2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Goals
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in September 2015 by the UN Members at the United Nations Headquarters in New York as the Organization celebrated its seventieth anniversary. The Heads of States and Government and High Representatives during the meeting have decided on new global Sustainable Development Goals following the principles contained in the Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve human lives and protect the environment.
The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development contains the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. All these Goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
According to the declaration contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “Natural resource depletion and adverse impacts of environmental degradation, including desertification, drought, land degradation, freshwater scarcity and loss of biodiversity, add to and exacerbate the list of challenges which humanity faces. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and its adverse impacts undermine the ability of all countries to achieve sustainable development. Increases in global temperature, sea level rise, ocean acidification and other climate change impacts are seriously affecting coastal areas and low-lying coastal countries, including many least developed countries and small island developing States. The survival of many societies, and of the biological support systems of the planet, is at risk”.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015 that is focused around achieving 17 goals within 15 years:
- End all poverty in all forms everywhere
- End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
- Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
- Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
- Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (acknowledging the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
- Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
- Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
- Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development