Challenges and Recommendations for Achieving Thailand’s SDGs
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a critical agenda that Thailand and countries worldwide have agreed to achieve by 2030, as they will ensure balanced development of the economy, society, and environment, and guarantee the delivery of a quality future for the next generation.
Although data from the “Thailand’s Progress Report on Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2020” indicates that Thailand has made progress in driving SDGs with no Goal receiving an assessment score below the critical threshold of 50 percent (red status), when evaluated at the Target level, there are still 9 targets with scores below the critical threshold or red status, which pose significant challenges for Thailand.
Assessment Results for Thailand’s 169 SDG Targets from 2016-2020
The 9 targets consist of:
Target 2.1: End hunger and ensure food security and nutrition – In 2019, Thailand had a malnutrition prevalence rate of 8.2 percent, increased from 7.3 percent in 2015, consistent with data showing moderate or severe food insecurity among the population at 29.8 percent in 2019, up from 15.1 percent in 2015. Additionally, children living in poor households often suffer from malnutrition and stunting more than other groups, indicating that promoting access to adequate nutrition, particularly among the poor and vulnerable, remains a significant challenge for Thailand.
Target 2.2: End all forms of malnutrition – The prevalence of malnutrition in children under 5 years old, including stunting, wasting, and obesity, shows an increasing trend and remains higher than the Global Nutrition Targets 2025. This indicates that some households, particularly among the poor and vulnerable, still cannot access government nutrition promotion programs, while the proportion of obese children may increase due to inappropriate consumption behaviors, causing children to receive excessive energy or unbalanced proportions of main nutrients.
Target 2.4: Sustainable agriculture and food systems – In 2020, Thailand had 1.15 million rai of sustainable agricultural area, increased from 1.08 million rai in 2017, but still far below the target of the 20-Year Agriculture and Cooperatives Strategy (2017-2036), which aims for 7.5 million rai and 10 million rai by 2025 and 2030 respectively, suggesting the target may not be achieved within the specified timeframe.
Target 3.4: Reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases – Deaths from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory diseases show an increasing trend due to health risk behaviors, stress, deteriorating urban environments, and public health system challenges including limitations in integrating health data from relevant public and private sector units for appropriate treatment, inflexible patient referral systems to large hospitals, and concentration of health personnel and equipment in urban areas.
Target 3.6: Reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents – Although road traffic fatalities have shown a continuous declining trend from 2016-2020, the target to halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020 has not been achieved. Major causes of deaths include driving vehicles with blood alcohol levels exceeding legal limits, driving vehicles at speeds exceeding legal limits, and lack of knowledge and good awareness in road usage.
Target 3.9: Reduce deaths and illness from hazardous chemicals, pollution, and contamination of air, water, and soil – The release and contamination of hazardous chemicals to the environment and humans continues to increase. The 2019 Thailand Pollution Status Report indicates that PM2.5 fine particulate matter problems intensify annually and exceed standards in many areas, with 24-hour average values higher than the national standard of 50 micrograms per cubic meter. Additionally, the unintentional poisoning death rate increased to 0.3 percent in 2019 from 0.1 percent in 2016.
Target 10.C: Reduce remittance costs – Thailand continues to have high transaction costs for migrant worker remittances and international payments. In 2018, the average cost for sending $500 USD abroad by migrant workers exceeded 10 percent, and the average cost for international payments was 8.94 percent, which is higher than the global average and exceeds the SDG targets of no more than 3 percent and 5 percent respectively.
Target 14.1: Reduce marine pollution – Marine pollution problems persist, including marine debris, chemicals, and nutrient pollution resulting from both land-based and marine activities such as industrial wastewater discharge, agricultural chemical accumulation, oil spills, and marine waste, particularly plastic waste, causing degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems important for biodiversity.
Target 14.5: Conserve marine and coastal areas – Thailand has designated conservation and protected areas covering marine and coastal areas totaling 15,336 square kilometers, or 4.74 percent of the country’s total marine area. However, the designated marine and coastal protected areas remain considerably far from the 10 percent target, and there are limitations in identifying coordinates and sizes of underwater archaeological sites, preventing their inclusion in calculations with already designated marine and coastal protected areas.
Given these 9 challenges for Thailand’s SDGs, combined with the United Nations’ designation of 2021 as the beginning of the “Decade of Action,” Thailand should accelerate problem-solving while promoting participation from all sectors in committed action to achieve SDGs by 2030.
The report provides 5 key recommendations as follows:
(1) Accelerate problem-solving and improve conditions in the 9 targets scoring below the critical threshold (red) mentioned above, including another 34 targets scoring below the risk level target of 50-74 percent of the target value (orange), covering issues related to poverty eradication, access to social protection, violence against children and women, human trafficking, access to clean and safe drinking water, access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, and corruption.
(2) Integrate cooperation from all sectors by driving synergistic targets that support and enable other targets to succeed simultaneously, such as addressing poverty under Goal 1 will support progress in eliminating hunger and malnutrition under Goal 2, reducing inequality under Goal 10, and promoting health and well-being under Goal 3.
(3) Create widespread awareness about sustainable development to awaken sustainability consciousness in society, as SDGs concern everyone. Therefore, agencies from government, private sector, local government organizations, academic institutions, independent organizations, non-profit organizations, and international organizations must have consciousness in creating a sustainable society to move toward the same destination.
(4) Develop central database systems and monitoring and evaluation systems to international standards by utilizing diverse data collection technologies and supporting the integration of economic, social, and environmental databases to support more efficient policy design.
(5) Prepare for all situations using the principle of “Resilience” to prepare for potential future situations, as unexpected circumstances may impact SDG implementation, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic lesson showing uncertainty that can occur at any time.
This represents the overall picture of challenges in driving Thailand’s SDGs, including recommendations for future implementation, so that Thailand can achieve SDGs within the specified timeframe and move toward a sustainable world economically, socially, and environmentally, truly leaving no one behind.
Details of Thailand’s overall SDG progress assessment can be found at: https://sdgs.nesdc.go.th/exhibitions/brightleapforward2021/report2016-2020/ and updates on Thailand’s SDG implementation can be followed at: https://sdgs.nesdc.go.th
Strategy and International Cooperation Coordination Division
National Economic and Social Development Council
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