“The world has a long to do list” as the Sustainable Development Goals are not being met
The seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly opened on September 13th under the theme of “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”. This week marks the second week of the United Nations General Assembly and is the beginning of the High-Level week. Yesterday, the SDG Moment was a 90-minute event that is meant to place a spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals. In that 90 minute session, it became extremely clear that the world is not on track to reach these goals and we have a lengthy “to do” list to get back on track.
The combined crises—the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising food insecurity and a debilitating economy—could lead to an additional 75 to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022. As called for in the UN Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda, a renewed commitment to international cooperation and global solidarity is needed to set the SDGs back on track. With time running out as we approach the midpoint in 2023 of SDG implementation, this year’s SDG Moment is a major turning point for accelerating meaningful SDG action.
- United Nations’ Media Advisory: To urgently address world’s most pressing challenges, SDG Moment to call for stronger commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals
Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres made headlines as he noted that “the world has a long ‘to do list” and proceeded to ask for more finance and investment from the public and private sectors to meet the growing needs to reach these sustainable development goals.
UN Photo/Mark Garten -UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the SDG Moment 2022.It is tempting to put our long-term development priorities to one side.
To leave them for a sunny day. But development cannot wait. The education of our children cannot wait. Dignified jobs cannot wait. Full equality for women and girls cannot wait. Comprehensive health care, meaningful climate action, biodiversity protection — these cannot be left for tomorrow. Across all of these areas, young people — and future generations — are demanding action. We cannot let them down. This is a definitive moment. All of you here today — and those tuning in from around the world — give me immense hope that we can put our hands on the wheel of progress and steer a new course. That we can rescue the Sustainable Development Goals and get back on track to building the better world that leaves no one behind.The world has a long “to do” list.
- Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres
All of the speakers present during The Moment continued to emphasize that we are in the midst of extremely challenging times and need to make big changes. The President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, agreed with Mr. Gurerres and added on that, “The pandemic was a postcard from the future, a bleak future of interlocking global crises. One that we want to avoid and that we can avoid. We must now regain the speed lost to the pandemic and to our inaction. Solutions are at hand.”
This was then followed up by the Prime Minister of Barbados and UN Environment Champion of the Earth went on to remind the General Assembly and all in attendance what each SDG means and ho we need to address each and every one.
Many other sources have highlighted specific goals that are behind, on of which being that poverty levels have in fact risen immensely. Some 100 million people have fallen into poverty as a consequence of COVID-19. According to ESG News, the funding gap for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) has expanded to up to US$135 trillion following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other international challenges, according to an annual report by the Force for Good initiative in collaboration with the UN and other organizations.
What this all comes down to is we are about half way to our deadline for 2030 to achieve the sustainable development goals, and there is a LOT of work left to do. It is time to now use the resources available and make big changes to have big impacts in a positive way.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/about-us/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-and-disability.html
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1126981
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2022/09/to-urgently-address-worlds-most-pressing-challenges-sdg-moment-to-call-for-stronger-commitment-to-the-sustainable-development-goals/
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/unga-high-level-week-2022/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/19/1123514931/the-clock-is-ticking-for-u-n-goals-to-end-poverty-and-it-doesnt-look-promising
https://esgnews.com/force-for-good-reveals-funding-gap-for-sustainable-development-has-widened-to-us135-trillion-ahead-of-2022-un-general-assembly-debates/
