Authors: Assoc. Dr. Cuong Vu; Dr. Quynh Hoa Nguyen; and Dr. Quoc Dung Ngo (National Economics University)
The research provides the most important features to describe how the 3 sustainable development goals (SDGs), SDG4, SDG8, and SDG12, have affected the country's development and how it has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The research also provides information on the development status of these 3 SDGs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. And from those realities, the researchers recommend orientation to achieve VSDGs on time by 2030.
Research objectives
The current situation of 3 SDGs: SDG4, SDG8, SDG12 in Vietnam has shown that some indicators of each aforementioned SDG (SDG 4: 8/16 indicators; SDG 8: 2/11 indicators, SDG 12: 3/7 indicators) may not be met on schedule. Thus, the roadmap for VSDG implementation needs to be adjusted and more efforts should be made to ensure on-time arrival of all VSDGs in 2030.
Current situations of the three SDGs (4, 8 and 12) in Vietnam
SDG 4: The progress of the implementation of SDG4 in 2020-21 period has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted the learning process of children at all levels, although the online learning method has been applied. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic also affects the learning process as well as the quality of vocational training, which are important contributors to the achievement of the SDG. Nevertheless, it is considered as a positive point that the Covid-19 pandemic has facilitated the digital transformation process to take place faster.
SDG 8: The Covid-19 pandemic in the last 2 years, 2020-2021, along with the unpredictable context of the domestic and foreign markets due to the impact of Covid-19, have greatly affected the progress of the implementation of SDG8. Slow down of economic growth and GDP per capita growth rate; expansion of the informal sector, reduction in workers' incomes, and higher unemployment and underemployment rates... are observable adverse impacts of the pandemic.
SDG 12: Effective use of natural resources has not been significantly improved; Post-harvesting losses are still large; Domestic solid waste continues to increase; The separation of garbage in households is not effective. However, there are some positive signals as the rate of recovery and treatment of hazardous wastes increases; The rate of waste treatment by landfill also decreased. At the same time, amending the Law on Environmental Protection is being focused, the Government is gradually paying more attention to the circular economy, encouraging the production to reuse, recycle and treat in order to reduce maximum types of garbage and waste. However, the implementation of this SDG is still challenged, and it is very difficult to project the potential of achieving it by 2030. Although Covid-19 pandemic does not directly affect the implementation of SDG12, it can have a longer-term impact because funding mobilization to implement this SDG may be negatively affected or it may be ranked behind other more urgent priorities induced by Covid-19.
Feasible roadmap to achieve these three VSDGs (4, 8 and 12) in 2030
The current situation of the three SDGs in Vietnam has shown that some indicators in each SDGs cannot be achieved due to Covid 19 pandemic. Hence, the implementation roadmap in 2025 and 2030 must be adjusted. Substantial consultation with different stakeholders suggested the detailed adjustments as follows:
Source: Proposal made by authors based on projection and consultative discussion. (Unit: %)