The Ninth Sustainable Development Goal

Infrastructure is the cornerstone and the basis of the economy in any society and its presence is a prerequisite for achieving all sustainable development goals. [1]
Because more than half of the world’s population today lives in cities, investment in infrastructure is very necessary [2]. i.e. investment in transport, irrigation, energy, information, and communication technology. [3]

Also, technological progress is essential to finding lasting solutions to economic and environmental challenges, such as increasing resources and enhancing energy efficiency [4], as well as providing new job opportunities. Promoting sustainable industries, and investing in scientific research and innovation are all important ways to promote sustainable development. [2]

Also read: Sustainable Development Goal 7.

Targets of the Ninth Sustainable Development Goal

• First, build good quality, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and cross-border infrastructure.
• Second, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization. A significant increase by 2030 in industry, employment, and the gross domestic product, doubling the above in the least developed countries.
• Third, increasing the opportunities for small-scale industrial enterprises and other projects – especially in developing countries – to access financial services.
• Fourth, improving infrastructure and modernizing industries by 2030 in order to achieve their sustainability. In addition to increasing resource use efficiency, and increasing adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
• Fifthly, strengthening scientific research and improving technological capabilities in industrial sectors in all countries, especially developing countries.
• Sixth, facilitating the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure in developing countries; by improving the financial, technological, and technical support provided to it.
• Seventh, support the development of domestic technology, research, and innovation in developing countries.
• Eighth, to significantly increase access to information and communication technology, and to provide opportunities for universal and affordable access to the Internet in the least developed countries. [4]

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

Global manufacturing growth has declined steadily, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic hit manufacturing hard and caused disruptions in global value chains and product supply.
ICT was on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. Which has accelerated the digitization of many companies and services. For example, telework and video conferencing systems inside and outside the workplace, as well as access to health care, education, basic goods, and services.

The pandemic has changed the way we work, live, and adapt many people to this change. But the pandemic has highlighted a significant digital gap, with 6.3 billion people still offline. They are also unable to access online education, employment, or important health, and sanitation advice. The 2020 Sustainable Development Finance Report provides political options to harness the potential of digital technologies.
Once the acute phase of the COVID-19 crisis is over, governments will need more infrastructure investment than ever before to accelerate economic recovery, create jobs, reduce poverty and stimulate productive investment.

The World Bank estimates that developing countries need to invest about 54% of their GDP to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals while limiting global warming by only 2 °C. [4]

Also read: Sustainable Development Goal 8.

Facts and Figures

• More than 4 billion people do not have access to the Internet (90% of them are in developing cities).
• 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation.
• In some low-income African countries, infrastructure constraints have reduced corporate productivity by nearly 40%.
• 2.6 billion people in developing countries do not have access to constant electricity.
• The renewable energy sector currently employs more than 2.3 million people, and the number could reach 20 million by 2030.
• In developing countries, 30% of agricultural products undergo industrial processing, compared to 98% in high-income countries. [2]
• 16% of the world’s population lacks mobile broadband networks.
• The share of investment in research and development as a percentage of GDP increased from 5.1% in 2000 to 7.1% in 2015 and remained almost unchanged in 2017, but it was less than 1% only in developing regions. [4]

The Role of UNCITRAL

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) supports the SDGs. UNCITRAL’s contribution to achieving the SDGs continues on several fronts and touches on a number of different and interrelated areas.
UNCITRAL works to promote many actions in various fields; such as commercial dispute resolution, e-commerce, privately financed infrastructure projects, and many more; These works aim to simplify the process of establishing small-scale projects and facilitate their work. Such as facilitating access to secured credit and benefiting from dispute settlement mechanisms. As well as providing legal frameworks for regulating international sales deals, and simplifying the procedures available to face financial hardships. [1]

♀️ Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative aims at sustainable peace building in Syria through targeting women and providing them with free online courses, workshops, discussion sessions and trainings, with a view to achieving the goals of Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work and Economic Growth, which all fall into the interest of society as a whole and serve the purpose of rebuilding it.

References:

[1] United Nations

[2] UNDP

[3] ESCWA

[4] United Nations- Sustainable Development