These 17 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.
The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN, and especially on the Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 at UN Headquarters in New York which let to the elaboration of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce extreme poverty by 2015.
In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed. A major blueprint came out of this: The Sustainable Development Goals: 17 overarching goals—and 169 targets—that governments are aiming to meet by 2030. Significant progress has been made in terms of poverty, health and inequality, but there's still a way to go. This is where the circular economy comes in: by circulating resources multiple times, the circular economy tackles issues of scarcity and allows all to access what they need—without overburdening the earth. If it's implemented in a holistic way—affording attention to social considerations and the fair distribution of resources— it also offers a pathway for achieving the SDGs; and the link between the two is ever-growing. To read more about the link between the SDGs and the circular economy, click here.
It is the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) which provides substantive support and capacity-building for the SDGs and their related thematic issues. TheDSDG plays a key role in the evaluation of UN systemwide implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in advocacy and outreach activities relating to the SDGs. In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals. DSDG aims to help facilitate this engagement. Alongside this, the annual High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development serves as the central UN platform for the follow-up and review of the SDGs. In addition, the UN Secretary-General presents an annual SDG Progress report, which is developed in cooperation with the UN System, and based on the global indicator framework and data produced by national statistical systems and information collected at the regional level.
To read more information: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
End poverty in all its forms and everywhere
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/1_8e0d31a497.JPG" alt="1..JPG" />
Since 2015, global poverty reduction was already slowing down and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic reversed three decades of steady progress with the number of people living in extreme poverty increasing for the first time in a generation. Recovery from the pandemic has been slow and uneven as the world is presently facing multiple geopolitical, socioeconomic, and climatic risks.
Given current trends, 575 million people (nearly 7% of the world’s population) will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030 compared to 800 million in 2015 (or 10.8%).
A surge in action and investment to enhance job opportunities and extend social services to the most excluded is crucial to delivering on the central commitment to ending poverty.
The 2030 Agenda acknowledges that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
Priority actions on poverty eradication include:
improving access to sustainable livelihoods, entrepreneurial opportunities, and productive resources;
providing universal access to basic social services;
progressively developing social protection systems to support those who cannot support themselves;
empowering people living in poverty and their organizations;
addressing the disproportionate impact of poverty on women;
working with interested donors and recipients to allocate increased shares of ODA to poverty eradication; and
intensifying international cooperation for poverty eradication.
For more information and documents on this topic, please visit <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/povertyeradication">this link
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/poverty-eradication">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/poverty-eradication
End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/2_b670eb2df0.JPG" alt="2…JPG" />
The number of people facing hunger and food insecurity has been on the rise since 2015, with the pandemic, conflict climate change, and growing inequalities exacerbating the situation.
In 2015, 589 million people were experiencing hunger, and by 2021, that number had risen to 768 million.
To achieve zero hunger by 2030, immediate and intensified efforts are required to transform food systems, ensure food security and invest in sustainable agricultural practices.
The Sustainable Development Goal to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (SDG2) recognizes the inter linkages among supporting sustainable agriculture, empowering small farmers, promoting gender equality, ending rural poverty, ensuring healthy lifestyles, tackling climate change, and other issues addressed within the set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Extreme poverty and hunger are predominantly rural, with smallholder farmers and their families making up a very significant proportion of the poor and hungry. Thus, eradicating poverty and hunger is integrally linked to boosting food production, agricultural productivity, and rural incomes.
Land, healthy soils, and water are key inputs into food production, and their growing scarcity in many parts of the world makes it imperative to use and manage them sustainably. Boosting yields on existing agricultural lands, including restoration of degraded lands, through sustainable agricultural practices would also relieve pressure to clear forests for agricultural production. Wise management of scarce water through improved irrigation and storage technologies, combined with the development of new drought-resistant crop varieties, can contribute to sustaining drylands productivity.
