COVID-19 and Sustainable Development Goals

The assignment provides a reflective account of the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on sustainable development goals, including increased food prices, disruptions to supply chains, closures of schools, and environmental benefits from reduced carbon emissions. It highlights the need for global solidarity, shared responsibility, and redefining roles among stakeholders to build back better and achieve SDGs.

Introduction
“At the end of December 2019, a disease named as COVID-19 has been first came into
existence in Wuhan, China. CO means corona, VI means virus and D means DISEASE.
World Health Organization (WHO) has named it COVID-19 with reference to ‘2019 novel
coronavirus. It is a new infectious disease that belongs to similar family of viruses such as
severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Global world is experiencing a pandemic due to
emergence of this new coronavirus i.e. SARS-Cov-2 called as COVID-19” (Kumar et al.,
2020). “This virus has an ability to spread from infected person’s droplets released by his/her
nose and mouth. The entire world is facing this this severe pandemic that affecting the human
beings and economy adversely. The COVID-19 have a mild symptoms such as fever,
difficulty in breathing, body pain and headache, loss of taste and smelling etc. While severe
symptoms are organ failure and pneumonia that can cause to death” (Riou and Althaus,
2020).
“As the uncertainty caused by this pandemic has slowdown the economic activities so
aggression towards COVID-19 pandemic is continuously growing all over the globe. No one
knows that how long the duration of COVID-19 would be. So health concerns are the most
essential agenda for all the countries and governments that requires to level up the standards
of health facilities until medical vaccination is not invented to cope with this crises (Keshky
et al., 2020). Since COVID-19 outbreak, the COVID-19 has been spread quickly within 215
countries and surroundings. This pandemic created by this virus in a world’s history had
impacted human lives, worldwide economy and international health system in a form of
remarkable and severe health crisis. (Mukarram, 2020).
“In 2015, 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been declared by United Nations.
The deadline to achieve these goals are 2030. The purpose of this sustainable development
agenda is to eliminate poverty, protect the environment and bring peace and prosperity within
the countries. The objective behind this SDGs is to not only protect the human beings but all
the other living species in the globe. The socio-cultural environment and social equity
promoting policies are also greatly emphasizes by the SDGs” (Gulseven et al., 2020).
The rapid spread of COVID-19 and on-going crises has enabled several states to take rapid
actions like worldwide lockdown that has affected the global economy and people’s lives
adversely. This report is basically aim to emphasize upon the Sustainable development goals
and how COVID-19 pandemic is impacting it in terms of contemporary conditions like social

community, environment and economy. Another purpose is to analyze the positive as well as
negative effects of COVID-19 on sustainable development goals caused by COVID-19 wide
spread pandemic all over the world. Moreover, how COVID-19 is affecting the progress
towards achieving these sustainable development goals in many nations will also be explored
in this report. In final Section, main body is based on recommendations to solve the issues
that COVID-19 created in terms of sustainability development goals (SDGs).
Main body:
“The Sustainable development principle states that development should be
made in such a way that future generations ability to achieve their own
requirements should not be compromise to meet the current requirements. It is
recognized by the Sustainable development principle that social, economic and
environmental system must be interlinked to promote justice as well as equality
by empowering people and international citizenship” (Moffatt, 1996). COVID-19
pandemic has greatly affecting these three main pillars.
Source: (Moffatt, 1996)
“The third international conference regarding sustainable development conducted by United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Which is called Rio 2012 too
mainly emphasized to consider the international community’s environmental as well as social
goals. Consequently, this conference has resulted into declaring the Sustainable Development

