The European Union has made significant progress in achieving five of the 17 United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the last five years, according to an analysis released on Tuesday by Eurostat, the EU statistical office.
In the case of Cyprus, the country has made progress and outperformed the EU average in reducing poverty and social exclusion (SBA 1), protecting life on land (SBA 15) ) and the areas of health and well-being (SBA 3).
Cyprus has made progress but is below the EU average relative to most of the other sustainable development targets, with the exception of responsible consumption and production (SBA 12) and cooperation to achieve the objectives (SBA 17) where no progress has been made and Cyprus remains below the EU average.
At the same time, in terms of reducing inequalities, Cyprus is moving away from achieving the goal of reducing inequalities (SBA 10), but remains above the EU average.
According to a press release for the report entitled “Sustainable development in the European Union – 2022 monitoring report on progress towards the EU, 2022” (Sustainable development in the European Union – 2022 monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in a EU context), the EU has continued to make the greatest progress in promoting peace and personal security in its territory, improving access to justice and trust in institutions (SBA 16).
< p class = "text-paragraph">In particular, it adds, the proportion of the EU population reporting crimes, violence and vandalism in its neighborhood fell from 13.2% in 2015 to 10.9% in 2020. In addition, the proportion of the EU population who believe that the award system justice in his country is sufficiently independent, increased by 4 percentage points between 2016 and 2021 (from 50% to 54%).
Significant progress has also been made towards the poverty and social exclusion (SBA 1), the economy and labor market (SBA 8), clean and affordable energy (SBA 7), and innovation and infrastructure (SBA 9).
< p class = "text-paragraph">Progress in achieving the goals of health and well-being (SBA 3), water life (SBA 14), gender equality (SBA 5), sustainable cities and communities (SBA 11), inequalities (SBA 10), responsible consumption and production (SBA 12), quality education (SBA 4), climate action (SBA 13) and zero hunger (SBA 2) were moderate.
The overall assessment of EU progress on cooperation (SBA 17) and clean water and sanitation (SBA 6) was neutral, which means that these sectors were characterized by almost the same degree of sustainable and unsustainable development. p>
Finally, in the last five years there has been a slight departure from the respective Sustainable Development Goals for terrestrial life (SBA 15), which shows that ecosystems and biodiversity remain are under pressure due to human activity.
Although both forest areas and the EU terrestrial protected areas have increased slightly, the pressure on biodiversity has continued to intensify. For example, the appearance of common bird species is an indicator of biodiversity, because many of these species need specific habitats to reproduce and feed. These habitats often house many endangered plant and animal species. Since 2000, the population of common bird species is estimated to have decreased by 10%. However, after many years of decline, it seems that their population has begun to stabilize.