Beyond adequate calorie intake, proper nutrition has other dimensions that deserve attention, including micronutrient availability and healthy diets. Unhealthy diets and lifestyles are closely linked to the growing incidence of non-communicable diseases in both developed and developing countries.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/rural-development">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/rural-development
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/food-security-and-nutrition-and-sustainable-agriculture">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/food-security-and-nutrition-and-sustainable-agriculture
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/3_52a0f98617.JPG" alt="3…JPG" />
The pandemic and other ongoing crises are hindering progress in achieving SDG3, exacerbating existing health inequalities and threatening progress toward universal health coverage.
As a result, 68 million children are known to be un or under-vaccinated as of 2022 from TB and malaria increased. This has been particularly challenging in low- and middle-income countries, where health systems were already under-resourced before the pandemic.
The goal targets to :
reduce the global maternal mortality ratio;
end preventable deaths of newborns and children;
end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other communicable diseases;
reduce mortality from non-communicable diseases;
strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse;
halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents;
ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services;
achieve universal health coverage;
reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and pollution;
strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate;
support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines;
substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States;
strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/health-and-population">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/health-and-population
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/4_952ad5de77.JPG" alt="4..JPG" />
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already off-track to achieve its education targets. If no additional measures are taken, only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030. An estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million students will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life.
To deliver SDG4, education systems must be re-imagined, and education financing must become a priority national investment.
The goal targets to :
ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes;
ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education;
ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education, including university;
substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship;
eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations;
ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy;
ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development;
build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all;
substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries;
substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States.
Source: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/5_af9087659d.JPG" alt="5..JPG" />
The world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. At the global level, none of the 18 indicators “met or almost met” the targets and only one is “close to target”.
At the current rate of progress, it is estimated that it will take up to 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.
Cascading global crises have highlighted and exacerbated existing gender inequalities, such as unequal access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities. Political leadership and a comprehensive set of policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to the achievement of SDG4.
Those targets include:
end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere;
eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation;
eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation;
recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate;
ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life;
ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights;
undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws;
enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women;
adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
Source: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal5">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal5
Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/6_586f4a9bb3.JPG" alt="6..JPG" />
Billions of people still lack access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, despite improvement in the provision of these basic services. Water scarcity is a growing problem in many parts of the world, and conflicts and climate change are exacerbating the issue.
Water and sanitation are at the core of sustainable development, and the range of services they provide underpin poverty reduction, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. However, in recent decades overexploitation, pollution, and climate change have led to severe water stress in locales across the world.<br />
In addition, water pollution is a significant challenge that affects both human health and the environment in many countries.
Today, 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water, and more than 4.2 billion people lack safely managed sanitation. Climate change is exacerbating the situation, with increasing disasters such as floods and droughts. 80 percent of wastewater in the world flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, and 70 percent of the world’s natural wetland extent has been lost, including a significant loss of freshwater species.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional impediment, impairing access for billions of people to safely manage drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services – services desperately needed to prevent the virus from spreading.
Boosting infrastructure investment, improving cross-sectoral coordination, and addressing climate change are key to getting SDG6 back on track.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/water-and-sanitation">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/water-and-sanitation
Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/7_9f1c6e1d56.JPG" alt="7..JPG" />
Access to electricity and clean cooking fuels has improved in many parts of the world, but 675 million people are yet to be connected to the grids and 2.3 billion are still cooking with unsafe and polluting fuels.
The war in Ukraine and global economic uncertainty continue to cause significant volatility in energy prices, leading some countries to raise investments in renewables and others to increase reliance on coal, putting the green transition at risk. If the current pace continues, about 660 million people will still lack access to electricity and close to 2 billion people will continue to rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking by 2030.
To ensure access to energy for all by 2030, we must accelerate electrification, increase investments in renewable energy sources, and invest in improving electricity grids.
This goal's targets include:
ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services;
increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix;
double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency;
enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology.
Source : <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal7
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/8_e33005cb08.JPG" alt="8..JPG" />
Progress towards achieving SDG8 has been challenging and the world is far from reaching most of the targets. The lingering effects of COVID-19, cost-of-living crises, trade tensions, uncertain monetary policy paths, rising debts in developing countries, and the war in Ukraine can each significantly set back global economic growth. Combined, these crises are placing the global economy under a serious threat. Global real GDP per capita is forecast to slow down in 2023, putting at risk not just employment and income but also advances inequitable pay for women and decent work for young people.
