Keywords

Poverty, which has taken shape in different dimensions under the influence of the conditions from the past to the present, can be defined as the deficiency experienced by people in fulfilling their life functions or the living standards being below the average level. Poverty results from a lack of critical capabilities, such as insufficient income or education, bad health, insecurity, low self-confidence, a sense of powerlessness or the lack of rights such as freedom of expression (Haughton and Khandker 2009). In its various versions, poverty has long been one of humanity’s most significant conflicts. Especially with the increased bad conditions, poverty has gained a higher level called extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is a more multidimensional concept than poverty. According to Sachs (2015), it should be defined more broadly as the inability to satisfy fundamental human requirements such as food, water, sanitation, safe energy, education and a means of subsistence. With the spread of technology and the rise in living standards, there was an expectation that the problem of poverty would be overcome throughout the world. However, the gap between rich and poor people is being further opened day by day with unequal economic distributions in most countries, leading numerous people to live below the poverty line despite the improvements in science and technology. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain why inequality is bad for growth. Still, the OECD study focuses on one in particular: as the wealth gap widens, low-income households would spend less on education and skills (Keeley 2015). Last but not least, according to the World Bank (2021), a large part of the world’s population is still living below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day.

In the early 2000s, the United Nations announced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the face of major problems affecting humanity. Until 2015, these goals were expected to solve these problems or at least reduce them. The MDGs aim to boost global awareness, governmental responsibility, improved measurements, social feedback and public demands by putting these objectives into a simply comprehensible set of eight goals and creating quantifiable and measurable targets (Sachs 2012). Research state that with the MDGs there has been an impressive poverty reduction, such as, in a quarter of a century time frame between 1990 and 2015, the extreme poverty rate fell by 33% in developing countries (United Nations 2015). According to Sachs (2012) research, in a world where severe global warming and other significant environmental disruptions are now a reality, there is indeed a broad recognition that sustainability goals must be prioritised with poverty reduction goals. In this chapter, the definition and different versions of poverty, the multidimensional concept of extreme poverty, effects of poverty on human life with the inclusion of technological developments and historical activities made on poverty through MDGs are stated.

As a result, in addition to the improvements made in 15 years by MDGs, new requirements bring new updates about methods of taking action for the UN, which led to the emergence of sustainable development goals (SDGs). As good news, the percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty has decreased, from 15.7% in 2010 to 10.0% in 2015. The rate of global poverty reduction, on the other hand, has slowed. It is claimed that the worldwide poverty rate will be around 7.4% in 2021; however, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, forecasts are affected negatively with an increase to 8.7% (United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs 2020). In January 2021, it was estimated that the pandemic would push between 119 and 124 million people into extreme poverty around the globe in 2020 (World Bank 2021). Due to the new requirements of the current world order and pandemic conditions to humanity, significant updates are planned in SDGs from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the United Nations have mentioned in their official website and publications, the first sustainable development goal is to eliminate poverty in all its forms everywhere (2015). This goal originally took place under the millennium development goals, which are predecessors of sustainable development goals. As MDGs were practised for 15 years (2000–2015) and fulfilled their schedule, SDGs were presented as an improved and more detailed version of MDGs. Sharma et al. state that poverty is a social problem that affects people’s standard of living, food consumption and other aspects of their lives. The disadvantaged community cannot produce more and support their families since it lacks the resources to access quality and nutritious food and health services (2016). According to Sachs (2012), eliminating poverty includes providing safe and sustainable water and sanitation, sufficient nutrition, basic health services and basic infrastructures such as electricity, transportation and access to the global information network. These sub-goals are planned to be achieved by 2030 at the latest. This target might seem utopic, but some popular theories claim that it is well within reach with the help of technological advances and economic growth. One of the notable facts about poverty nowadays is that over half of the one billion people with a low income are living in middle-income countries. This means those people are living in societies with the financial and technological means to address their remaining poverty (as Brazil and China have effectively and notably done in recent years). Although hundreds of millions of impoverished people still live in the least developed countries, they are a dwindling proportion of the world’s poorest people, such that small financial and technological transfers from high-income and middle-income countries could alleviate their plight. The UN’s perspective of targets for SDG-1 can be found in Fig. 3.1.

Fig. 3.1
A chart of the U N's view of targets is represented in 7 boxes. Targets 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, and 1.a are on the left boxes. Targets 1.2, 1.4, and 1.a are on the right boxes. A diagram is along with each box. Target 1.1 eradicate extreme poverty. Target 1.2 reduce poverty by at least 50 %. Target 1.3 implement social protection system.

Targets of SDG-1. (“Goal 1: No Poverty” 2016)

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Significant steps were taken to achieve this goal, as the number of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from 1.9 billion to 736 million between 1990 and 2015. Still, numerous people strive to provide for their basic human needs (United Nations 2015). Poverty reduction has been the centre of worldwide discussions since the 1970s. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) were established by 193 UN member states in 2015, with Goal 1 being to “end poverty in all its forms and everywhere” (UN 2016). According to Alkire et al. (2014), rural areas account for 85% of all poor people in 105 countries.

As shown in Fig. 3.1, there are several sub-goals and indicators under Goal 1, “No Poverty”. These include eliminating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030, which is currently measured as the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day and halving the number of people living in poverty. Another sub-objective of this aim is to minimise the sensitivity of the poor and the vulnerable to climate-related, economic and social events by 2030. Implementing poverty-eradication programs and policies and mobilising resources for developing and underdeveloped nations are other sub-objectives.

