Towards a sustainable development agenda: The 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals
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- Published on Friday, 15 May 2015 13:15
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Ensuring a life with dignity
2015 is the year when countries will shape and adopt a new development agenda that will build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Millennium Development Goals were established in the year 2000 and include eight anti-poverty targets to be accomplished by 2015. Since then, enormous progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs:
- Global poverty continues to decline
- More children than ever are attending primary school
- Child deaths have dropped dramatically
- Access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded
- Targeted investments in fighting malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis have saved millions
The MDGs are making a real difference in people’s lives, and this progress can be expanded in most of the world’s countries with strong leadership and accountability
Find out more about the progress made on each MDG.
What’s next?The Millennium Development Goals show that targets work. They have helped end poverty for some, but not all.
The United Nations is now in the process of defining Sustainable Development Goals as part a new sustainable development agenda that must finish the job and leave no one behind. This agenda, to be launched at the Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015, is currently being discussed at the UN General Assembly, where Member States and civil society are making contributions to the agenda.
The process of arriving at the post 2015 development agenda is Member State-led with broad participation from Major Groups and other civil society stakeholders. There have been numerous inputs to the agenda, notably a set of Sustainable Development Goals proposed by an open working group of the General Assembly, the report of an intergovernmental committee of experts on sustainable development financing, General Assembly dialogues on technology facilitation and many others.
In December, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released his Synthesis Report, which summarizes these inputs and presents the vision for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. Drawing from the experience of two decades of development practice and from the inputs gathered through an open and inclusive process, the report The Road to Dignity by 2030 charts a road map to achieve dignity in the next 15 years. Mr. Ban formally presented his report on 8 January to Member States.
In an interview, Mr. Ban’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning Amina J. Mohammed said that one of the main takeaways of the report is
“the hope and the opportunity that we have ahead of us […] This is a generation that can do what we need to do to achieve many of the challenges that we see ahead of us. So if there is anything that we are taking away from this report it is that by 2030 we can end poverty, we can transform lives and we can find ways to protect the planet while doing that.”
The United Nations has also played a facilitating role in the global conversation on the post-2015 development agenda and supported broad consultations such as the MyWorld survey. It also has the responsibility of supporting Member States by providing evidence-based inputs, analytical thinking and field experience.
The 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of agreements made by the UNFCCC forum)
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
To find out more about the post-2015 process and the open working group on the sustainable development goals visit the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.
You can visit the World We Want 2015 website to join the global conversation on sustainable development and vote for the issues that are the most important to you through the My World survey.
You can also help raise awareness about the importance of 2015 by joining the civil society-led Action/2015 campaign, which will be hosting multiple events around the world.