Goals in order to bring peace, harmony, remove poverty and injustice all over the globe”
(Linnér and Selin, 2013).
The sustainable development goals and COVID-19
“The United Nations had approved sustainable development goals in 2015. Since its five
years implementation, various nations seems not effectively achieving such goals prior to
COVID-19 pandemic” (Sachs et al., 2019). “It seems that COVID-19 has impacted the
international economy in a much intensive way. Its impacts are more enduring than the
impact of global financial crises” (2008-2009) (Behravesh and Rocha, 2020). The
development perspective of Less industrialized nations is seriously threatened by the effects
of COVID-19 and the need to focus on UN sustainable development goals has been realized
by 2030. UN provided an optimistic plan to combat the virus and make a world better (Leal
Filho et al., 2020).
The UK government was also committed for accomplishing the UN’S SDGs. All the nations
aimed to concentrate upon three main pillar such as environmental, social and economic
challenges over the time. For this purpose, they presented 17 goals with 169 targets in order
to eliminate poverty and injustice, protect the environment, promote prosperity and
international peace within the nations. These 17 goals have to achieve in 2030 known as
Agenda 2030” (GA, 2015). To fight with COVID-19, this agenda suggests to set open
coordination and mutual actions among social, private as well as public sector with citizens.
Source: (Gulseven et al., 2020)

Another name of sustainable development goals are Global Goals as it has replaced the 2001
Millennium Development Goals in which just developing countries were covered. The SDGs
covers the developed countries such as UK (Lee et al., 2016). As COVID-19 crises has
resulted into loss of education, increase in poverty, international health problems and so on.
Thus, economy is suffering a lot because it seems difficult to achieve SDGs by 2030 leading
to great loss of returns for a private sector (Barbier and Burgess, 2020). To bring a positive
change, a mission based business plans are needed to take an action. SDGs are developed to
support the economy’s future (van Tulder, 2018). The sustainable development goals (SDGs)
considered as a global development agenda with having a unique characteristics that
provides: (Van Zanten and Van Tulder, 2018)
 A common language as well as worldwide consensus regarding sustainable
development practices (Assembly, 2015).
 Growth opportunities for business
• opportunities for business intervention (where /avoiding-harm strategies are replaced
by pro-active strategies, able to leverage purpose-driven business models)
• the space for the development of cross-sector partnerships – required for systemic
change - and effective joint action, towards collective prosperity (Van Zanten and
Van Tulder, 2018)
• A reliable prediction of the long-term evolution of markets’ needs, of society
demands and general trends for the coming years, which can be used by companies as
a market advantage.
• A consistent, transparent and effective communication to markets and stakeholders
(Gore, 2015).
The Impact of COVID-19 and the Sustainable Development Goals
As everyone wants to get rid of this pandemic as soon as possible. In June 2020, 9.17 million
people have been tested positive for COVID-19, while 0.47 million have been died. The
remaining 3.79 are still struggling against this virus (Mukarram, 2020).Thus, this situation
has resulted into the global lockdown all over the world that is quickly affecting the economy
as people are restricted to move because social distancing is considered as a only way to cope
with this crises while medical experts didn’t invented any vaccine to deal with the pandemic.
All this worldwide situation is affecting the economic activities badly”
The Impact of COVID-19 on SDGs (Gulseven et al., 2020)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
The entire world is currently fighting the same battle - the fight against COVID-19. As each
day passes, contentions about the global economy, political and economic orders, and
healthcare systems continue to prevail in a myriad of discussions. The cost of the crisis in
terms of loss of lives is painful, but the effects on the sustainable development prospects and
the global economy are worrisome. Through many economic, social, and political avenues,
this pandemic is heralded to affect the global development objectives at a vast scale, more
prominently on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Srivastava et al., 2020).
First off, the pandemic has created more isolated economics with the closure of borders and
international migration. There have also been various notions that have raised suspicion
among nations. All these factors playing out has led to the failure of multilateralism across
the globe (McCloskey et al., 2020). Ergo, the SDG that takes all of this in and slowly falls
apart is #17 – Partnership for all the goals.
The aim of SDG 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all peoples of all
ages. Individuals with high levels of well-being are more productive at work and are more

