A new United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) accelerator aims to speed action on Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG 9) in Latin America’s middle-income countries, many of which are trailing on industrialization targets.

SDG 9 (build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation) is closely linked to other goals such as those targeting job creation, technology transfer, skills development, gender equality and environmental sustainability, making it key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

But results so far have provided little to cheer about, especially in least developed countries where a key industrialization target of doubling manufacturing’s share in employment and GDP currently looks beyond reach.

For middle-income countries, home to three quarters of the world’s working population, the picture is more mixed, although figures on the majority middle-income region of Latin America and the Caribbean suggest economies are struggling.

UNIDO is the custodian of six out of 12 indicators under the SDG 9, and is also responsible for tracking its targets. Data from five industry-related indicators collected between 2000 and 2018 show Latin America is one of the poorest performing areas in the world, with most of its middle-income countries swinging between stagnation and limited advances. Some are even going backwards.

Getting countries on track to meet SDG 9 industrialization targets will require stronger growth, accompanied by technological innovation and action to reduce the environmental impact of production.

That is an uphill battle for many of Latin America’s middle-income countries, stuck in a cycle of weak growth, modest productivity and low investment, compounded by growing levels of public debt. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), gross general government debt has risen to 77.7 per cent GDP, the highest of any developing region, sparking fears of a new debt crisis.  

Although now slowly emerging from the worst of the COVID-19 crisis, the scars left by the sharpest economic contraction in a century remain. Unemployment, inequality and poverty are all on the rise. For middle-income countries saddled with high debt and limited, if any, access to traditional forms of development cooperation or other concessional funding, this is particularly challenging.

Given the importance of middle-income countries to achieving a better and greener recovery in the region, along with the short timeframe available to deliver on the UN Decade of Action (2020-2030), collective efforts on SDG 9 must be strengthened at every level. 

Coordinated action-oriented policies are needed to help mobilize resources for development and integration into the global economy, helping countries to manage risk, improve institutions, and maximise the potential of their natural resources.

UNIDO’s new SDG 9 Accelerator for Latin American and the Caribbean, officially launched in April 2022, is a contribution to this effort achieve progress through innovation. The Accelerator is a digital platform that invigorates regional integration efforts, boosts participation in the technology revolution, proposes sustainable economic models, widens cooperation, builds new capacity and mobilizes finance.

Rooted in a strategic approach to middle-income countries that emphasises UNIDO’s key role as a global convenor, policy advisor and arbiter of standards and norms, the Accelerator is designed to build networks and partnerships that connect countries and donors, as well as being a gateway to a plethora of ideas and opportunities for advancing SDG 9.

The contributions of relevant stakeholders can give policymakers a better understanding of national and regional strategies regarding SDG 9. At the same time, countries themselves can benefit from UNIDO’s industry knowledge and advisory services, visiting thematic areas on the platform that address specific issues relevant to SDG 9, such as quality and standards, industrial decarbonization, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) development, and employment and industrial policy.

By providing wider access to publications, events and a network of experts, as well as concrete offers of funding and training, the platform will be a “one-stop shop” for policymakers, industry representatives and governments to exchange ideas and work out strategies required to build sustainable and inclusive industry sectors that can participate successfully in global industrial value chains. For example, the SDG 9 Accelerator is the ideal way for policymakers and industry participants to explore ways to implement norms and standards required for global market access.

The first knowledge exchange to take place on the Accelerator platform was a training programme on the circular economy, organized in collaboration with Costa Rica’s Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade following its initial launch in Spanish in November 2021.

Costa’s Rica’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, Alejandro Solano, stressed that “the systematization and articulation of information is always important. The Accelerator is a tool that unifies these processes and facilitates decision-making.”

VIENNA, 21 April 2022 - Two years ago, the United Nations launched the Decade of Action to speed up progress on achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognizing that, despite significant advances, in some areas many of the ambitious targets remained off track. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has further derailed progress, wiping out hard won gains on poverty, inequality, health and employment, among others. It has also opened deeper cracks in already shaky international relations as the global community battles to overcome the crisis.

Tackling these urgent development challenges in an era of rising global instability will demand ever more innovative and collaborative solutions. This means fresh thinking, and more flexible, transparent and adaptable approaches which allow all voices to be heard.

That’s why the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is reaching out to its Member States and other partners in a series of ongoing consultations on selected technical and policy issues.

The first topic tackled in the in-depth discussions was the circular economy. The antithesis of our current take-make-use-discard economic model, the circular economy is driven by design to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. Almost half of all global CO2 emissions are created from the extraction and processing of natural resources, making a switch to circular economy practices key for achieving inclusive and sustainable industrial development, combating climate change and delivering the 2030 Agenda.

