A/RES/78/165 GA

United Nations A/RES/78/165 General Assembly Distr.: General 21 December 2023 23-25880 (E) 030124 *2325880* Seventy-eighth session Agenda item 21 (b) Eradication of poverty and other development issues: eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2023 [on the report of the Second Committee (A/78/464/Add.2, para. 7)] 78/165. Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 73/244 of 20 December 2018, 74/237 of 19 December 2019, 75/232 of 21 December 2020, 76/219 of 17 December 2021 and 77/183 of 14 December 2022 entitled “Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly for the full implementation of the Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, its commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner, and to building upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seeking to address their unfinished business, Reaffirming also its resolution 69/313 of 27 July 2015, on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supports and complements it, helps to contextualize its means of implementation targets with concrete policies and actions, and reaffirms the strong political commitment to address the challenge of financing and creating an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity, A/RES/78/165 Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 23-25880 2/9 Reaffirming further the Paris Agreement 1 and its early entry into force, encouraging all its parties to fully implement the Agreement, and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2 that have not yet done so to deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, where appropriate, as soon as possible, Reaffirming the New Urban Agenda, adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), held in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 to 20 October 2016,3 Bearing in mind that the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations in 2020 and the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda presented an opportunity to reaffirm collective commitment to multilateralism, international cooperation and to the United Nations, and reaffirming the urgent need to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, Recalling its declaration, in its resolution 47/196 of 22 December 1992, of 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Recalling also its resolution 72/233 of 20 December 2017, in which it considered that the theme of the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027) should be “Accelerating global actions for a world without poverty”, and all other resolutions related to the eradication of poverty, Reaffirming that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, which is disproportionately high in rural areas, is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, particularly in Africa, in the least developed countries, in landlocked developing countries, in small island developing States and in some middle-income countries, noting with concern that, as of 2023, approximately 691 million people still lived in extreme poverty and that the latest projections suggest that up to 89 million additional people were living in extreme poverty in 2022 because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the precarious recovery, compounded by the continued global crisis of food, finance and challenge of energy access, and underlining the importance of accelerating sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth, recovery and sustainable development, including full, productive employment and decent work for all, with a view to reducing inequalities within and among countries, Noting with great concern the severe negative impact on human health, safety and well-being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the severe disruption to societies and economies and the devastating impact on lives and livelihoods, and that the poorest and most vulnerable are the hardest hit by the pandemic, reaffirming the ambition to get back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by designing and implementing sustainable and inclusive recovery strategies to accelerate progress towards the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to help to reduce the risk of and build resilience to future shocks, crises and pandemics, including by strengthening health systems and achieving universal health coverage, and recognizing that equitable and timely access for all to safe, quality, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics is an essential part of a global response based on unity, solidarity, renewed multilateral cooperation and the principle of leaving no one behind, __________________ 1 Adopted under the UNFCCC in FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21. 2 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1771, No. 30822. 3 Resolution 71/256, annex. Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES/78/165 3/9 23-25880 Noting that the share of the rural poor in the total population of those living in poverty rose by more than 2 percentage points between 2015 and 2018, which highlights the setbacks and challenges in fighting rural poverty even before the pandemic and the need for accelerated action towards the eradication of poverty, and recognizing that addressing rural poverty is fundamental for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 1 of the 2030 Agenda, as well as most of the other Goals, with 70 per cent of the targets requiring action in rural areas, Emphasizing that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable development have increased the number of people living in poverty around the world and disrupted, inter alia, the normal functioning of open markets, global supply chain connectivity and the flow of essential goods, hindering the fight against poverty and adding urgency to the call to galvanize action and delivery for the eradication of poverty, in all its forms and dimensions, particularly in rural areas, where most of the extreme poor live, stressing that global inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, with the bulk of vaccines disproportionately available in high-income countries, in contrast with the low availability of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries, further put at risk the health of the rural poor, and in this regard welcoming the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Sustainable Development Goals Moments, placing an emphasis on poverty and inequality, on climate change and a healthy planet and on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, Taking note of the efforts of the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session to launch the Alliance for Poverty Eradication, which is timely and meaningful and continues to serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas, policies and best practices on poverty eradication, and stressing the importance of addressing poverty, including rural poverty issues, in these forums, as the rural poor might be less prepared to deal with the effects of and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple crises and could have less access to adequate sanitation, food and nutrition, water, health-care services, education, the Internet, information and communications technology, social protection, financial services and public infrastructure, Commending the efforts and remarkable progress achieved by developing countries in eradicating rural poverty, while