Agenda 2030
Sustainable Development Goals - Wikipedia downloaded 10/12/2023
Summary
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of seventeen interconnected objectives designed to promote peace, prosperity, and sustainability. They cover a wide range of areas such as poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, and climate action. The SDGs were created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are monitored by the United Nations and the progress is tracked through the SDG Tracker. However, there are challenges in implementation due to political interests and trade-offs between goals. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the SDGs in 2020. The SDGs are not legally binding, allowing for interpretation and diverse interests among different actors involved in their implementation.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future."[1][2][3] The short titles of the 17 SDGs are: No poverty (SDG 1), Zero hunger (SDG 2), Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4), Gender equality (SDG 5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), Climate action (SDG 13), Life below water (SDG 14), Life on land (SDG 15), Peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16), Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).
The SDGs emphasize the interconnected environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development by putting sustainability at their center.[4][5]
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) created the SDGs as part of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. This agenda sought to design a new global development framework, replacing the Millennium Development Goals, which were completed that same year.[6] These goals were formally articulated and adopted in a UNGA resolution known as the 2030 Agenda, often informally referred to as Agenda 2030.[7] On 6 July 2017, the SDGs were made more actionable by a UNGA resolution that identifies specific targets for each goal and provides indicators to measure progress.[8] Most targets are to be achieved by 2030, although some have no end date.[9]
There are cross-cutting issues and synergies between the different goals; for example, for SDG 13 on climate action, the IPCC sees robust synergies with SDGs 3 (health), 7 (clean energy), 11 (cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production) and 14 (oceans).[10][11]: 70 On the other hand, critics and observers have also identified trade-offs between the goals,[11]: 67 such as between ending hunger and promoting environmental sustainability.[12]: 26 Furthermore, concerns have arisen over the high number of goals (compared to the eight Millennium Development Goals), leading to compounded trade-offs, a weak emphasis on environmental sustainability, and difficulties tracking qualitative indicators.
The SDGs are monitored by the UN (United Nations) High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), an annual forum held under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. However, the HLPF comes with its own set of problems due to a lack of political leadership and divergent national interests.[13]: 206 To facilitate monitoring of progress on SDG implementation, the online SDG Tracker was launched in June 2018 to present all available data across all indicators.[14] The COVID-19 pandemic had serious negative impacts on all 17 SDGs in 2020.[15] A scientific assessment of the political impacts of the SDGs found in 2022 that the SDGs have only had limited transformative political impact thus far.[16] At the very least, they have affected the way actors understand and communicate about sustainable development.[16]
Adoption
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN Resolution A/RES/70/1), containing the goals (Octobe2015)
A diagram listing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
On 25 September 2015, the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."[17][18][19] This agenda has 92 paragraphs. Paragraph 59 outlines the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the associated 169 targets and 232 indicators.
The UN-led process involved its 193 Member States and system
civil society. The resolution is a broad intergovernmental agreement that acts as the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The SDGs build on the principles agreed upon in Resolution A/RES/66/288, entitled "The Future We Want."[20] This was a non-binding document released as a result of Rio+20 Conference held in 2012.[20]Implementation
Cost comparison for UN Goals
Implementation of the SDGs started worldwide in 2016. This process can also be called Localizing the SDGs. In 2019 António Guterres (secretary-general of the United Nations) issued a global call for a Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.[21] This decade will last from 2020 to 2030. The plan is that the secretary general of the UN will convene an annual platform for driving the Decade of Action.[22]
There are two main types of actors for implementation of the SDGs: state and non-state actors.[16] State actors include national governments and sub-national authorities, whereas non-state actors are corporations and civil society.[23]: 80 Civil society participation and empowerment is important but there are also diverse interests in this group.[23]: 80
Building new partnerships is useful.[23] However, the SDGs are not legally binding and purposefully designed to provide much leeway for actors. Therefore, they can interpret the goals differently and often according to their interests.[16]
Summary
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of seventeen interconnected objectives designed to promote peace, prosperity, and sustainability. They cover a wide range of areas such as poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, and climate action. The SDGs were created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are monitored by the United Nations and the progress is tracked through the SDG Tracker. However, there are challenges in implementation due to political interests and trade-offs between goals. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the SDGs in 2020. The SDGs are not legally binding, allowing for interpretation and diverse interests among different actors involved in their implementation.