With governments today seeking effective ways to lead their nations out of these related crises whilst also taking into account these planetary boundaries, green economy (in its various forms) has been proposed as a means for catalysing renewed national policy development and international cooperation and support for sustainable development. The concept has received significant international attention over the past few years as a tool to address the 2008 financial crisis as well as one of two themes for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). This has resulted in a rapidly expanding literature including new publications on green economy from a variety of influential international organisations, national governments, think tanks, experts, non-government organisations and others.
In parallel, tourism is one of the world's fastest-growing industries and an important source of foreign exchange and employment, while being closely linked to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of many countries, especially developing countries. Maritime or ocean-related tourism, as well as coastal tourism, are for example vital sectors of the economy in small island developing States (SIDS) and coastal least developed countries (LDCs).
The World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities".
Finally, this goal entails decent work, employment creation, social protection, rights at work and social dialogue to be represented as part of integral elements of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, crucial aspects of decent work are broadly rooted in the targets of many of the other 16 goals.
Achieving SDG8 will require a wholesale reform of our morally bankrupt financial system in order to tackle rising debts, economic uncertainties, and trade tensions, while promoting equitable pay and decent work for young people.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/green-economy">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/green-economy
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-tourism">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-tourism
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/employment-decent-work-all-and-social-protection">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/employment-decent-work-all-and-social-protection
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9_aa8da1d9c6.JPG" alt="9..JPG" />
The manufacturing industry’s recovery from COVID-19 remains incomplete and uneven: some high-income regions achieved record-high manufacturing value added per capita in 2022 but levels in LDCs were not much higher than the 2015 baseline.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, data show that higher-technology industries recovered faster and proved to be more resilient, pointing to the need to promote innovation and technology transfer in a way that benefits all countries.
Inclusive and sustainable industrial development has been incorporated, together with resilient infrastructure and innovation, as Sustainable Development Goal 9 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
To achieve Goal 9 by 2030 it is essential to support LDCs, invest in advanced technologies, lower carbon emissions, and increase global mobile broadband access.
This goal's target includes:
develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all;
promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries;
increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets;
by 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities;
enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending;
facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States;
support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring a conducive policy environment for, inter alia, industrial diversification and value addition to commodities;
significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/industry">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/industry
Reduce inequality within and among countries
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/10_51ecdf82dc.JPG" alt="10..JPG" />
Before the pandemic, the incomes of the bottom 40% of the population grew faster than the national average in a majority of countries. The impacts of the pandemic and uneven recoveries in different regions of the world threaten to reverse that trend and further worsen global inequality.
Record numbers are being forced to flee conflicts and economic hardship. By mid-2022, one in 251 people worldwide was a refugee, the highest proportion ever documented.
This goal's target includes:
progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population at a rate higher than the national average;
empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status;
ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard;
adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality;
improve the regulation and monitoring of global financial markets and institutions and strengthen the implementation of such regulations;
ensure enhanced representation and voice for developing countries in decision-making in global international economic and financial institutions in order to deliver more effective, credible, accountable and legitimate institutions;
facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies;
implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Organization agreements;
encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign direct investment, to States where the need is greatest, in particular least developed countries, African countries, small island developing States, and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their national plans and programmes;
reduce to less than 3 percent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 percent.
Achieving SDG 10 requires concerted efforts to address the root causes of wage disparities and access to resources both within- and between-country inequality.
Source : <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal10">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal10
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/11_05a380c82a.JPG" alt="11..JPG" />
The pandemic has caused major shifts in migration patterns, including huge movements of people in and out of urban areas. Furthermore, climate change and conflicts tend to have disproportionate impacts on cities. These factors mean that the world is far from achieving the goal of sustainable cities.<br />
In many developing countries, slum populations have been growing, putting at risk the target of adequate housing for all by 2030. Since 2015, the number of countries with national disaster risk reduction strategies has more than doubled.
Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, and social, human and economic development. Urban planning, transport systems, water, sanitation, waste management, disaster risk reduction, access to information, education and capacity-building are all relevant issues to sustainable urban development.
