United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars. On 25 April 1945, 50 governments met in San Francisco for a conference and started drafting the UN Charter, which was adopted on 25 June 1945 and took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations (United Nations, n.d.).

At its twentieth session, in 1965, the General Assembly established the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), merging the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) and the Special Fund. The rationale for the formation of this program was to avoid duplication of activities. The UNDP links and coordinates global and national efforts to achieve the goals and national development priorities laid out by host countries. It focuses primarily on five developmental challenges:

• Democratic governance
• Poverty reduction
• Crisis prevention and recovery
• Environment and energy
• HIV/AIDS

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the 'Earth Summit', was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3-14 June 1992. It brought together political leaders, diplomats, scientists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 179 countries to focus on the impact of human activities on the environment.

The Rio de Janeiro conference highlighted how different social, economic and environmental factors are interdependent and evolve together, and how success in one sector requires action in other sectors to be sustained over time (systems thinking). The primary objective of the Rio 'Earth Summit' was to produce an agenda and a structure for international action on environmental and development issues that would help guide international cooperation and development policy in the twenty-first century.

The Earth Summit had many great achievements including the Rio Declaration and its 27 universal principles, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Declaration on the principles of forest management, and it led to the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015, established after the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 and following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These were based on the OECD DAC International Development Goals agreed by Development Ministers in the "Shaping the 21st Century Strategy". The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeded the MDGs in 2016.

All 191 United Nations member states, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development

The 2005 World Summit, held between 14 and 16 September 2005, was a follow-up summit meeting to the United Nations' 2000 Millennium Summit, which had led to the Millennium Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Representatives (including nearly 200 leaders) of the then 191 member states met in New York City for what the United Nations described as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations".
The summit reaffirmed the UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights, and global security.

The Rio+20 conference (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development) in Rio de Janeiro, June 2012, began the development of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which continue the momentum generated by the MDGs and fit into a global development framework beyond 2015.
The MDGs were revolutionary in providing a common language to reach global agreement. The 8 goals were realistic and easy to communicate, with a clear measurement/monitoring mechanism.

Substantial progress was made on the MDGs. The world had achieved the first MDG of halving the extreme poverty rate by 2015. However, the achievements were uneven across different parts of the world. The MDGs expired in 2015 and the focus is now “on building a sustainable world where environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic development are equally valued” (Sustainable Development Goals Fund, n.d.).

In January 2013, the 30-member UN General Assembly Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals was established to identify specific goals for the SDGs. The OWG submitted their proposal of 8 SDGs and 169 targets to the 68th session of the General Assembly in September 2014. On 5 December 2014, the UN General Assembly accepted the Secretary General's Synthesis Report, which stated that the agenda for the post-2015 SDG process would be based on the OWG proposals.

The Millennium Development Goals generated the most successful anti-poverty movement in history. The commitment entered into by world leaders in the year 2000 was translated into a framework of eight goals and, then, into practical steps that improved lives.

The MDGs helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against
hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect the planet.
Despite all these improvements, inequalities persist and progress was uneven: the world’s poor are still concentrated in some parts of the world; many women continue to die during pregnancy or in childbirth, women and those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are disadvantaged
because of their age, disability or ethnicity still face many challenges, conflicts still remain the biggest threat to human development, and climate change and environmental degradation undermine any progress achieved.
However improvements were made in these areas:

• Reduction of extreme poverty rate in developing countries
• Reduction in the number of extreme poor globally
• More primary school-age children receiving education
• 90% of countries have more women in parliament
• Reduction in global numbers of childhood deaths
• Greater global measles vaccination coverage
• Reduction in global maternal mortality rates
• Reduction in HIV infections and more antiretroviral therapy treatment available globally
• Better access to drinking water
• 98% reduction in ozone-depleting substances

While the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals. Countries have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review of the progress made in implementing the Goals, which will require quality, accessible and timely data collection. Regional follow-up and review will be based on national-level analyses and contribute to follow-up and review at the global level.

Made up of several United Nations organisations, the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion was established to help promote sustainability in fashion. The Alliance also advocates for the achievement of the UN’s 17 SDGs within a fashion context. Its objectives include promoting active collaboration, sharing knowledge, strengthening the relationship and collaboration between existing initiatives, and achieving outreach and advocacy to promote a sustainable fashion industry.

World leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of Action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on all 17 SDGs has shown that what began as a health crisis has quickly become a human and socio-economic crisis. While the crisis is imperiling progress towards the SDGs, it also makes their achievement all the more urgent and necessary. It is essential that recent gains are protected as much as possible. A transformative recovery from COVID- 19 should be pursued, one that addresses the crisis, reduces risks from future potential crises and relaunched the implementation efforts to deliver the 2030 Agenda and SDGs during the Decade of Action."

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/decade-of-action/

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are targets for global development adopted in September 2015, set to be achieved by 2030. All countries of the world have agreed to work towards achieving these goals.

The UN SDG Tracker presents data across all available indicators from the Our World in Data database, using official statistics from the UN and other international organizations. It is a free, open-access publication that tracks global progress towards the SDGs and allows people around the world to hold their governments accountable to achieving the agreed goals.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are defined in a list of 169 SDG Targets. Progress towards these Targets is agreed to be tracked by 232 unique Indicators. Visit the SDG Tracker here to check progress on each goal.