It’s in our hands

17 Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. Exactly how do they work and can they succeed?

In 2015, all United Nations Member States agreed on a plan for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sees 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) at its core. These goals aim to bring both developed and developing Member States closer to a sustainable future. The SDG’s recognize that issues such as poverty and hunger go hand-in-hand with education, gender equality and climate awareness and all aspects of sustainability need to be considered to reach the united goal: sustainable life on Earth.

Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the Goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. 2020 needs to usher in a decade of ambitious action to deliver the Goals by 2030.

࿷ Are these goals attainable?

On the right hand side you can see all 17 SDG’s. All goals have very simple but clear titles e.g. SDG one, No Poverty. The message is short and clear - to make the world the most sustainable it can be, poverty needs to be ended. All nations must have the same access to facilities

which will allow them to achieve these 17 goals.

More people around the world are living better lives compared to just a decade ago. More people have access to better healthcare, decent work, and education than ever before. But inequalities and climate change are threatening to undo the gains collected over the last ten years. Nevertheless, the political, technological and financial solutions are within reach.

࿷ What has been achieved already?

Since 2015, the UN has admitted that in some areas, especially goals concerning the climate, very little progress has been made, if any at all. But this set-back was calculated into the time plan of achieving these SDG’s.

Four years since the adoption of the SDG’s, the 2019 Report notes progress in some areas, such as on extreme poverty reduction, widespread immunization, decrease in child mortality rates and increase in people’s access to electricity

A positive statistic is that the number of people living in extreme poverty declined from 36% in 1990 to 8.6% in 2018.

Everything else seems rather negative: global hunger has been on the rise after a prolonged decline.

The year 2018 was the hottest ever recorded, which has caused the acidity levels in oceans to be 26% higher than in pre-industrial times.

In addition to these negative points, the inequality amongst and within nations is increasing and needs urgent action and attention!

Instead of meeting up regularly to discuss the SDG’s, the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) has been set up so that leaders across nations can share their successes, challenges, and lessons learned when tackling these 17 goals.

࿷ So what is needed now?

It is important is that the grand final goal is not forgotten. All 17 SDG’s will aid the world to flourish. Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This means that everyone is involved, and everyone is needed to reach the change we are aiming for.

Much greater leadership and rapid, remarkable changes are needed to ensure that all changes are in accord with the sustainable development objectives and will be reached as soon as possible.