internet accelerated during the pandemic. The number of users surged by 782 million to reach 4.9 billion people in 2021 or 63 per cent of the population, up from 4.1 billion people in 2019. Globally, in 2020, 62 per cent of men were using the Internet compared with 57 per cent of women.
Fixed broadband subscriptions continue to grow steadily, attaining a level of 17 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants on a global average in 2021. In the least developed countries, despite double-digit growth, fixed broadband remains a privilege of the few, with only 1.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
Growth in trade of environmentally sound technologies over 2015–2020 was 5 per cent which, while positive, represented a drop in the overall growth rate prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (the growth rate having been 8 per cent over 2015–2019). While the pandemic has had a negative impact on international trade, those countries with strong economies, large manufacturing and/or financial bases and a focus on innovation are increasing their investment and trade in environmentally sound technologies.
Trade
Tariff rates have remained unchanged amid the pandemic. The worldwide weighted tariff average remains stable at about 2 per cent. The latest figures from 2020 indicate that agriculture and clothing products continue to face the highest tariff rates at about 6 per cent, followed by textiles at 4 per cent and industrial products at 1.4 per cent.
In 2020, the share of least developed countries’ exports in global merchandise trade amounted to 1.03 per cent. The target of doubling the share of least developed countries’ exports by 2020 from its value of 1.03 per cent in 2011 has there fore not been met. The share of all developing countries’ exports in global merchandise trade reached 45.9 per cent in 2020, a share 0.6 percentage points larger than in 2015.
The special tariff treatment that developed countries offer to developing countries, small island developing States and least developed countries remains unchanged. This is equally true when data are analysed at a sectoral level. The average tariff applied to developing countries’ products has remained stagnant since 2011, highest for clothing and agriculture (both at 8 per cent) and textiles (5 per cent).
Data, monitoring and accountability
In 2021, 142 countries and territories reported having national statistical legislation compliant with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, up from 136 in 2020 and 107 in 2016.
In 2021, a total of 150 countries and territories reported implementing a national statistical plan, up from 132 in 2020, with 84 of the plans fully funded. The pandemic has delayed the development of new national statistical plans worldwide, meaning that many national statistical offices are implementing expired statistical plans which may not fully cover their evolving development objectives.
Between 2018 and 2019, ODA for data and statistics rose to $662 million. However, this amount is less than the commitment received in 2016 ($674 million). The overall trend of funding for data and statistics has remained stagnant in recent years, with only 0.3 per cent of total ODA dedicated to this area.
For the period 2016–2020, 148 countries have birth registration data that are at least 90 per cent complete and 154 countries have death registration data that are at least 75 per cent complete. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the lowest birth and death registration completion rates, followed by Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and Oceania.