new delhi the asiapacific region comprising over 50 countries including india china japan australia new zealand and south korea is not on track to achieve any of the 17 sustainable development goals sdgs by 2030 said a un reportunder the sdgs adopted by all un member countries in 2015 the governments across the globe are expected to work on multiple targets to end poverty improve health and education reduce inequality and spur economic growth while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and foreststhe report on sdg progress released by the united nations economic and social commission for asia and the pacific escap on tuesday shows that the asiapacific region as a whole fell short of its 2020 milestones even before entering the global pandemic on its current trajectory the region may achieve less than 10 of the sdg targets it said flagging how the region is on track to reach only nine out of 104 measurable targets by 2030 at the current pace of progressthe report however noted that the region in the last decade has made extraordinary progress in good health and wellbeing which may partly explain its relative success in reducing the health impact of the covid19 pandemic on its populationas far as south asian countries are concerned the subregion within the asiapacific made most of its progress on certain goals such as end poverty zero hunger and good health and wellbeing but has regressed on reduced inequalities sustainable cities and communities climate action life below water and peace justice and strong institutionsreferring to subregional picture for south asian countries nagesh kumar director of unescaps south and southwest asia office underlined that the subregion was facing challenges due to natural disasters lack of access to basic water and sanitation services with 62 of people in rural areas lacking access and inadequate government spending on education health services and social protectionon air pollution front the report referring to satellite data said the air quality had improved in the first half of 2020 in many countries of the region with northern india reporting air pollution at a 20year low level while new delhi and nearby areas registering a significant 50 reduction of aerosol optical depth correlating to fine particulate matter pm25 and pm10 in april last year compared to 2019containment measures associated to the covid19 pandemic resulted in a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions with a decrease in global daily carbon dioxide emissions of 17 in april 2020 compared to april 2019 said the sdg progress report noting that the pattern had been evident in india china japan and russiathe drop in air pollution levels and greenhouse gas emissions however turned out to be shortlived as the countries in the region have regressed on climate action front and also on their efforts to conserve life below water one of the sdgs which is meant for sustainable use of oceans seas and marine resourcesunderlining other humanitarian crisis the report flagged that the pandemicdriven economic slowdown may push