What is it about?
The progress and realisation of SDGs is falling behind by a great deal, and G20 as a platform has gained prominence in the previous years mainly owing to its Presidencies being held by Southern nations. These countries have brought a sharp focus of developmental concerns in the G20 which lacked such concerted vision towards developmental goals. This publication bring in focus the interconnectedness of SDGs through the socio-economic strand, enviro-ecological strand, and physical strand of development.
Featured Image
Photo by Markus Krisetya on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It is now clear through various voices both intergovernmental3 and institutional4 that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are difficult to be realised by 2030. The Covid-19 led global crisis got synergised with increased threat of climate change, loss of biodiversity beyond retrieval and the crisis identified in terms of energy sources. These crises even though dealt with individually, are urgently necessary to be handled in an interlinked perspective. Unfortunately, our existing idea of “development” does not provide any clue to understand, analyse, and find solution to such a complex set of interdependent problems. Rising inflation, loss of livelihood opportunities, increasing inequality (both within and among the countries), and regional conflicts with associated displacement are symptoms of these problems. Thus, it is relevant to look for a new “development paradigm” that would help us creating a world that leaves no one behind and obviously think beyond the SDGs. The paper is an attempt to help us in this endeavour through the lens of the Group of Twenty (G20).
Perspectives
The quest for an alternative development paradigm has become significant in view of the multiple crises faced by the global community. The increased concern about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 is a clear indication of inability of existing development paradigm to help us achieve the desired objectives. Development has for a considerable time been argued to be achieved through optimisation of individual interests with a belief that it would automatically result in maximising aggregate welfare. However, the complex interactions among economic, social, cultural, political, environmental, and ecological spaces and the resulting plethora of crises make us realise that development calls for a collective effort that engages the simultaneous interactions, not only among the individuals but also with nature to ensure sustainable existence for all – the fundamental objective of sustainable development. The Group of Twenty (G20) as a collective platform of countries must play an effective role in delivering development as a collective good. The diplomatic clout and strategic stature of the G20 must bring an amplified change in our interactions with each other and with the planet. The prevalence of the conceptual paradigm of individual-led development was necessitated by two most cliqued understanding in the contemporary development discourse: development being understood synonymously with gross national product (GNP)-led growth, and the reversible and limitless nature of resources being exploited to achieve growth. This perspective is getting questioned as it is clear that one’s development is not achieved without meaningful contributions from others. It is even argued that one’s freedom today is often the result of unfreedom of some others as development pursued so far has mostly resulted from extraction – both from nature and other individuals. This realisation has resulted in the coinage of the term “no one left behind” as the spirit of sustainable development. The paper engages in a discussion on interlinked nature of development along the socio-economic, enviro-ecological, and physical strands of development and proposes a new “development paradigm” that involves dynamic interactions among these strands to ensure sustainable development in reality and
Pratyush Sharma
Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Beyond SDGs: quest for a new development paradigm through G20 Lens, November 2024, Instituto de Pesquisa Economica Aplicada - IPEA,
DOI: 10.38116/rtm34art2.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
