25.9.2015 - The UN member states have agreed on a new ambitious Sustainable Development Agenda to end poverty by 2030 and universally promote economic prosperity, social development and environmental protection.
“We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet,” the 193 UN member states declared when agreement was reached on a landmark document called: “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Building on the success of the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs which helped lifting lift millions out of poverty, they have agreed 17 so-called Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
They are a new set of universal goals and targets that the states are expected to implement in the next 15 years. The new goals, including 169 concrete targets, are global in nature and universally applicable to all countries and not only to the developing countries as was the case with the MDGs.
“Often people say, ‘well you know, aren’t these too many goals? Can’t we just have a neat set of 8 or 10? Why do we need to have 17?’,” explains Amina J. Mohammed, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sustainable development. “The truth of the matter is that the world is not in such a neat shape that could be reflected in a neat set of goals. It’s in a pretty big mess and what these do is address that, address it in a much deeper way.”
The UN has grouped the goals into five “essential elements”: people, planet, prosperity, justice and partnership. Let´s take a look at closer look at them.
People
People are at the centre of Sustainable Development and the first SDG -goal is “to end poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Here are some concrete examples:
“This is the people’s agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind,” says Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.
Planet
Several of the SDGs are aimed at protecting the planet.
“It’s about behaviour. It’s about livelihoods. It’s about lifestyles. It’s about how we consume and we produce because clearly we can no longer continue to test the planet the way that we do,” explains Amina Mohammed. “The one thing about this wonderful planet that we have, the home that we have, is that it can exist without us; we cannot exist without it.”
Prosperity
Goal 8 calls for the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Peace and justice
Goal 16 calls for the promotion of peaceful and inclusive. The preamble of the agreement states that: “There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.”
Partnership
Goal 17 tackles the implementation and financing of sustainable development by revitalizing global partnerships.
“For the first time, we’re not putting a band-aid on the problem,” says Amina J. Mohammed. “We’re looking at the root causes. And unless we make the investments to look at those root causes, we are going to continue to have the conflicts escalate, we’re going to continue to see the damage in the environment, and more and more people are going to be excluded.”
The new Sustainable Development Agenda; the Sustainable Development Goals and their targets; were negotiated for two years by the 193 member states of the UN after some of the most intense global public consultation in history. They will be formally adopted at a World Summit at the United Nations General Assembly 25-27 September 2015.
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Learn more about the goals here and in the video below:
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