likely to contribute to their communities. Well-being is also associated with numerous health,
job, family and economically related benefits (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005).
Inevitably, the pandemic severely affects SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being). As of May
2020, the virus has caught hold onto 3.7 million people and has taken the lives of over 258
thousand individuals. As the world has taken on the norms of social distancing and
quarantine, we witness a heavy reliance on digital connectivity. However, the inability of
being accommodated in the virtual world will lead challenges in the equity dimension of
holistic developing, causing higher levels of poverty, hunger and thereby hampering SDGs 1,
2, 4, 6 and 10 (No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Quality Education, Clean Water, and Sanitation and
Reduced Inequalities respectively). Aggressive efforts have become necessary in meeting the
goals of SDG 3 in the havoc caused by COVID-19. The virus has not spared anyone and the
number of fatalities is increasing daily. The healthcare systems in many countries have been
stretched to their limits. The tragedy of this whole scary episode is the number of health care
workers that have been affected. The tragedy is evolving and becoming more alarming since
no cure has been found so far. Though efforts are underway, no one can predict as of now,
the other health issues that are going to unfold post-COVID-19 crisis. The world is only
focusing on the research leading to the cure and the much-needed supply of COVID-19
related protective gears for the medical personnel. The absence of any vaccine to deal with
the pandemic has led to uncertainty, chaos and fear among the people. The poor are the worst
hit. Access to medical care has become difficult since the testing costs are very high and
remain out of reach for the poor. In rural areas, access to basic food items is difficult since the
imposition of lockdown has affected the transportation of essential goods. The sustained
economy of a nation is balanced through good health and well-being of the people of the
nation. This includes infants, young people, adult and old age people. The major concern for
better health is the clean and green environment for the people to live, but now this is a
distant dream. Industrialization and commercialization of the economy have made anything
and everything to be manufactured. Thus, during the last 100 years of sustained growth, the
one thing we realized is the loss to the environment which was affecting our health and well-
being (Lim et al., 2016). The causes of the majority of the diseases are the cause of the
chemical and non-chemical toxins which is slowly killing and our environment. In this case,
the pandemic COVID – 19 taught us the way to lead a clean life (Khetrapal and Bhatia,
2020).

The dent that the pandemic will leave of SDGs 8 and 9 (Decent Work and Economic Growth
and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) is fretting. Inflation has collapsed around the
world and the global economy meets its deepest recession since the Great Depression. The
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claimed that the annual
growth in the price of goods and services has slowed significantly since March as COVID-19
brought business activity to a near standstill. Although many services have moved into digital
space, there is are slump are closures of traditional manufacturing (Heggen et al., 2020).
Contrariwise, reduced economic activity has led to nature’s relief, emphasizing on the
betterment of SDGs 13, 14, and 15 (Climate Action, Life below Water and Life on
Land). Jim Scheer, Head of Data and Analytics at the Sustainable Energy Authority of
Ireland asserted “We’re expecting to see about a 25% drop in transport for 2020…” leading
to a predicted 12% drop in Carbon Dioxide emissions. We have also seen the revival of many
species (Shahidul, 2020).
There is an obvious negative progress on good health (SDG 3) as people avoid hospitals
unless it is absolutely necessary to visit there. Billions of students are out of school and have
to stay at home (SDG 4). Millions of people are expected to lose their jobs (SDG 8). Those
working in tourism and travel industries are likely to be affected the most. The global
economy is expected to take a big hit, wiping trillions of dollars from the global GDP. The
World Bank also estimates that the ongoing economic crises due to the pandemic may push
millions of people into the poverty (SDG 1). COVID 19 situation is affecting the
vulnerable sections of society. Along with the major loss of human lives, the global economy
and sustainable development prospects are also on a constant challenge (Iwuoha and Jude-
Iwuoha, 2020). However, there are also good prospects as well. Now the air transportation,
cruise ship tours, non-essential travel has stopped, the carbon emissions due to air
transportation has been reduced (SDG 13). People are consuming more responsibly thereby
substantially reducing the waste (12). Thus, there are both sides of the story. The knowledge
and experience gained during this pandemic will also prepare us for the worse. The analysis
conducted in this study will make subjective forecasts regarding the impact of COVID-
19 induced changes on the SDGs (Hasanli and Safarova, 2020).
Positive effect
Unexpectedly, these is one SDG that was positively affected by the lockdown orders. The
SDG regarding Climate Action has improved because of reduction of pollution happening in

