Dubai Statistic Center (DSC) has launched the sustainable development goals (SDGs) platform for the purposes of sustainable development in the Emirate of Dubai which demonstrates the key indicators of sustainable development in the Emirate in the light of the international standards set by the United Nations. Al Mheiri ,The Executive Director of DSC also revealed that such platform is a part of the initiatives held for achieving the governmental development of Dubai Council.
In addition, Arif Al Mheiri ,The Executive Director of DSC , explained that the key goal of any statistical body in the world including DSC is to support development processes. Hence, such initiative has been categorized as a high-priority one falling under the umbrella of the Center's strategy to support planning and developmental decision making following H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, issuance of January 4, 2020 Charter, which is deemed a qualitative step in the path of development, future making process and achievement of the highest levels of prosperity in the Emirate. The Platform shall be a source for national reports of sustainable development objectives and it shall be supervised by the National Bureau of Statistics. The United Nations categorizes the world countries from a developmental perspective according to their sustainable development reports, which are deemed a key indicator reflecting countries reputation and competitiveness. In addition, such reports have their own strategic reflections on these countries soft powers. Al Mheiri clarified that such Platform has been developed by the Center's team through applying the latest statistical technologies.
In its first phase, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) platform tackles the key indicators of sustainable development in the Emirate of Dubai for the previous four years and it is updated constantly. It also grants the developmental decision makers a chance to follow up the progress of works in the developmental fields as well as following up the performance indicators related to the goals of sustainable development. It provides comparisons with the world's best records achieved according to the Sustainable Development Indicators and Data Report issued back in 2019 besides the comparison of the Emirate's indicators against the national indicators which is made in a manner that demonstrates the Emirates' contribution to the State's developmental process as well as its contribution to achieving positive performance indicators on the national reports level.
Al Mheiri pointed out that currently sixty-one indicators were covered by twelve sustainable development goals. They include issues related to economic, social and environmental aspects, where the economic aspect revolves around indicators that aim at enhancing economic growth, productive workforce and providing proper jobs for all. The social aspect revolves around indicators related to living standards ,healthy and welfare lifestyles, good education for all and enhancing education opportunities. It also tackles indicators related to gender equality and women and girls empowerment. As for the environmental aspect, it tackles indicators related to providing water, providing and sustainably management of sanitary services. It also includes indicators that guarantee a fair cost for sustainable and reliable modern energy services in addition to other indicators aiming at carrying out prompt measures to face and reduce emissions that affect climate. It also seeks to limit the impact of such emissions and issue early warnings thereof.
A Full Mark Scored
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Platform has shown Dubai's scoring of the full mark in accordance with the sustainable development standards set by the United Nations regarding various developmental indicators including those related to eliminating poverty, providing main services for all, providing schools with energy, internet access and main equipment, providing main healthcare services, providing water, energy, sanitary, technical and communication services, births supervised by skilled medical staff as well as recording such births officially besides deaths and injuries resulting from natural disasters.
Excellence
The data of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Platform of Dubai demonstrates the fact that the Emirate has made a notable progress as shown by a group of indicators compared to other countries, which have achieved high levels of sustainable development as declared by the United Nations' reports issued in 2018-2019. Such comparisons show that the Emirate is achieving indicators that resemble the results of advanced countries; moreover, the Emirate of Dubai is taking the lead of some of such indicators, which include the Emirate's achievement of 1.8% annual growth by the end of 2018 compared to Finland and France 1.7% and Germany 1.5%. Such finding reflected the significance of diversity in the Emirate's economy that enabled it to face the swings of world economy. The Emirate's economy kept its flexibility as well as its ability to achieve positive growth while expanding its scope of works which reflected on workforce development and reduced unemployment rates. The sustainable development indicators show that the Emirate of Dubai has achieved the lowest rate of unemployment compared to the aforementioned countries as Dubai's rate reached 0.5 compared to France's that reached 8.8, Finland's 6.3, Denmark 5.4 and Germany 3.7.
Given the state of economic activity of individuals is associated with families income, indicators showed growth in per capita income within the lowest 40% of the population, as the rate grew by 1.5 in the Emirate of Dubai compared to Sweden 1.8, France 0.7, Denmark 0.6 and Finland 0.5. In addition, the state system of representation in the Federal National Council also contributed to the benchmark of the proportion of seats held by women in parliaments, where the percentage of women in the Federal National Council reached 50%, while the percentage of women representation in parliaments in Sweden reached 46.1% in Sweden, 42.0% in Finland, 39.4% in France and 37.4% in Denmark which reflects the wise government's guarantee to ensure full and effective participation of women as well as equal opportunities for leadership and equality with men in all levels of decision-making. Moreover, Dubai has recorded the lowest indicators of crimes of murder, human trafficking and other indicators.
The sustainable development goals
The sustainable development goals are represented by a set of social, economic and interconnected goals that the international community agreed to achieve by 2030 under the umbrella of the United Nations. The sustainable frame embraces 17 objectives, 169 goals in addition to 241 indicators. The frame of sustainable development is harmonious with the United Arab Emirates' National Agenda 2021 and Dubai 2021 strategic plan in terms of their multi-dimensional visions as well as in terms of their appreciation of the significant roles played by environmental, economic and social factors. The international community has defined sustainable development as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition, it calls for concerted efforts to build a comprehensive, sustainable and enduring future for the people and Earth.