This target entails multiple essential concepts such as disaster risk reduction (DRR) and sustainable transport.
To achieve SDG 11, efforts must focus on strengthening capacities for planning for urban development, improving access to public transportation, and enhancing waste management.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-cities-and-human-settlements">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/sustainable-cities-and-human-settlements
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/12_ff44598f2b.JPG" alt="12..JPG" />
The world is seriously off track in its effort to halve per-capita food waste and losses by 2030.The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on consumption and production patterns, with disruptions to global supply chains and changes in consumer behaviour.
Responsible consumption and production must be an integral part of the recovery from the pandemic.
But the global economy also needs to speed up the decoupling of economic growth from resource use by maximizing the socio-economic benefits of resources while minimizing their negative impacts.
Reporting on corporate sustainability has tripled since the beginning of the SDG period, but the private sector will need to significantly improve reporting on activities that contribute to the SDGs.
This primarily entails environmentally sound management of "toxic chemicals" A substantial use of chemicals is essential to meet the social and economic goals of the world community, and these can be used with a high degree of safety when best practices are followed. Gross chemical contamination, with grave damage to human health, genetic structures reproductive outcomes, and the environment, has been continuing within some of the world's most important industrial areas, and restoration will require major investment as well as the development of new techniques.
Effective control of the generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes is another similar challenge.
In addition, solid wastes include all domestic refuse and non-hazardous wastes such as commercial and institutional wastes, street sweepings construction debris, and, in some countries, human wastes. As hazardous waste is frequently intermixed with other waste, this poses particular management challenges.
Finally, this target ensures that radioactive waste is safely managed, transported, stored and disposed of, with a view to protecting human health and the environment.
To deliver SDG12, it is crucial to implement policies that support the shift to sustainable practices and decouple economic growth from resource use.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/chemicals-and-waste">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/chemicals-and-waste
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/13_26b36d59ff.JPG" alt="13..JPG" />
The science is clear: our climate is heating rapidly. The average global temperatures have increased by 1.2 degrees Celsius since 1880, particularly in the late 20th century. The concentration of atmospheric CO2, the GHG that contributes more than 2/3 to global warming, is at its highest level ever. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) steadily points out that human activities have warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, producing widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere.
Without transformative action starting now and within this decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeply and rapidly in all sectors, the 1.5°C target will be at risk and with it the lives of more than 3 billion people.
According to IPCC, warming beyond 1.5 degrees could have irreversible and irreparable consequences. However, effective and equitable adaptation and mitigation actions can significantly reduce vulnerability and contribute to climate resilience. To limit global warming to well below 2, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, countries came together to hold themselves accountable under the Paris Agreement.
Failure to act leads to intensifying heat waves, droughts, flooding, wildfires, sea-level rise, and famines. Emissions should already be decreasing now and will need to be cut almost by half by 2030 - a mere seven years from now.
To combat climate change and its impacts by 2030, urgent and transformative action is needed to meet the commitments under the Paris Agreement across mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/climate-action-synergies">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/climate-action-synergies
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/14_b20fde15f1.JPG" alt="14..JPG" />
Destructive trends in ocean health have not abated. The ocean, the world’s largest ecosystem, continues to be endangered by rising acidification, eutrophication, declining fish stocks and mounting plastic pollution. While there has been some progress in expanding marine protected areas and combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing over the years, more concerted efforts and acceleration are urgently needed. Urgent and coordinated global action is needed to continue to advance towards SDG14.
Oceans, seas, and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the Earth’s ecosystem and are critical to sustainable development. They cover more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and contain 97% of the planet’s water. Oceans contribute to poverty eradication by creating sustainable livelihoods and decent work. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods. In addition, oceans are crucial for global food security and human health. They are also the primary regulator of the global climate, an important sink for greenhouse gases and they provide us with water and the oxygen we breathe. Finally, oceans host huge reservoirs of biodiversity.
In order for oceans, seas and marine resources to successfully contribute to human well-being, ecosystem integrity, with properly functioning biogeochemical and physical processes, is required. This does not require unperturbed systems, but systems that have not suffered serious or irreversible harm. Ecosystem integrity allows for the provision of so-called supporting ecosystem services which, in turn, are the bases of important regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services that are of crucial importance for humans.
