One of the workshops will focus on monitoring natural resources and the other on agro-food systems and water resources.

September 3, 2018, Santiago, Chile - In the countries of South America, there is a lack of information for around 60% of the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDOs) that FAO keeps, the United Nations agency said today.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is in charge of measuring the progress in twenty-one indicators of seven of the Sustainable Development Goals.

"But at present, approximately 15% of the indicators monitored by FAO in South America are still estimates or adjusted data," explained Eve Crowley, Assistant Regional Representative of FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Crowley explained that the current gap in statistics is one of the great challenges currently facing countries: "It is urgent that they improve their capacity to monitor and report indicators of the SDGs, which is essential for governments to have a good diagnosis of their current situation and know how to respond with policies that allow the fastest possible progress towards the sustainable development goals", explained Crowley.

To support the countries, from September 3 to 7, specialized technicians from FAO will give two workshops in Montevideo, Uruguay, for government officials from ten countries of South America, which will allow them to improve their capacities to generate reliable information and updated statistics.

One of the workshops will focus on monitoring natural resources and the other on agro-food systems and water resources.

After this training, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela will have greater capacities to create policies and instruments to monitor the indicators of the SDGs.

The new road to development

No one left behind: that is the motto of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Their approach is comprehensive, since it poses a new way of moving towards development, eradicating poverty and hunger, combating climate change and protecting natural resources, promoting agriculture and rural development in a sustainable manner.

The SDGs are today the main global reference for development policies and programs at the national level. Each country must determine how to translate them into feasible but ambitious development plans.

FAO is supporting this effort through the regional project Capacity building in the measurement and reporting of the SDGs in the countries of South America.

The regional project work so that the main national institutions responsible for leading strategies for the achievement of the SDGs in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela have greater knowledge and skills to implement policies and instruments to measure, implement and follow the monitoring indicators of the SDGs that are in the custody of FAO.