Sustainable Development Agenda, Leaving No One Behind

More than 150 world leaders attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit UN Headquarters in New York to formally adopt an ambitious new sustainable development agenda. This momentous agenda will serve as the launch pad for action by the international community and by national governments to promote shared prosperity and well-being for all over the next 15 years. This is the agenda for the Diplomatic Council (DC), being in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, till 2030.

Statement by UN Secretary General

In a statement issued following consensus reached by Member States on the Summit outcome document, the UN Secretary-General said: “[the agreement] encompasses a universal, transformative and integrated agenda that heralds an historic turning point for our world.”

“This is the People’s Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind,” he said.

Agreed by the 193 Member States of the UN, the proposed Agenda, entitled “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” consists of a Declaration, 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, a section on means of implementation and renewed global partnership, and a framework for review and follow-up.

The agenda is unique

The agenda is unique in that it calls for action by all countries, poor, rich and middle-income. It recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with a plan that builds economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while addressing climate change and environmental protection. It also covers issues such as inequality, infrastructure, energy, consumption, biodiversity, oceans and industrialization.

Millenium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which produced the most successful anti-poverty movement in history, serve as a springboard for the new sustainable development agenda to be adopted by world leaders next month.

Since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development – the Earth Summit – in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the world has identified a new pathway to human well-being, that of sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development, presented in Agenda 21, recognized that economic development must be balanced with growth that meets people’s needs and protects the environment.

The new sustainable development agenda builds on the outcome of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, the 2010 Summit on the MDGs, the outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (Rio+20) and the views of people around the world.

The future we want

Recognizing the successes of the MDGs, countries agreed in “The future we want,” the outcome document of Rio+20, to establish an open working group to develop a set of sustainable development goals for consideration and appropriate action.

Following more than a year of inclusive and intensive consultative deliberations, the Open Working Group proposed 17 specific goals with 169 associated targets.

The intergovernmental negotiations on the composition of the goals spanned more than two years and included numerous inputs from civil society and other stakeholders. The inclusive and transparent consultations led to consensus being reached on 2 August on the outcome document for the new sustainable development agenda.

Foundation for the Diplomatic Council till 2030

The new agenda is officially be adopted by world leaders at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. It is seen as the foundation for the work of the Diplomatic Council for the next 15 years.

Sustainable Development Goals

• Goal 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere
• Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
• Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
• Goal 8 romote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all people
• Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
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Goal 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries
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Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Goal 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Goal 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
• Goal 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
• Goal 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development