Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development
Remarks by Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, as prepared for delivery
Your Excellency, Mr. Jiang Tianbao, Vice-Administrator of the National Rural Revitalization Administration of P.R.China,
Excellency,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank the National Rural Revitalization Administration and the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province for the invitation to address the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development.
While we slowly leave the most dire impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic behind, its scars continue to run deep and are exacerbated by other global crises, including climate change, conflict and the cost of food, energy and finance. To confront this, international cooperation and collective action are needed more than ever to address the socioeconomic impacts of these challenges and rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Even before the pandemic, we saw worrying signs. Baseline, pre-pandemic projections suggested that 6% of the global population would still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. But the pandemic meant an additional 93 million people worldwide were pushed into extreme poverty. Now, climate-related shocks, the impact 27 ongoing conflicts, rising inflation and widening inequalities are only pushing that number higher.
It should not be forgotten that nearly four out of every five people who face extreme poverty around the world reside in rural areas.
With over 3.4 billion people living in rural areas, mostly in developing countries where small-scale farmers are responsible for the majority of food production, poverty reduction cannot be achieved if rural communities do not receive technical support and capacity building in support of sustainable agriculture, water management, natural resource conservation, and the development of effective local institutions and governance structures.
While we are off-track in achieving the SDGs and our goal to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, we have the knowledge, tools and capacity to change this trajectory if we work together, including through public-private and multisector partnerships, learning from countries that have made significant progress in poverty reduction, and listening to the needs of rural populations to ensure our efforts are targeted and effective.
Here, as the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, “The work of regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is critical to addressing our shared challenges and ensuring an equitable recovery.”
Apart from being an observer in the UN General Assembly since 2005, the SCO Secretariat and the UN signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation in 2010, strengthening our dialogue and coordination.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The strong commitment and significant progress of China toward the eradication of abject poverty shows us what is possible. With over 750 million people lifted out of abject poverty over the last four decades, China has important lessons to share with developing countries trying to shake off the shackles of poverty. Today the incredible advances China has made in big data, technology and innovation, this will be key to leapfrogging our joined efforts to ending poverty or SDG 1. In fact there is a direct correlation between ending poverty and SDG 2. ending hunger. China with 9 % of the world’s arable land feeds 20% of the world’s population.
Meanwhile, the UN in China will continue to support the Government of China to meet and respond to new opportunities and challenges, in promoting rural revitalization, high-quality, inclusive and green development, and enhancing international development cooperation and partnerships for the attainment of the SDGs,
through the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for China (2021-2025).
On rural development, the UN in China has been implementing an Innovative Poverty Reduction Programme since 2019, focusing on specialized agribusiness development in Sichuan and Ningxia. It assists villages in establishing the Yueyi Agricultural Arts Professional Cooperative, promoting inclusiveness, standardized governance, and a gender focus in order to integrate smallholder farmers into value chains.
In addition, the UN in China, through its China – Horn of Africa (HoA) – United Nations Transformative Partnership Initiative (TPI), is setting out to revitalize opportunities for bold partnerships amongst governments, development partners, foundations and businesses, in support of the national development priorities of HoA countries, and the SDGs. As part of the TPI, the UN in China recently hosted a dialogue on building long-term drought resilience to deliver a more food-secure HoA, where solutions such as technology exchanges and investment opportunities were proposed to address these challenges and build drought mitigation and resistance in the region.
The UN in China remains committed to building upon its role, to add value, contribute expertise and ensure compliance with international norms and standards, through the creation and reinforcement of partnerships, including in the area of poverty reduction, for the achievement of the SDGs.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The central, transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to “leave no one behind”. But we must redouble our efforts to reach the poorest of the poor, the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, to ensure they also benefit from our progress towards sustainable development.
I wish you successful deliberations.
Thank you.