In this edition, and future ones, let’s explore the meaning of the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals, known as the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for the People and the Planet.  What follows is a brief introduction to the list of 17 goals.

In September 2015, 193 countries came together at the United Nations to adopt and commit to a long-term, comprehensive strategy to tackle the world’s greatest challenges related to global sustainable development. The result was the SDGs, a list of 17 goals to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030. The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ambitious, but they are far from unachievable. Still, in order to achieve them, much work must be done. We must work together, leverage partnerships, analyze systemic issues, address root causes to these issues, and take action!

These goals allow us, as a global community, to visualize where we want to be by 2030 and the world that we want to live in. By creating these comprehensive goals, writing them out, and sharing them throughout global societies, we are able to tangibly encourage social mobilization, create peer pressure among political leaders, spur networks of expertise, knowledge and practice into action, and mobilize stakeholder networks across countries, sectors and regions, to come together for a common purpose: global development and sustainable change.

As explained by the United Nations, we are living in a crucial time, and with only 9 years left to reach our goals, our priorities must shift, with those in the most vulnerable positions pushed to the forefront of our agendas.

The UN website states:

 “With just under ten years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, 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 UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize for a decade of action on three levels: global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; local action embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and people action, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations.”

Now is the time to get informed about these goals, to spread awareness, and to take action, especially on the key question: How accelerate their development during COVID?  Your comments and your ideas most welcome as we move through the 17!   Together, we can make great change!

Jim Claffey
NGO representative of the CM to the UN