Pafos Live 20 February 2024
The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Cyprus analyzed the results regarding our country, as included in the European Sustainable Development Report (SDR) for 2023/24, which was published on January 25, 2024. Cyprus ranked 32nd out of 34 countries, in Europe, with an overall score of 61.0, which is only slightly higher than the 2022 score of 60.7 (where Cyprus again held the same position). This position does no credit to our country and as SDSN Cyprus we are committed to continue our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Some of the most problematic indicators, which result in a negative assessment of a total of 8 Sustainable Development Goals (where there are significant challenges), include: excessive nitrogen use in agriculture, representation of women in parliament, compensatory water imports, municipal waste recycling rate, export of plastic waste, CO2 emissions, overfishing, low levels of Overseas Development Assistance and poor rating as a tax haven.
There is some progress on some indicators, such as Poverty, Energy and Inequality. It is also important to note that efforts are being made for further progress, such as the launch in 2021 of the Voluntary National Review for the Cyprus Goals and the expected production in 2024 (under the auspices of DG Development, with the assistance of UNITAR), of the first comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals plan for Cyprus. SDSN Cyprus actively encourages all efforts in this positive direction.
SDSN Cyprus will soon announce the organization of an event, in which the findings of this report will be presented and commented on. This will be followed by a discussion on ways to reverse this sad reality. Since its establishment (2019) SDSN Cyprus has worked with social and government partners to improve our performance in implementing the SDGs. It promotes the dissemination of best practices, awareness-raising, education for sustainable development, youth engagement and mainstreaming the SDGs in their daily activities.
SDSN's European Sustainable Development Report 2023/24 is available at: https://eu-dashboards.sdgindex.org/. For more information or to help make the SDGs a reality in Cyprus, please visit https://sdsn.cyprus.cyi.ac.cy website or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SDSNCyprus) or send an e-mail to sdsn.cyprus@cyi.ac.cy.