Sessions on the circular economy  were held in November 2020 and May 2021, and co-chaired by Austria and Costa Rica. Participants, including UNIDO Member States, country experts, governmental and non-governmental bodies and the private sector agreed to promote the wider adoption of circular economy principles. They also sought to push efforts towards developing a global circular economy framework, calling on UNIDO to facilitate greater international industrial cooperation and to provide policy support.

UNIDO’s work has long championed the circular economy, with resource-efficiency and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies forming an important part of the Organization’s technical assistance programmes and policy advice.

But, as yet, there is no internationally agreed definition of the circular economy, nor is there agreement on what policies would be needed to deliver the benefits of systemic change. What is the role of governments, business and society? How would the change be governed? And how would it be measured? Working towards a framework would help to answer these questions by developing clear guidelines and commonly agreed definitions that would encourage faster and more widespread adoption of sustainable production and consumption practices and industrial products standards.

The consultations are part of a broader initiative to deepen Member States’ engagement, giving them a new platform to shape dialogue at a global level and providing them with an opportunity to participate more deeply in the Organization’s policymaking processes. They reflect UNIDO’s role as a convenor and its strategic work in building capacity and knowledge that advances inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Enhancing the Organization’s relationship with Member States will also help coordinate more policy coherence across departments, directorates and regional offices in key areas of work.  

Future consultative sessions are expected to include topics such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, climate action, building back better from COVID-19, and eco-industrial parks.

For more information, please contact:

Kai Bethke, Director, Department of External Relations

k.bethke@unido.org

Contaminated food causes 600 million cases of foodborne disease a year and over 400,000 deaths, demonstrating the clear connection between food safety and public health. Yet the importance of food safety goes beyond direct impacts on health. It is also fundamental for developing market economies, maintaining livelihoods, and increasing trade – especially for developing countries trying to break into growing global markets in food and agriculture.

International trade in food and agriculture more than doubled in value between 1995 and 2018 to US$1.5 trillion when technological improvements and lower trade barriers spurred the growth of global value chains. This explosion in trade has widened supply and boosted opportunities to improve livelihoods. But it has also put a renewed focus on food safety standards as higher volumes of perishable goods move across borders. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further highlighted the connections between health, the environment and development, food safety concerns look certain to become a growing international priority.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, established in 1963 under the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, is where food safety regulators from all over the world convene to set food safety standards based on scientific principles. Originally, countries applied their own individual, national standards. But with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, Codex gained more importance thanks in the main to the Sanitary Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreements that set norms on the safe trade of food and agricultural products worldwide.

Even though Member State engagement has improved in recent years, many developing countries still struggle to benefit fully from Codex membership, both in terms of involvement in the standard-setting process and in their ability to implement its standards and guidelines. This is because as science evolves, countries with already limited capacities are often unable to address more complex, increasingly stringent food safety requirements and regulations set by more developed countries.

In partnership with other organizations, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is responding to requests from developing countries to support their participation in the international standard-setting process, respond to queries on the international food trade regime, and to help design and implement more robust food safety systems.

With decades of experience in supporting its Member States to develop, improve and implement standards across a range of industries, UNIDO provides valuable technical know-how and institutional knowledge through its capacity-building projects. Beyond that, the Organization acts as a convenor to bring together a wide range of partners, using its expertise to perform a bridging role, encouraging the flow of knowledge and best practices among standard-setting agencies, governments and industry to develop more achievable solutions adapted to individual country circumstances.

UNIDO is also an active observer of the Codex Alimentarius and is thus able to provide the most recent scientific knowledge to its Member States. As Steve Wearne, Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Commission stated, “UNIDO plays a vital role in helping to translate Codex food safety and quality standards into action by working with countries to build awareness and plan implementation of international standards in a way that matches their priorities and capacity.”

In 2019, UNIDO joined forces with the Standards and Trade Development Facility, hosted by the WTO, in an innovative pilot project to use so-called voluntary third-party assurances (vTPAs) to improve decision-making in food safety enforcement for Mali and Senegal. This project was the first of its kind to collect lessons learned on draft Codex standards from developing countries before their adoption.

The rationale behind this new approach was to allow national regulators to make more informed decisions within Codex. It also helped raise awareness in developing countries of a new food safety regulatory concept, which has already been championed by a number of developed countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In addition to countries in West Africa, UNIDO has also established partnerships under the initiative in Latin America, thanks to its continuous engagement with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

More recently, in collaboration with the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources, UNIDO organized an information session on draft Codex guidance on the paperless exchange of electronic certificates – a concept that can aid the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and other regional economic and trade agreements. This session provided regulators with essential answers to their questions on the draft proposal, contributing to its successful adoption in November 2021.

Acting as an independent arbiter in schemes such as these, UNIDO is able to apply both technical and institutional knowledge to interpret Codex guidelines in situations where there may be a lack of trust between parties or significant communication gaps.

Ultimately, providing developing countries with the knowledge and technical knowhow to take full advantage of active participation in Codex will help to develop more relevant global food standards and so propel more inclusive and sustainable industrial development.