Why in News?
- Recently, the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) concluded with adoption of the ‘Doha Political Declaration’ by the world leaders.
- The declaration is a major outcome of the second part of LDC5 conference held under the theme “From Potential to Prosperity” in Qatar.
Major Highlights of the Declaration-
- Doha Programme of Action- It emphasis on implementing the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), the 10-year plan to put the world’s 46 most vulnerable countries back on track to accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
- DPoA for the Decade (2022-2031) was agreed upon during the 1st part of the LDC5 conference in March 2022 in New York, the US.
- DPoA (2022-2031) consisted of Six main Focus Areas,
- Eradicating Poverty.
- Addressing Climate Change.
- Environmental Degradation.
- Leveraging the potential of science and technology to fight against multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and to meet the SDGs.
- Recovering from Covid-19 and building resilience against future shocks for risk-informed sustainable development.
- Need for the Declaration-
- The 46 LDCs are being hit the hardest by numerous crises such as the Covid-19 Pandemic, Climate Crisis, growing Inequalities, rising Debt Burdens and economic shocks.
- They have contributed minimally to Carbon Dioxide Emissions, but unreasonably bear the burden of climate change impacts.
- These countries, which involve 33 African nations, face the challenge of high debt costs while having insufficient liquidity to provide necessary services.
- The LDCs are the worst performers on the progress made towards attaining SDGs, as per the Sustainable Development Report 2022.
About Least Developed Countries (LDCs)-
- Least Developed Countries are a group of countries identified by the United Nations (UN) as having the lowest indicators of socio-economic development. These countries are characterized by high levels of poverty, low levels of human capital, and less access to basic services, like healthcare and education.
- At present, there are 46 countries on the United Nations’ list of LDCs.
- Africa (33),
- Asia (9),
- Caribbean (1), Haiti;
- Pacific (3), Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
- The list of LDCs is examined every three years by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a group of independent experts that report to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
- After triennial review of the list, the CDP may suggest, in its report to ECOSOC, countries for addition to the list or graduation from LDC status.
Significance-
- The political declaration made at Qatar is significant since it comes amid simultaneous global risks, such as rising cost of living, inflation and climate change impacts.
- It is expected to support the LDCs address the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, to return to a pathway to accomplish the SDGs, address climate change and make strides towards sustainable and irreversible graduation.
- It is also expected to support the LDCs overcome the socio-economic impacts following the Ukraine-Russia war.