The main reason for aiming to end all types of poverty is that it affects individual welfare and living conditions, such as accessing basic necessities like health, nourishment, clothing and accommodation. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it is associated with increased extreme poverty. Fighting against poverty ranks as the first sustainable development goal in the United Nations remarks. Poor people are more vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters and all examples of extreme poverty such as hunger and malnutrition, fuel poverty, limited access to education, social isolation and discrimination and exclusion from basic health and social protection services and decision-making processes (Goal 1: No Poverty 2016).

Poverty-causing factors such as the consequences of globalisation, population expansion, inflation, economic crises and growth rates indicate that we will confront poverty in the future, as well as our need for SDG-1. The fight against poverty ensures that all people can easily access education, health, nutrition and life and that they do not depend on others. Poverty assessments contain epistemic and methodological weaknesses according to academic studies, and because of these problems, the first sustainable development goal and its implementation are vital. Although poverty has diminished significantly from the perspective of time, it remains a problem that must be addressed.

Globally, the number of people living in severe poverty has decreased from 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. Still, progress is slowing, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress in the battle against poverty (Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 1) 2021). The global recession caused by the pandemic has delayed the eradication of poverty. Companies and other workplaces began to close in April 2020. Eighty-one percent of workers and 66% of freelancers were affected (SDG 1: No poverty – Iberdrola n.d.). Only 87 nations had unemployment insurance schemes in place as part of their national legislation in February 2020, and only 34 of those countries protected freelancers (SDG 1: No poverty – Iberdrola n.d.).

SDG-1, unlike the others, is directed at those who are unable to satisfy their fundamental requirements, who have a lower quality of life than the average and who are underprivileged in most ways. Poverty is important for poor people and everyone, privileged or disadvantaged. The elimination of extreme poverty will result in economic progress and a greater level of education among the population. Society must take global poverty seriously and take steps to achieve SDG-1 before 2030. Extreme poverty is a universal conflict, and every person should meet their basic needs. Therefore, Sustainable Development Goal 1 is an essential goal for all humanity.

Economic growth in the world or even in a country is not always predictable. If the total GDP in the world is examined, it can be recognised that the actual total GDP in 2009 is about two-thirds of the predicted value (Jolliffe et al. 2015). This kind of deviation may have a massive effect on the process of fulfilling SDGs. The World Bank advocates SDG-1 because of the adamant relationship between growth and welfare of the poor. A setback in economic growth could also cause a significant setback on the global goal for tackling poverty. This problem is not necessarily global, as some countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, etc. have a huge number of people living in poverty. A slowdown in the economic growth in one of these countries can have a major effect on the global poverty goal (Jolliffe et al. 2015). Tourism is considered a potential solution for this issue (by preventing economic setbacks and helping underdeveloped countries build up their economies). Scheyvens and Hughes define tourism as a promising economic sector to help create strategies for decreasing poverty, and statistics back up their opinion. It is known to help improve rural areas’ economy and well-being in developing countries. It is important to recognise that certain conditions need to be provided for tourism to contribute to SDG-1. Powerful actors such as local elites, company directors and government leaders must do their best to ensure factors like corruption and dictatorship do not undermine the sector of tourism in the relevant countries (Scheyvens and Hughes 2019).

Opposing the opinions claiming that technology and economic growth can make SDG-1 possible, current data predicts that eradicating poverty by 2030 seems unrealistic. Under the most optimistic possibilities predicted before the COVID-19 pandemic, 6.1% of the world’s population will most likely remain in extreme poverty by 2030 (Castaneda et al. 2020). The results of comparing poverty scenarios in different countries, as a result of the analysis to monitor progress towards the achievement of the “No Poverty” sustainable development goal, point to the difficulty of achieving this goal unless extra development policy efforts are implemented (Crespo Cuaresma et al. 2018). One of the recommended actions to help this situation in the future is to involve children in the process. According to UNICEF, with the right information and tools, children and youth can play a critical role in implementing the SDGs by driving action in their communities. As millions of children and young people realise the goals, more and more people around the world will start taking action (“How can we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for and with children?” 2021). When it comes to achieving this target over the long term (between today and 2100), climate change will have devastating consequences for urban and rural regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, resulting in new poverty in both developing and developed countries and threatening long-term development (Olsson et al. 2014). Decent work has been carried out during COVID-19, whereby many companies have lent a hand in supporting the healthcare system’s response. Pharmaceutical businesses collaborate with governments to improve testing capabilities, while mask and ventilator makers are willing to transfer or build new production lines. To combat the outbreak, tech businesses give critical digital tools to eliminate social isolation, increase social cohesion and raise awareness about health and safety rules. Private sector innovation can make a substantial contribution to the pandemic response, both in the short and long term, as well as long-term resilience. Big data and artificial intelligence, in particular, must be used to develop digital public goods such as actionable real-time and predictive insights (UN 2020).

Sumner et al. (2020) underline that according to UN estimates, COVID-19 poses a formidable challenge to the UN’s goal of ending poverty by 2030, as global poverty could rise for the first time since 1990. Such an increase could represent a reversal of approximately a decade in global poverty reduction progress depending on the poverty line. The negative consequences could lead to poverty levels equivalent to those seen 30 years ago in some areas. In the most extreme case of a 20% reduction in income or consumption, the number of people living in poverty might rise by 420–580 million, compared to the most recent official data for 2018.

3.1 Companies and Use Cases

Table 3.1 presents the business models of 39 companies and use cases that employ emerging technologies and create value in SDG-1. We should highlight that one use case can be related to more than one SDG and it can make use of multiple emerging technologies. In the left column, we present the company name, the origin country, related SDGs and emerging technologies that are included. The companies and use cases are listed alphabetically.Footnote 1

Table 3.1 Companies and use cases in SDG-1
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