Peru and SDG 9: Blog 5

          In my blogs so far, I have covered countries from Europe, Africa, and Asia. In this blog, I will be writing about a country in South America. Peru is a country in western South America. Peru is a tropical country, and its northern tip nearly touches the Equator. The Andes mountain range poses immense difficulties in travel and have long impeded national unity. The name Peru is derived from a Quechua Indian word meaning land of abundance, which is a reference to the economic wealth produced by the rich and highly organized Inca civilization that rules the region for centuries. Peru’s gross national income (GNI) is 191,881$ and GNI per capita is $5,970.79.3% of Peru’s population lives in urban areas and 20.7% lives in rural areas (Davies et al., 2020).

Fig.1. USA.gov. (2018). Peru [Image]. Retrieved from https://2016.export.gov/peru/.

            Peru’s government has prepared its “Pre-image of Peru in 2030” to begin the dialogue for a concerted vision. This will guide the design of the National Strategic Development Plan to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The country has also created the System for Monitoring the Indicators of the SDGs: “Objectives to transform our country” to monitor and follow-up on its implementation process. The country considers developing sectoral statistical data and technical reports in compliance with the SDGs at all state levels. There has been an improvement of public investment to finance sustainable development, reaching 91% of total investment plans. The government also plans to implement a national plan of reconstruction after the serious damages El Nino phenomenon caused to the country’s infrastructure in March 2017 (UN, n.d.).

Fig. 2. Bnamericas. 2019. Peru developing US$30bn in infrastructure projects through 2025 [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/peru-developing-us30bn-in-infrastructure-projects-through-2025

            Per government officials, Peru had 52 infrastructure projects underway between 2019 and 2025.President Martin Vizcarra said 24 of the projects were under construction in 2019, while 25 other projects would soon enter the construction phase and the rest has begun the structuring stage. The President estimated that 95% of the plans would be completed by 2025. After recalculating Peru’s infrastructure shortfall, the President stated that the country needs 49% of GDP in infrastructure to close the gap of 636 bn soles (Bnamericas, 2019).

            Peru also prioritizes environmental conservation. The main environmental objective is the conservation of forest resources. The country emphasizes on preservation of Amazonian rain forests, dry forests and Andean forests (United Nations, n.d.). Peru has prioritized SDG 9 in the “Average” category after SDG 4 ‘Quality Education’, SDG 8 ‘Good Jobs and Economic Growth’, SDG 17 ‘Partnerships for the Goals’ and SDG 5 ‘Gender Equality’ as shown in Fig. 2. This demonstrates that Peruvian businesses tend to place more weight on SDGs that relate to social impact over environmental priorities (World Business Council, 2020).

Fig. 3. World Business Council. (2020). Peru-Peru 2021. Retrieved from https://sdghub.com/peru-peru-2021/.

            We also need to consider how the COVID-19 Pandemic has affected Peru’s SDG implementation goals. Just like most countries, cases of coronavirus are rising in Peru. The government has responded rapidly to “flatten the curve”. There has been added pressure on the Peruvian health system. The true impact of COVID-19 will be complex. This challenge will require the leadership of the state and the support of everyone, particularly the private sector (Sacasa, 2020). In my opinion, Peru has good initiatives and has its strategies planned out to develop infrastructure in the country. However, the COVID-19 pandemic will obstruct the implementation of SDG 9 projects. Hopefully, the world will recover fast once the pandemic comes under control.

References

Bnamericas. (September 4, 2019). Peru developing US$30 bn in infrastructure projects through 2025. Retrieved from https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/peru-developing-us30bn-in-infrastructure-projects-through-2025

Davies, T.M, Burr, R.N., Moore, J.P., Kus, J.S., & Pulgar-Vidal, J. (2020). Peru. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Peru.

Sacasa, M.d.C. (April 1, 2020). Peru embarks on a comprehensive approach to COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2020/peru-embarks-on-a-comprehensive-approach-to-covid-19.html.

UN. (n.d.). Peru: Taking action for sustainable development [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Peru_Government.pdf

United Nations. (n.d.). Peru. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=6200&nr=25&menu=172.

World Business Council. (2020). Peru -Peru 2021. Retrieved from https://sdghub.com/peru-peru-2021/.