noting with concern that key gaps still remain, such as: a lack of adequate data; inadequate investment in agricultural and rural development; lower and inadequate human capital formation relevant for rural livelihoods; inadequate income sources, including scarce non-farm income- generating opportunities; a lack of productive capacity and agricultural transformation; persistent gender inequality; a lack of social protection; insufficient basic infrastructure and services; a lack of or poor adaptive capacity and resilience to cope with the adverse effects of climate change and disasters; and a lack of effective rural institutions and of sufficient resources, Recognizing the leading role of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, together with other United Nations entities, including the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Development Programme, in the global efforts to reduce poverty, including rural poverty, while addressing other interlinked challenges such as eliminating hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, and increasing the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises, Noting with appreciation the aspirations, embedded in Agenda 2063 of the African Union, to lift huge sections of the population out of poverty, improve incomes and catalyse economic and social transformation, and recognizing the importance of the international community’s helping African countries to achieve such goals, especially in the rural areas of the African continent, A/RES/78/165 Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 23-25880 4/9 Noting that, while considerable progress has been made over the past decade across all areas of development, the pace of progress observed in recent years is insufficient and uneven to fully meet the Sustainable Development Goals and targets by 2030, especially in the area of rural poverty eradication, Recognizing that poverty is a serious impediment to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including those living in rural areas, and that the feminization of poverty persists, emphasizing that the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, acknowledging the mutually reinforcing links between the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the eradication of poverty, and stressing the importance of support for countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, Emphasizing that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda depends crucially on the transformation of rural areas, where most of the poor and hungry live, and that, in order to eradicate rural poverty, investment should be encouraged in those sectors that have a bigger impact, such as education and health, including school feeding programmes, social protection, agriculture and infrastructure, while noting the financing gap between resources dedicated to the education sector and the amount necessary to reach Sustainable Development Goal 4, while the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked an unprecedented learning crisis, and that at least 80 billion dollars in annual investment will be needed to meet the demand for food that is projected to increase by 70 per cent by 2050, and that the investments that are needed for climate change mitigation and adaptation also remain underfunded, Recalling the proclamation of 2019–2028 as the United Nations Decade of Family Farming, to raise the profile of the role of family farming 4 in contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and reaffirming the importance of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025) in the promotion of activities towards the eradication of rural poverty, Recognizing the interlinkages and integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals, and reiterating that the eradication of rural poverty and hunger is crucial for the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda, and that rural development should be pursued through an integrated approach that encompasses economic, social and environmental dimensions, takes into account a gender perspective and consists of mutually reinforcing policies and programmes, and that should be balanced, targeted, situation- specific and locally owned, include local synergies and initiatives and be responsive to the needs of rural populations, Recalling that more than 80 per cent of the extreme poor live in rural areas and work in agriculture and that the extreme poverty rate in rural areas is three times higher than in urban areas, and recognizing that devoting resources to the development of rural areas and sustainable agriculture and supporting smallholder farmers, especially women farmers, is key to ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions, by, inter alia, improving the welfare of farmers, Taking into consideration the increasing number of young people who decide to leave rural areas for more urbanized ones and the challenges that this trend poses to the livelihood of rural families, Expressing its concern that the extreme poor have limited access to productive resources, basic health, Internet and digital technologies, education and social __________________ 4 Resolution 72/239. Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES/78/165 5/9 23-25880 protection services, basic infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity, and off- farm employment opportunities, and are susceptible to the impacts of natural hazards, especially weather-related hazards, including the El Niño phenomenon, and the adverse effects of climate change, and that rural women and girls fare far worse on most development indicators, Emphasizing the importance of enhancing global support for national work on rural development policies and strategies, including on commodity production as well as increased public and private investments to upgrade productive capacity, and that tackling rural poverty requires integrated, cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder and context-specific interventions, with a strong emphasis on sustainable food and agricultural systems for food security, and nutrition, economic growth, revitalization and development in rural areas, 1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General5 and the recommendations contained therein; 2. Reaffirms that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, for all people everywhere, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, as well as an overarching objective of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 6 of which the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development7 is an integral part, supporting and complementing it; 3. Expresses its deep concern that the progress in reducing poverty remains uneven, with 1.1 billion people still living in multidimensional poverty, 84 per cent of whom live in rural areas, and that this number continues to be significant and unacceptably high, whereas the levels of inequality in income, wealth and opportunities remain high or are increasing in a number of countries, and the non-income dimensions of poverty and deprivation, such as access to inclusive and equitable quality education or basic health services, and relative poverty remain major concerns, and stresses the importance of national and global efforts to create the conditions for achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions, economic, social and environmental, sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, shared