Sustainable Development Goal 1

• BEIJING, March 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- During the Ramadan month in the Middle East, JA Solar, together with its strategic partner Power n Sun(PNS), donated iftar meals to underprivileged people working in solar sites in the UAE, as part of the company's efforts to support the United Nations' SDG1 (No Poverty) and SDG2 (Zero Hunger) initiatives.
• Throughout Ramadan, JA Solar volunteers played an integral role in the charity initiative by actively engaging in organizing and distributing the meals.
• JA Solar is committed to corporate social responsibility and supporting the United Nations' SDGs with practical actions.
• View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ja-solar-donates-iftar-meals-to...
  SOURCE JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd.

• Alvaro Lario, President of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), warns of the dire and irreversible effects that the climate crisis will have on hunger and poverty if we don't act now.
• "The climate crisis hinders our efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty.
• The growing global population is dependent on a diet that places significant pressure on increasingly scarce land and water resources.
• This exacerbates inequalities and social unrest," said the President of the only UN development agency that focuses exclusively on rural areas.

Ghana’s population has reached 30.8 million according to the 2021 population census. This is a 6.1 million increase from the 24.7 million recorded in 2010. Understanding population trends is important to inform development policies – but Ghana has struggled to design policies aligned to available data. Demographer Donatus Yaw Atiglo unpacks the key issues facing Ghana’s growing population.

What is the age makeup of Ghana’s population?

• Over the past five censuses, we see the structure of the population pyramid change from predominantly children under 15 to young people (aged 15-35 years).
• Overall, 60% are in the working age population.
• This suggests that there are fewer people in the dependent age groups relative to the working ages.
• But it also presents significant challenges and barriers to sustainable development, where economic and environmental resources cannot match population growth.

Which age cohorts present the biggest challenges?

• Dependent age groups (children under 15 years and old people 65 years and above) have traditionally been considered a burdensome population.
• But cashing in on the demographic dividend depends on the quality of human resources and the opportunities for the working population.
• Without skills and jobs, having a large proportion of young people could be a liability, not an asset.
• Older people have more health challenges and are therefore an increasing draw on a strained social security and health care systems.

How aligned are Ghana’s policies towards its population challenges?

• But the current mid- and long-term development policies of the country don’t consider population variables and the challenges they portend.
• It behoves governments to consider population variables to identify future opportunities and challenges and guide resource allocation towards meeting the needs of the population.
• Ghana failed to attain the main targets of the 1994 Population Policy.
• In addition, previous policies have not prepared the country to deal with the double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

What are the key areas to focus on for development?

• When it comes to young people, it needs to make significant progress in relevant education and training, with matching employment opportunities.
• This matters for two reasons: so that fewer educated youth are unemployed or underemployed, and so that they contribute to social security.

• This year’s Impact Rankings include tougher competition with more submissions, bringing the total number of ranked universities to more than 1,500.
• The conference theme, “Reckonings and Re-imaginings,” serves to highlight many of the inequities and challenges the SDGs aim to address.
• To learn more about how the York University community is advancing the SDGs, watch our video and read the annual report at yorku.ca/unsdgs .
• York's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.