Regional Trends in Engineering | ∞
Abstract. Throughout recent decades, two main factors have inhibited the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC): slow economic growth and the lack of a strong social protection system, which is reflected in a high percentage of informal employment. These factors explain why efforts by LAC countries to satisfy basic needs, such as adequate housing, drinking water access, sanitation and environmentally sustainable waste treatment, fall short of SDG targets. This section briefly presents the issues affecting LAC and explains how engineers can help overcome the existing shortcomings.
Regional issues in LAC in the context of engineering challenges Latin America and the Caribbean has lower long-term growth rates than other regions of the developing world and it must confront these challenges if it is to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.28 Such slow growth affects investment levels both in technological innovation and infrastructure, and hinders achievement of the SDGs. Since 1980, public investment as a percentage of GDP has fallen from an average of 5.9% to 4.8%. As a result, infrastructure and competitiveness have also declined. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)29 Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean (2018) concluded that ‘a breakdown of gross fixed capital formation by construction asset (including residential and nonresidential construction) and by machinery and equipment assets, shows that although the first component accounts for a larger share of investment and a higher percentage of GDP, the second component is growing faster’, which indicates a mild recovery. The report also mentions that wage employment has expanded significantly with economic growth in LAC, and that own-account work30 – the second-largest category in the region in terms of employed figures – tends to show a predominantly countercyclical evolution. This is mainly explained by households’ interest in generating earnings through their own employment due to the absence of new wage employment and the lack of adequate social protection mechanisms during phases of low growth rates.
Low growth rates and investment levels, coupled with development and social issues, such as lack of strong social protection and informal employment, indicate that engineers have a key role to play in overcoming the weaknesses attributed to slow growth, which is also in line with the SDGs. All these goals are interlinked, with some of them requiring the direct contribution of the engineering community. The key issues linking LAC countries to the SDGs and engineering are presented below.
Social issues and development As mentioned above a number of social and economic growth issues in LAC hamper the realization of the SDGs and necessitate the involvement of different engineering disciplines. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report prepared by Iorio and Sanin (2019), the LAC region has 97 per cent electric coverage31 and ranks as one of the cleanest energy matrices in the world, but problems in other areas persist relating to core issues that affect public health and well-being, such as adequate housing, clean drinking water and sanitation. According to the 2015 report prepared by UN Habitat there is no common definition of ‘housing deficit’ in the region. Any definition of adequate housing includes access to drinking water, sanitation and energy, with the ‘housing deficit’ affecting between 30 and 180 per thousand inhabitants. Far more distressing are water service coverage levels that show only three countries in LAC covering more than 80 per cent of their population with ‘safely managed’ drinking water (WHO/ UNICEF, 2019). Regarding sanitation coverage levels, only seven countries provide ‘safe’ sanitation to over 40 per cent of their population with only one providing over 60 per cent.
Environmental deterioration In addition to human welfare, another issue vital to sustainable development in the region is environmental preservation. LAC countries host vast environmentally sensitive areas such as coral reef barriers, large freshwater marshes and rainforests. Rural areas are home to 125 million people, including 60 per cent of the poorest people in the region. Desertification and the degradation of natural resources seriously affect nearly all countries, which is exacerbated by the expansion of agricultural activities and jeopardizes the environment and its natural resources. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published an article (Milesi and Jarroud, 2016) which stated that 68 per cent of the land of South America is affected by desertification, 100 million hectares of which is deforested and 70 million is overgrazed. Water, air
28 LAC (2.6%) in contrast with sub-Saharan Africa (3.62%), Middle East and North Africa (3.92%), and East Asia and the Pacific (8.1%). The long-term growth rate in Europe and Central Asia (excluding high income) averaged 1.75% over the last 30 years. See World Bank Databank https://databank.worldbank.org/data/home.aspx 29 ECLAC official website at https://www.cepal.org/en 30 Own-account workers work for themselves and are considered self- employed. 31 World Bank. Access to electricity (% of population). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?locations=ZJ
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