prosperity and decent work for all in society, taking into account different levels of national development capacities; 4. Recognizes the importance of promoting socioeconomic development in rural areas as an effective strategy and important means at the global level for the eradication of poverty, including extreme poverty, and therefore underlines the importance of shaping a rural poverty eradication pattern with the concerted efforts of the whole of society to promote socioeconomic development in rural areas and create sound policy frameworks at the local, national, regional and international levels based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication action; 5. Emphasizes that economic growth continues to leave rural dwellers behind, that rural areas host a disproportionate share of people living in multidimensional poverty and that comparable data from 110 countries reveal that Africa and South Asia account for the highest number of multidimensionally poor people, and recommends that countries promote dedicated and coordinated social, economic, agricultural and rural development in their national policies, including by adopting rural-focused poverty eradication strategies in alignment with the 2030 Agenda, social policies aimed at improving human capital in rural areas and ensuring __________________ 5 A/78/238. 6 Resolution 70/1. 7 Resolution 69/313, annex. A/RES/78/165 Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 23-25880 6/9 access to adequate social protection coverage, agricultural policies aimed at boosting agricultural productivity, and rural development policies aimed at improving access to rural infrastructure and basic services of high quality and at boosting non-farm employment opportunities; 6. Recognizes the critical role and contribution of rural women, including smallholders and women farmers, fishers, Indigenous women and their traditional knowledge and women in local communities, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and nutrition and eradicating rural poverty, and therefore highlights the importance of promoting their economic empowerment, their full access to land ownership and decent work and economic opportunities and their participation in decision-making; 7. Stresses the importance of establishing and implementing targeted policies and measures to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, by formulating rural development strategies with clear poverty eradication goals, strengthening national statistical capacity and monitoring systems, including innovative use of telephone surveys and high-resolution data facilitated by remote sensing, and implementing nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, and taking concrete actions to prevent the return to poverty, especially when the past three years have witnessed a sharp setback in poverty reduction, with a view to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions, economic, social and environmental, and building the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations; 8. Encourages all countries and other relevant stakeholders to promote inclusive economic transformation in rural areas that increases productivity and contributes to bridging the present rural-urban divide while ensuring productive employment and decent work, access to reliable and appropriate social protection systems, inclusive and equitable quality education, health-care services, quality, resilient and sustainable infrastructure, roads and telecommunications, as well as preparedness planning for crises and early warning, reiterates that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role of digital connectivity and access and the potential of e-commerce and e-learning solutions for poverty eradication, and thus calls upon all stakeholders to strengthen digital, information and communications technology, science, technology and innovation cooperation on mutually agreed terms, especially in the area of e-commerce, financial technology (fintech), affordable and reliable Internet connectivity and digital infrastructure investment and construction to keep food and agriculture supply chains functioning and achieve momentum under the 2030 Agenda for an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery for global development, putting people at the centre of the response, protecting our planet and achieving prosperity, with no one left behind, in line with the 2030 Agenda; 9. Recognizes that eradicating poverty in rural areas cannot be separated from the sustainable transformation and strengthening of food systems and that ensuring fair markets that enable the participation of smallholder and family farmers in food systems, particularly in value chains where small-scale producers have a comparative advantage, will continue to be important, in this regard takes note with appreciation of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, held in 2021, which recognized the transformative effects of sustainable food systems as a driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, underscores that promoting a universal, rules-based, open, transparent, predictable, inclusive, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization is essential for building sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems, and thus stresses the importance of keeping trade channels and markets open, equitable, transparent, non- discriminatory and predictable for the movement of food, fertilizer and other agricultural inputs and outputs and access to energy, and emphasizes the urgent need Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES/78/165 7/9 23-25880 to combat protectionism in all its forms and to correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions that are inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules in world agricultural markets; 10. Notes with great concern that the poorest population spends a larger share of income on food, which means extreme food price volatility can have devastating impacts, and is a driver of increased poverty, particularly in rural areas; 11. Calls upon all countries to promote agricultural and rural development in their national policies and renew their efforts to promote innovative approaches, including agroecology, among other approaches, to enhance capacity for food production, distribution and storage, cooperate in the relevant areas of science, research, technology and innovation, as appropriate and consistent with national policies and frameworks, to strengthen sustainable agrifood systems that enhance food security and nutrition, including sustainable productivity growth, significantly reducing food loss and waste, and strengthen policies that support small-scale producers in engaging in agrifood system value chains; 12. Recognizes the importance of employment for pro-poor growth in rural areas, and encourages the United Nations system and development partners to assist countries, upon their request, in mainstreaming employment into investment policy and poverty reduction strategies, including those focused on rural area development, and fostering rapid agricultural productivity growth, especially in developing countries, by increasing investment in agricultural and related rural off-farm activities and strengthening capacity-building for agricultural producers; 13. Also recognizes the essential role of inclusive and sustainable industrial development, which can diversify