most countries. Based on this, it’s clear that the SDGs are all correlated, and if one is
affected, many others will be indirectly affected as well. This can be turned into an advantage
when working on improving the problems targeted by the SDGs. And although most of the
world’s population is currently at home, let us not forget the advantages modern technology
has given. Even without leaving the house we can still impact the world in a positive way and
still work on these SDGs.
Impact of COVID-19 on SDG progress
Yet, in only a brief period of time, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted efforts to achieve
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The global community finds itself in an
unprecedented situation where parallel threats of health, economic and social crises left
countries struggling to contain the epidemic and provide immediate financial relief for the
many people affected by the associated macroeconomic downturns. The pandemic threatens
to reverse years of progress on poverty, hunger, health care and education. While the virus
has impacted everyone, it is affecting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the
most (Health, 2020).
Health
Sustainable development goal 3 is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at
all ages”. This is underpinned by 13 targets relating to:
 maternal and child mortality;
 communicable and non-communicable diseases;
 substance abuse;
 access to healthcare; and
 building global healthcare and health research capacity.
Between 2015 and 2019 there was progress towards meeting the health-related targets.
However, according to the UN, “the rate of progress was not sufficient to meet most goal 3
targets”.
On maternal and child mortality, the UN predicts that disruption to healthcare and reduced
access to nutritious diets because of Covid-19 will result in hundreds of thousands of
additional deaths of children under five in 2020, and tens of thousands of additional maternal

deaths. The global maternal mortality ratio had declined by 38 per cent between 2000 and„
2017. Still, this was less than half of the annual rate needed to achieve the global target of
reducing maternal deaths to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. The under-5
mortality rate had fallen by almost 50 per cent between 2010 and 2018. However, progress
needed to accelerate in 53 countries, two-thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa
(Thornton, 2020)
Routine vaccination programmes in many countries have been paused or disrupted because of
the pandemic. Just over half of the 129 countries where data are available reported moderate-
to-severe disruptions or a total suspension of vaccination services during March and April
2020 (UnitedNations, 2020).
Increases are expected in deaths from tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS-related
illnesses because of disruption to prevention campaigns, detection, and treatment. Deaths
from these diseases are particularly expected to increase i n sub-Saharan Africa (Strong et al.,
2020).
Poverty and work
The first SDG is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”. This goal
includes targets relating to absolute and relative poverty, property rights, access to finance,
and social protection. SDG 8 relates to economic growth and decent work (Liu et al., 2015).
Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, progress towards meeting these targets had slowed and
the world was not on track to meet them by 2030. Baseline projections suggested that 6
percent of the global population would still be living in extreme poverty (under $1.90 per
day) in 2030.
The UN predicts that, if the novel coronavirus follows current projections and economic
activity recovers later in 2020, the poverty rate will reach 8.8 percent globally in 2020. This
would be the first rise in global poverty since 1998 and would take rates close to the 2017
level. The increase above pre-Covid-19 projections equates to approximately 71 million
additional people living in extreme poverty. The largest increases are expected to be seen in
Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (UnitedNations, 2020).
Prohibitions on in-person trading and other lockdown measures have particularly
affected informal workers. The UN estimates that the income of informal workers globally
dropped by 60 percent in the first month of the crisis, and up to 81 percent in some regions.

