Looking ahead

Sri Lanka on Sunday committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and targets for the next 15 years, which had been adopted earlier at the United Nations General Assembly. President Maithripala Sirisena, addressing the gathering, assured world leaders that the Sri Lankan Government anticipated achieving these goals fully by 2030.

It was also heartening to see President Sirisena among 70 global leaders to pledge commitment to improving gender rights and equality, even though he wisely admitted that Sri Lanka as a nation had a long way to go before it could achieve true equality.

However, before addressing our hopes of attaining the Sustainable Development Goals – itself a replacement for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired in 2015 – it is fitting to turn our attention to where Sri Lanka fell short with regard to the MDGs.

First is the startling fact that an estimated 480,000 people are threatened by food insecurity or face difficulties in accessing adequate nutrition. This data is all the more startling as it emanates from a country generally considered to be a leader in sustainable development in South Asia. There is also significant Government produced data showing large numbers of people on Samurdhi and household income figures that show growing inequality.

Moreover, despite the end of the war, Sri Lanka saw insignificant increases in public spending on health and education, so much so that it lagged behind in the region and frequently caused strikes in the higher education sector. 

That said, Sri Lanka has been impressive in meeting other MDGs such as reducing child and maternal mortality, achieving universal primary education, gender equality (outside of politics) and developing global partnerships for development.

And now the current regime has a rare window of opportunity – five years at the very least – to build on that and transition Sri Lanka into the much discussed knowledge economy, even though it faces a slew of challenges that need to be supported by strong policymaking and long-term political commitment.

On that note, it is high time Sri Lanka stops parroting its literacy rate as evidence of sustainable development and moves towards tackling the next step of forming a knowledge economy on a long-term plan to genuinely reap the benefits of lending by development partners.

Nevertheless, as a populace we have entrusted this new Government to fulfil the promises that previous pretenders have not, and for the time being at least we can only wait and watch on that front. However, when we take a closer look at the Sustainable Development Goals, it becomes clear that while several are the prerogative of the Government, others are ours. One such goal calls for the empowerment of girls and women; a long-term education policy would no doubt benefit the process, but education, as they say, starts at home. Raising our boys as much as our girls to respect themselves and the opposite sex will be the only lasting solution.

Another point of contention is to ensure the conservation of our environment and resources. While again, Government policy will no doubt aid in creating awareness with regard to sustainable living and recycling, it is up to us to ensure that pollution in each all of its varied forms is kept to a minimum, and that we pass those habits on to the next generation.

On the whole, President Sirisena has rightfully proclaimed that Sri Lanka will reach all the SDGs by 2030 – it is up to the nation to help prove him right.