Building forward better Action to strengthen the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Fourth report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Virtual meeting 15 – 18 March 2021 Thank you for your interest in this ECLAC publication ECLAC Publications Please register if you would like to receive information on our editorial products and activities. When you register, you may specify your particular areas of interest and you will gain access to our products in other formats. www.cepal.org/en/publications ublicaciones www.cepal.org/apps Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary Mario Cimoli Deputy Executive Secretary Raúl García-Buchaca Deputy Executive Secretary for Management and Programme Analysis Sally Shaw Officer-in-Charge of the Documents and Publications Division Work on this document was coordinated by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with the collaboration of Mario Cimoli, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Luis Yáñez, Secretary of the Commission. The drafting committee comprised Wilson Peres, Gabriel Porcile, Daniel Taccari and Zebulun Kreiter, with the collaboration of Romain Zivy, Vianka Aliaga, Vera Kiss and María Ortiz, all of ECLAC. The following chiefs of ECLAC substantive divisions, subregional headquarters and country offices participated in the preparation of this document: Daniel Titelman, Chief of the Economic Development Division; Rolando Ocampo, Chief of the Statistics Division; Simone Cecchini, Officer-in-Charge of the Social Development Division; Paulo Saad; Chief of the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE)-Population Division of ECLAC; Cielo Morales, Chief of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES); Giovanni Stumpo, Officer-in-Charge of the Division of Production, Productivity and Management; Joseluis Samaniego, Chief of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division; Jeannette Sánchez, Chief of the Natural Resources Division; Ana Güezmes, Chief of the Division for Gender Affairs; Mario Castillo, Chief of the Division of International Trade and Integration; Miguel Torres, Editor of the CEPAL Review; Hugo Beteta, Chief of the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico; Diane Quarless, Chief of the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean; Gabriel Porcile, Chief of the ECLAC office in Montevideo; Martín Abeles, Chief of the ECLAC office in Buenos Aires; Olga Lucía Acosta, Officer-in-Charge of the ECLAC office in Bogotá; Carlos Mussi, Chief of the ECLAC office in Brasilia; and Inés Bustillo, Chief of the ECLAC office in Washington, D.C. The authors are particularly grateful for the collaboration of the following staff members of ECLAC: Abdullahi Abdulkadri, Mónica Aguayo, José Eduardo Alatorre, Dillon Alleyne, Dante Arenas, Bernardo Atuesta, Diego Aulestia, Guiomar Bay, Amelia Bleeker, Alejandro Bustamante, Catarina Camarinhas, Georgina Cipoletta, Rubén Contreras, Helena Cruz Castanheira, Carlos de Miguel, Fabiana Del Popolo, Artie Dubrie, Mareike Eberz, Ernesto Espíndola, Álvaro Fuentes, Lydia Gény, Nicolo Gligo, Candice Gonzales, Camila Gramkow, Michael Hanni, Sebastián Herreros, Francis Jones, Alberto Malmierca, Xavier Mancero, Sandra Manuelito, Karina Martínez, Rodrigo Martínez, Sheldon McLean, Beatriz Morales, Enrique Oviedo, Machel Pantin, Esteban Pérez, Noel Pérez, Willard Phillips, Ramón Pineda, Laura Poveda, Claudia Robles, Mónica Rodrigues, Adrián Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez, Sebastián Rovira, Lucía Scuro, Zulma Sosa, Pauline Stockins, Valeria Torres, Marcia Tambutti, Daniela Trucco, Iliana Vaca Trigo, Helvia Velloso, Cecilia Vera, Francisco Villarreal, Lucy Winchester and Sheng Zhao. The following ECLAC consultants also provided input for the preparation of the document: Tarek Abdo, Raúl Holz, Nicolás Grinblatt, Carlos Pérez Verdía and Alynn Sánchez. The boundaries and names shown on the maps included in this publication do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Explanatory notes - Three dots (…) indicate that data are missing, are not available or are not separately reported. - A dash (-) indicates that the amount is nil or negligible. - A full stop (.) is used to indicate decimals. - The word “dollars” refers to United States dollars unless otherwise specified. - A slash (/) between years (e.g. 2013/2014) indicates a 12-month period falling between the two years. - Individual figures and percentages in tables may not always add up to the corresponding total due to rounding. United Nations publication LC/FDS.4/3/Rev.1 Distribution: G Copyright © United Nations, 2021 All rights reserved Printed at United Nations, Santiago S.21-00124 This publication should be cited as: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Building forward better: action to strengthen the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (LC/FDS.4/3/Rev.1), Santiago, 2021. Applications for authorization to reproduce this work in whole or in part should be sent to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Documents and Publications Division, [email protected]. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and to inform ECLAC of such reproduction. Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER I Latin America and the Caribbean before the outbreak of COVID-19 ....................................................................................................11 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................13 A. A halting recovery from the 2008 crisis: the limits of monetary policy and debt ................................................................................13 B. Inequality as a barrier to global recovery and stability ........................................................................................................................16 C. The climate and environmental emergency ..........................................................................................................................................18 D. The crisis of multilateralism and the need for developing economies to speak with one voice .........................................................23 E. Concluding observations .......................................................................................................................................................................25 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................................................................26 CHAPTER II The worst health crisis in over a century ...................................................................................................................................................27 A. The region in times of pandemic...........................................................................................................................................................29 B. Effects on life expectancy .....................................................................................................................................................................31 C. Risk factors ............................................................................................................................................................................................33 D. Weak, fragmented and unequal health systems ..................................................................................................................................38 1. Working women are on the front line of care ................................................................................................................................39 2. Reduction in women’s sexual and reproductive health services ...................................................................................................40 E. Policy responses ....................................................................................................................................................................................41 1. Physical distancing .........................................................................................................................................................................41 2. Strengthening health systems........................................................................................................................................................41 3. Vaccination progress ......................................................................................................................................................................43 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER III The economic, social and environmental