The pandemic is expected to increase unemployment. The International Labour Organisation
predicts that global working hours could drop by 14 percent in the second quarter of 2020.
Inequality continued to increase within and among countries. Young workers were twice as
likely to live in extreme poverty than adult workers and 85 per cent of people without access
to electricity lived in rural areas. Three quarters of stunted children lived in just two regions:
Southern Asia (39 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (36 per cent)
The decline of global extreme poverty continued, but the pace had slowed down. Projections
suggested that 6 per cent of the global population would still be living in extreme poverty in
2030, missing the target of ending poverty.
Hunger
SDG 2 is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture”. It is measured against targets on access to food, malnutrition,
agricultural productivity and sustainability, and biodiversity.
The proportion of the global population with access to electricity increased from 83 per cent
in 2010 to 90 per cent in 2018, meaning that over 1 billion people acquired this essential
service. Still, 789 million people lacked electricity in 2018. Countries were developing„
national policies to support sustainable development and signing international environmental
protection agreements. For example, 79 countries and the European Union reported on at
least one national policy instrument that contributed to the implementation of the 10- year
Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production in the last two years.
However, progress had either stalled or been reversed in other areas before the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic: The number of persons suffering from hunger and food insecurity„
was on the rise. Almost 690 million people were undernourished in 2019, up by nearly 60
million from 2014. About 2 billion people were affected by moderate or severe food
insecurity in 2019.
The pandemic is likely to increase food insecurity, and hence undernutrition, by reducing
purchasing power and the capacity to produce and distribute food. In addition, rapid increases
in demand for food and disruptions to supply chains in March and April 2020 led to increases
in food prices in some countries (UnitedNations, 2020).
Lockdown measures have negatively impacted small-scale farmers by closing businesses and
markets.

Education
The fourth SDG is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all”. It includes targets on universal primary and secondary
education, and on eliminating gender disparities in access to learning.
Schools closed in over 190 countries in response to the novel coronavirus. This negatively
affected access to education. While some students continue to have access to teaching
through distance learning, over 500 million students globally do not. If children do not attend
school for months, it is likely to affect educational performance, with lower retention and
graduation rates expected.
Reopening schools safely while the virus is still circulating will prove particularly difficult in
places where appropriate sanitation measures are not available. The UN estimates that 35
percent of primary schools worldwide do not have basic handwashing facilities.
Environment
In contrast to other SDG areas, environmental goals could be said to have been aided by the
pandemic. Dramatic reductions in travel and economic activity led to a 17 percent decrease in
daily global carbon emissions in early April 2020. It is estimated that global carbon emissions
will decrease between 4 and 7 percent during 2020, depending on the extent to which
restrictions remain in place.
However, the UN states that this reduction in carbon emissions is still less than what would
be needed to meet obligations in the Paris Agreement and to keep warming below 1.5 degrees
Celsius. In addition, it is believed that emissions are likely to rise again once restrictions are
lifted.
The environment was deteriorating: consumption and production patterns were not
sustainable; oceans suffered from unsustainable depletion, environmental deterioration, CO2
saturation and acidification; forest areas continued to decline at an alarming rate; protected
areas were not concentrated in sites known for their biological diversity, and species
remained threatened with extinction (UnitedNations, 2020).
Recommendations
So, what are our major lessons from this pandemic and how do we proceed from here vis-a-
vis sustainable development? (Mukarram, 2020)

First and foremost, the world must take lessons from this crisis and envisage building more
resilient and stronger societies to absorb such external shocks in future so that there is no
further hindrance to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda (SDGs).
Second : A thorough assessment of, and research on, how far the pandemic is going to affect
the achievement of SDGs in the short, medium, and long run and formulation of a clear
roadmap for recovery are needed.
Third : ‘Shared responsibility’, ‘global solidarity’ and ‘acting together’ should be the basic
principles for responding to the socio-economic challenges posed by COVID-19, and the
world must learn from this human crisis to ‘build back better’, rightly identified by the UN in
its recent report on COVID-19 impact. 8
Fourth : Redefining the roles of different stakeholders within the ‘New Normal’: the
responsibilities have to be extended from the governments to the international community,
multilateral organizations, private sector, civil society and even individuals, if we want to put
up an effective and meaningful fight against the pandemic and its effect on sustainable
development goals.
Fifth : COVID-19 has shown how small-scale humanitarian and philanthropic approaches at
the micro-level can have a huge impact in fighting the challenges in difficult times,
particularly in terms of resource mobilization. We need to translate the same spirit in our
approach towards achieving the SDGs in the post-COVID period.
Sixth : In keeping with the core principle of the SDGs, the world must continue taking special
care of the most marginal and vulnerable segment of the society to ensure ‘no one is left
behind’
expecting governments to provide fiscal and monetary stimulus packages to boost economies
back in track. Social protection services will also experience a similar road path; the
negativity in 2020 will recover by 2030.
Conclusion
Reflective account