income opportunities as part of a comprehensive strategy of structural economic transformation in eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, especially in rural areas, supporting inclusive, sustained and sustainable economic growth, and thus in contributing to achieving sustainable development in developing countries, and calls upon international industrial cooperation to advance inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation and help developing countries to improve industrial production capacity; 14. Further recognizes the need to design, implement and pursue gender- responsive economic and social policies aimed at, inter alia, eradicating poverty, including in rural areas, and combating the feminization of poverty, ensuring the full and equal participation of rural women in the development, implementation and follow-up of development policies and programmes and poverty eradication strategies, supporting increased rural employment and decent work and the redistribution of unpaid domestic and care work, and promoting the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women at all levels and sectors of the rural economy and in diverse on-farm and off-farm economic activities, including sustainable agricultural and fisheries production; 15. Encourages Member States, international organizations, the private sector and other partners to develop programmes to foster the creation of decent work in rural areas and increase the investment in agricultural and related off-farm activities, especially for young people, including through economic diversification in rural areas, the promotion of sustainable agrifood systems and a balanced territorial approach, along a continuum that includes intermediate settlements and cities nested amid agricultural zones, with varying levels of agglomeration, as a key to reducing rural poverty and persistent inequalities between urban, peri-urban and rural areas; 16. Emphasizes that, globally, 1.4 billion people, primarily in rural areas in developing countries, do not have access to formal financial products and services, A/RES/78/165 Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 23-25880 8/9 and encourages further efforts of the international community to offer affordable ways to access finance for the financially excluded in rural areas; 17. Also emphasizes the need to increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient rural infrastructure, especially in roads, water, sanitation, electricity and Internet connectivity, and to provide an inclusive and sustainable digital transformation; 18. Expresses its commitment to raising public awareness to promote the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, in all countries, to mobilizing the enthusiasm and creativity of all stakeholders, especially the rural residents living in extreme poverty, to fight against poverty, to promoting their active participation in the design and implementation of programmes and policies that affect them, and to providing quality education for the rural poor, with the aim of achieving the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals; 19. Reiterates the need for enhanced and expanded access on mutually agreed terms by developing countries to appropriate technologies that are pro-poor and raise productivity, and underlines the need for measures to increase investment in agriculture, including modern technologies, as well as in natural resources management and capacity-building of developing countries; 20. Stresses that the achievement of sustainable development and the eradication of poverty also hinge on the ability and readiness of countries to effectively mobilize domestic resources, attract foreign direct investment, fulfil official development assistance commitments and use official development assistance effectively, and facilitate the transfer of technology to developing countries, on mutually agreed terms, and further stresses that the resolution of unsustainable debt situations is critical for heavily indebted poor countries, while remittances have become a significant source of income and finance for receiving economies and their contribution to the achievement of sustainable development; 21. Recognizes the importance of addressing the diverse needs of and challenges faced by countries in special situations, in particular African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as the specific challenges facing many middle-income countries, and therefore requests the United Nations development system, the international financial institutions, regional organizations and other stakeholders to ensure that these diverse and specific development needs are appropriately considered and addressed, in a tailored fashion, in their relevant strategies and policies, with a view to promoting a coherent and comprehensive approach towards individual countries; 22. Realizes that bridging the digital divides will require strong commitment by all relevant stakeholders at the national and international levels, reiterates the importance of investing in infrastructure for greater access to affordable technological devices and services for rural populations, which includes leveraging technology- enabled financial services and financial technologies to promote financial inclusion, and encourages efforts by all relevant stakeholders, especially United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in the spirit of win-win cooperation, to assist developing countries in overcoming the digital divides and promoting the use of information and communications technologies to foster economic and social development, particularly in rural areas, with the aim of building a shared future for humankind; 23. Recognizes the devastating impact of diseases on societies, and calls for measures by relevant United Nations bodies, in accordance with their respective mandates, and other stakeholders to make good use of their experience and advantages to further help developing countries with the aim of improving rural Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES/78/165 9/9 23-25880 development planning, including poverty eradication and multisectoral development activities covering economic and social aspects, including a gender perspective; 24. Reiterates the urgent need to accelerate the pace of rural poverty eradication, and requests the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the secretariat of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as well as other relevant international organizations, to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session a report on the status of the implementation of and follow-up to the present resolution in order to identify the progress achieved, gaps and challenges faced in rural poverty eradication, especially in developing countries, as well as the means of implementation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and address its impacts, and to list rural poverty eradication as a priority for an annual Sustainable Development Goals Moment to highlight inspiring action on the Goals, in the context of the general debate of the Assembly; 25. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-ninth session, under the item entitled “Eradication of poverty and other development issues”, the sub-item entitled “Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. 49th plenary meeting 19 December 2023

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