The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), which got underway in Doha yesterday is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to accelerate sustainable development in the places where international assistance is needed the most — and to tap the full potential of the LDCs, helping them make progress on the road to prosperity. The LDCs are in a race against time to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The remaining years need to usher in a new global partnership to ensure they benefit from social, economic and environmental development.
The LDCs, listed by the United Nations (UN), are those exhibiting the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development across a range of indexes. All LDCs have a gross national per capita income of below $1,018; compare that to almost $71,000 in the US, $44,000 in France, $9,900 in Turkiye and $6,530 in South Africa according to data from World Bank. These countries also have low scores on the indicators for nutrition, health, school enrolment and literacy and high scores for economic and environmental vulnerability, which measures factors such as remoteness, dependence on agriculture and exposure to natural disasters.
There are currently 46 LDCs, the vast majority of which are in Africa. The list is reviewed every three years by the UN Economic and Social Council. Six countries have graduated from LDC status between 1994 and 2020. “The Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) reminds us that global recovery depends on LDCs getting the support they need,” the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said. “They need bold investments in health, education and social protection systems — all the resources required to fully implement Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
The DPoA for the LDCs for the decade 2022-2031 manifests a new generation of renewed and strengthened commitments between the least developed countries and their development partners, including the private sector, civil society, and governments at all levels. The final text of the DPoA was adopted during the first part of the LDC5 conference on March 17, 2022 and endorsed by the General Assembly on April 1. The ongoing five-day conference is the second part of this exercise in which world leaders have gathered with civil society, the private sector, young people and more to build the plans and partnerships deliver on the promise and ambition of the DPoA over the following decade. The split format was deemed necessary to ensure a safe and in-person gathering in Doha but also in recognition of the fact that the LDCs cannot wait another year for the package of international support measures contained within the DPoA.
The DPoA includes six key focus areas: Investing in people in least developed countries: eradicating poverty and building capacity to leave no one behind; Leveraging the power of science, technology, and innovation to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities and to achieve the SDGs; Supporting structural transformation as a driver of prosperity; Enhancing international trade of least developed countries and regional integration; Addressing climate change, environmental degradation, recovering from Covid-19 pandemic and building resilience against future shocks for risk-informed sustainable development; and Mobilising international solidarity, reinvigorated global partnerships and innovative tools and instruments: a march towards sustainable graduation.
Full implementation of the DPoA will help the LDCs to address the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as well as the resulting negative socio-economic impacts, return to a pathway to achieve the SDGs, address climate change challenges, and makes strides towards sustainable and irreversible graduation. At the conference, it is expected that specific initiatives and concrete deliverables to address LDC-specific challenges will be announced.