Scalable,Sustainable Solutions for Abundant Food, Health, and Prosperity

A University-Business Alliance Response to Achieve SDGs 1-3 in Rural Development

The 2016 Global Action Leadership Forum at the World Bank continues high level dialogue and strategic action for scalable, sustainable solutions for abundant food, health and prosperity, (SDG1-3).  The Forum convenes cross sector leadership from business, investment, government, university, and international NGO sectors and includes findings from the 2016 Global Action Report, which were distributed to participants in a private release at the event. 

In addition to food, health, and economic topics, the Forum highlights the launch of an innovative rural development project from the Philippines led by Global Partnership for Sustainable Solutions, GPSS, LLC.  The presentation explores how scalable, sustainable SDG1-3 solutions can be advanced and applied in rural situations.

Presenters:

Juergen Voegele, Senior Director, Agriculture Global Practice, Moderator                                                    

Scott T. Massey,Chairman and CEO, Global Action Platform                                                         

Suparno Banerjee, Vice President and WW Leader for HP Enterprises’ Future City Initiative, Hewlett Packard Enterprise                                                                                                                                                

Josyline Javelosa, Agricultural and Trade Attache, Embassy of The Philippines                                          

Jose Victor V. Chan-Gonzaga, Minister of Economic Affairs, Embassy of The Philippines

Bryan Thomas, Managing Partner, GPSS, LLC

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SDGs for Rural Development

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Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promoteinclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

● About 2.6 billion people in the developing world are facing difficulties in accessing electricity full time.

● 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic sanitation and almost 800 million people lack access to water, many hundreds of millions of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

● 1 to 1.5 million people do not have access to reliable phone service.

● For many African countries, particularly the lower-income countries, infrastructure constraints affect company productivity by around 40%.

● Manufacturing is an important employer, accounting for around 470 million jobs worldwide in 2009 – or around 16% of the world’s workforce of 2.9 billion. It is estimated that there were more than half a billion jobs in manufacturing in 2013.

● Industrialization’s job multiplication effect has a positive impact on society. Every one job in manufacturing creates 2.2 jobs in other sectors.

● In developing countries, barely 30% of agricultural production undergoes industrial processing. In high-income countries, 98% is processed. This suggests that there are great opportunities for developing countries in agribusiness.

Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

● On average – and taking into account population size –income inequality increased by 11% in developing countries between 1990 and 2010.

● A significant majority of households in developing countries – more than 75% – are living today in societies where income is more unequally distributed than it was in the 1990s.

● Children in the poorest 20% of the population are still up to three times more likely to die before

their fifth birthday than children in the richest quintiles.

● Social protection has been significantly extended globally, yet persons with disabilities are up to five times more likely than average to incur catastrophic health expenditures.

● Despite overall declines in maternal mortality in the majority of developing countries, women in rural areas are still up to three times more likely to die while giving birth than women living in urban centres.

Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

● Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year.

● Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood. This includes some 70 million indigenous people. Forests are home to more than 80% of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects.

● 2.6 billion people depend directly on agriculture, but 52% of the land used for agriculture is

moderately or severely affected by soil degradation.

● Due to drought and desertification each year, 12 million hectares are lost (23 hectares per minute), where 20 million tons of grain could have been grown.

● Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8% are extinct and 22%are at risk of extinction.

● As many as 80% of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant-based medicines for basic healthcare.

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