Good governance, an enabling environment, sustainable land- and marine- based human activities, and adequate measures will be required to reduce the negative anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment, for example due to a more sustainable use of resources, changes in production and consumption patterns and improved management and control of human activities. Projects and measures should ideally be designed and implemented in an integrated, cross-sectoral and cross-scale manner, in line with the ecosystem approach and involving all stakeholders.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/oceans-and-seas">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/oceans-and-seas
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/15_a3875a0f9c.JPG" alt="15..JPG" />
The world is facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. The trend in forest loss, land degradation and the extinction of species is becoming worse, posing a severe threat to the health of the planet and people. Goal 15 will not be met without a dramatic shift in our relationship with our natural environment.
Forests have a significant role in reducing the risk of natural disasters, including floods, droughts, landslides and other extreme events. At the global level, forests mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration, contribute to the balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity in the air and protect watersheds, which supply 75% of freshwater worldwide. Mountains are also among the ecosystems to be conserved, restored, and sustainably used.
Similarly, deserts are being addressed as 'fragile ecosystems'. Desertification affects as much as one-sixth of the world's population, 70 percent of all drylands, and one-quarter of the total land area of the world. It could result, among others, in widespread poverty as well as in the degradation of billion hectares of rangeland and cropland.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/forests">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/forests
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/desertification-land-degradation-and-drought">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/desertification-land-degradation-and-drought
Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/16_ac554fffee.JPG" alt="16..JPG" />
Globally, about 457,000 people were victims of homicide in 2021— the highest number of victims in the last 20 years. The noticeable spike in killings in 2021 can be partly attributed to the economic repercussions of COVID-related restrictions, as well as an escalation of gang-related and socio-political violence in several countries. In addition, in 2022, the United Nations recorded 16,988 killings of civilians in armed conflicts.
This goal implies, among others, monitoring:
the increase in deaths by heavy weapons and explosive munitions;
the proportion of the population reporting feeling safe or very safe walking alone around the area in which they live after dark;
the number of children aged 1-14 years who were subjected to some form of psychological aggression and/or physical punishment at home;
the number of trafficking victims;
the sexual violence in childhood;
the global prison population;
illicit firearms;
bribe payments by public officials;
budget deviations and budget credibility;
correct representation in parliament;
children's legal identity.
In addition to these criteria, this goal focuses on decision-making with particular reference to participation of vulnerable groups, such as women, developing countries, including African countries, least developed countries, land-locked developing countries, small-island developing States and middle-income countries.
Overall, Goal 16 is devoted to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all and to the establishment of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal16">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal16
https://sdgs.un.org/topics/information-integrated-decision-making-and-participation
https://sdgs.un.org/topics/institutional-frameworks-and-international-cooperation-sustainable-development
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
<img src="https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/17_471b84d9a8.JPG" alt="17..JPG" />
Progress towards achieving SDG17 has been mixed. On the one hand, there have been some advances in areas such as development aid, remittances flows, and access to technology. However, funding for development remains a major challenge, particularly in low income countries.
Additionally, geopolitical tensions and the rise of nationalism in some parts of the world have made it more difficult to achieve international cooperation and coordination.
Many developing countries are battling record inflation, rising interest rates and looming debt burdens, competing priorities, and limited fiscal space. A major surge in concerted action is needed to ensure developing countries have access to the financing and technologies needed to accelerate SDG implementation.
To achieve goal 17, capacity-building activities are essential as they're aimed at strengthening and maintaining the capabilities of states and societies to design and implement strategies that minimize the negative impacts of current social, economic and environmental crises and emerging challenges. This particularly makes sense to support national plans to implement all the sustainable development goals, including North-South, South-South, and triangular cooperation.
As the achievement of Sustainable Development requires all hands on deck, these multi-stakeholder partnerships must happen around key topics such as finance, science, technology and trade.
Sources: <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17">https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17
<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/topics/capacity-development">https://sdgs.un.org/topics/capacity-development