Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, stressed that adopting a holistic approach in dealing with the Sustainable Development Goals would enable countries to overcome crises and shocks that hinder development.
This came during his participation in discussing the book of “The Role of Public – Private Engagement in Building a Sustainable Future” organized by Economic Research Forum, with the participation of the other collaborators in writing the book beside Mohieldin which are Sameh Wahba, Regional Director of Urban and Rural Management at the World Bank, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Perez, Management Professor at Colombian EAFIT University, Economic Researcher Miral Shehata, and Ibrahim Elbadawi, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum.
Mohieldin said that the holistic approach in which the SDGs are treated as one undivided bloc may represent part of solving the crises faced by countries and societies if not the whole solution, explaining that the SDGs have been agreed upon and designed as a long-term development plan that can overcome the crises and shocks faced by countries and societies if dealt with a comprehensive perspective.
Mohieldin explained that applying the visions for achieving sustainable development in the Arab countries requires at the beginning the adoption of this holistic approach, and then transforming these visions into national frameworks with clear priorities while linking them to public budgets.
He pointed out that success in implementing the sustainable development goals varies from country to country based on the goals and policies set, the availability of elements of success for these policies, the ability to link development with available resources, the general budget of the state and the possibility of implementing development policies through institutions.
He stated that the implementation of development action requires the availability of accurate and dependable data, clear frameworks and policies, and adequate finance, pointing to some statistics that show that the implementation of development action in developing countries needs more than $4 trillion annually, which reflects a large financing gap between what is required and what is already available.
Mohieldin noted the inability of public budgets of countries to bear the burdens of financing the development process alone, which stresses the importance of private sector participation in financing and implementation, and mixing internal, external, public and private sources of financing.
Mohieldin said that the financing data of each country is the real standard on which each country can base its plans to finance and implement development action, explaining that a holistic approach in dealing with the various sustainable development goals would overcome the financing gaps that arise when trying to achieve each goal individually.
He added that developing countries rely on debt at a rate of more than 61% to finance climate action alone, and this shows the importance of private sector participation as well as activating innovative financing instruments and developing policies for grants and soft loans to include a low interest rate and long-term grace and repayment periods.
Mohieldin stressed the importance of governing the Sustainable Development Goals, investing in human capital and infrastructure, and creating a development system capable of absorbing crises and shocks, in order to effectively implement sustainable development plans.
