With countries still grappling with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, a weak global economy, and compounded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a stark warning Wednesday as he briefed Member States on the ‘Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards a Rescue Plan for People and Planet’ report.
“Halfway to the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, we are leaving more than half the world behind. We have stalled or gone into reverse on more than 30 percent of the SDGs,” said the Secretary-General. “Unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been.”
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The SDGs recognize that ending poverty must go hand in hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs, including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
The report reveals that the number of people living in extreme poverty is higher than it was four years ago. Hunger has also increased and is now back at 2005 levels, and gender equality is some 300 years away. With current trends, only 30 percent of all countries will achieve SDG 1 on poverty by 2030. Inequalities are also at a record high and growing, while just 26 people have the same wealth as half of the world’s population.
According to the report, the opportunity to change the trajectory of the SDGs exists but would require the international community to take unprecedented collective action. The report identifies five key areas of urgent action for all Member States. These include the need to recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained, and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the SDGs; advance concrete, integrated, and targeted policies and actions to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, and end the war on nature, with a particular focus on advancing the rights of women and girls and empowering the most vulnerable.
The report also suggests strengthening national and sub-national capacity, accountability, and public institutions to deliver accelerated SDG progress and recommit to delivering on the Addis Ababa Agenda and mobilizing the resources and investment needed for developing countries to achieve the SDGs. Finally, the report states that there is a need to strengthen the UN development system and boost the capacity of the multilateral system to tackle emerging challenges and address SDG-related gaps and weaknesses in the international architecture that have emerged since 2015.
Expanding on these recommendations, the UN Chief stressed the need for bold political leadership at all levels, urging all countries to deliver a National Commitment to SDG Transformation at the SDG Summit in September 2023, including by setting national benchmarks for reducing poverty and inequality. “The SDGs are the path to bridge both economic and geopolitical divides; to restore trust and rebuild solidarity,” added the UN Chief. “Let’s be clear: no country can afford to see them fail.”
The report was released ahead of the 2023 SDG Summit to be convened on 18-19 September 2023, during the United Nations General Assembly high-level week. Heads of State and Government will gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to follow up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs.
The 2023 SDG Summit marks the midpoint of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2022 under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council called for the Summit to “mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals .”